As we are coming slowly out of the Covid Pandemic (I hope), many may not be aware of some of the changes around the island. In the Lynwood Center area, three new art galleries are making their debut this weekend. 

The galleries are located within the Roost development along Point White Drive, a new development that has been filling up with residents. The brand-new Art Walk at the Roost event is hosted by three such residents of the Roost, and each gallery offers a very different art experience. Here is an introduction to what you will find. All are located in either Building B or C on the new Flying Goat Avenue NE this Saturday, June 5.

Patricia Orellana Fine Arts [in B100]

When you see a “print” of Orellana’s, such as her digital prints, you will probably be seeing more than you think. The pictured print for this column, “Storm,” may simply be a visual slice of storm clouds, rich in tonal qualities, cloudy above, but perhaps more stylized in the midsection. Orellana, a painter, printmaker, photographer and former illustrator, tends to blend and manipulate her images. The sky you see may well be composed of several very different photos, slices of them, enlarged portions of them and then layered or woven into the image she presents to the viewer. These could then be printed on fine papers or canvas. If the latter, she may add paint to the composition.

Orellana refers to her prints in particular as being timelines of a sort, “photos from vacations, personal objects found” where some areas are kept, enlarged to abstraction, and brought together with other images similarly mined for their interesting bits for her composition. She states that she wants to bring out and honor her Colombian culture, reflecting personal experiences of growing up in New Jersey and Colombia, living in New York City and the Pacific Northwest. She reflects her duo cultural background in her works, and in doing so, creates modern prints that are personally nostalgic. You may also find her paintings on view.

Peaceful Spring Designs (Artist: Theresa Killgore) [See C 100]

Theresa Killgore creates both serious and humorous contemporary jewelry. Perhaps the serious side comes from her 25 years of being a petroleum engineer. The serious works were completed in her retirement pursuit as a jeweler, in 14 k gold or sterling silver with elements such as red coral as in the necklace shown here. 

Her mission is to enjoy her work and make the people who buy and wear her work happy. And she enjoys going bold, striking, sometimes silly but always interesting. Like Orellana, Killgore discovered she too likes to travel and “record” those experiences. While Orellana does so with photos, Killgore collects small items from the locales visited and eventually finds ways to include them in her jewelry. These are the jewelry pieces where she goes bold and silly and fun. Asking her about a particular artwork can be fun. She will readily detail the unique-to-jewelry elements and the adventures she had collecting them. These include lava from Reykjavik, embroidery from Switzerland and glass beads from Murano, Italy. Do ask her, and enjoy the trip she takes you on.

Killgore’s one-of-a-kind jewelry rightly dominates her gallery. However, she will offer space to other artists as well. Currently you will find the ceramic work of A. Jeffrey Zigulis (teapots and elephants) and Dawn McNamara (dream masks), and ceramic wall planter décor by Modern AirHead (designer Denise Stoughton).

Lino Tagliapietra Gallery [C140]

From Murano, Italy -literally- the third new gallery at the Roost, Lynwood, is the glass sculpture by Lino Tagliapeitra. Tagliapeitra is from Murano and has been working in glass since he was 11 years old. He has worked glass for over 70 years now, splitting his time between Italy and the Pacific Northwest since 1979. 

The Lino Tagliapietra Gallery at The Roost in Lynwood Center is a satellite of his main gallery in Seattle. That gallery is located on 2nd Avenue near Pike Market. He renovated what had been his long-time glass studio and shipping warehouse into a gallery for his work in 2017. I’m sure it is worth a visit as well. Both galleries are run by Jacopo Vecchiato, Tagliapietra’s grandson. He and his wife, Paula, are new to Banbridge, and she will be helping to run the Bainbridge gallery.

Tagliapeitra’s work is bright, colorful, energetic, dramatic, visually and therefore physically intricate. His art is in many major museum collections in the United States and internationally. He is truly a master glassblower on par with our own Dale Chihuly perhaps, but Tagliapeitra brings his mastery of highly intricate Venetian glasswork, literally having earned the title of “Maestro” at the rare early age of 21. However, he expanded far beyond its traditional confines as an independent artist. It is a delight to see such exquisite glass art here on Bainbridge Island.

These three new galleries definitely bring some excitement to Bainbridge, especially to the growing Lynwood Center neighborhood. The Roost is a setting of recently built condominiums with commercial space at street level. These buildings are on the new Flying Goat Avenue NE which is across the street from the well-known Treehouse Café and Bay Massage and Skin Care along Point White Drive NE. 

The Roost is the latest, but won’t be the last, new development in the Lynwood Center area. It was conceived and designed by Indigo Architects as “Live and Work Townhomes.” For more information on what is already there and what may be coming in the future, contact Belinda Thornburg, Broker for Realogics Sotheby’s Realty, located right there too (at A 140). 

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ABOUT BILL BARAN-MICKLE: 2020 Island Treasure Awardee. Recently, Bill has enjoyed exhibiting in several international art biennial exhibitions. Of the three in which he has participated, he won Third Place for Sculpture from the European Confederation of Art Critics in the Chianciamo Biennale, at the Chianciano Art Museum in Italy in 2011, and First Place in Applied Arts in the London Biennale of 2013. In 2013 alone, he will have participated in eight exhibitions: from London to a two-person exhibition near home. In addition, Bill was asked to be a representative for CCAC’s exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Metals Department, and a mix of group shows in New York City, Miami, Seattle and Las Vegas. Bill is the designer of the 10 foot Equitorial Bowstring Sundial located at the Richie Observatory in Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island, WA and completed in 2015.