Three Exhibits Open Islands Museum of Art

— from Rebecca Parks of San Juan Islands Museum of Art —

[San Juan Islands Museum of Art opens the season with a three-in-one exhibit on Saturday, May 23 that will run into August.]

“Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, The Backbone of Life” by Susan Middleton.
See the Giant Squid close up on San Juan Island this summer, as celebrated wildlife photographer Susan Middleton exhibits huge portraits of marine invertebrates May 23 through August 21 at San Juan Islands Museum of Art (IMA) in Friday Harbor The exhibit is aptly named “Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of Life,” from Middleton’s book of the same name published to great fanfare this year by Abrams. Middleton’s dramatic images fill the rooms of the new museum with underwater photos taken up close and personal by the photographer whose acclaimed work has graced covers of National Geographic, Smithsonian, Life Magazine, and more. This is a show that the kids will adore, with family friendly workshops planned  in conjunction with the University of Washington Marine Biology labs.
Join Middleton on June 19 for a gallery talk at 6 p.m.

“The Twist of Rist: Lasting Impressions by Luigi Rist”
Extraordinarily sensitive woodcut impressions created by New Jersey artist Luigi Rist (1888-1959), using a refined Japanese style of printing, are generously presented from a private collection on San Juan Island. Challenged by fruit, vegetables and flowers as subject matter for these delicate images, Rist required seven to twenty-seven blocks to complete each piece. Numerous woodcuts by Luigi Rist were featured within or on the cover of the Christian Science Monitor.

“Liminal Currents: A Community Art Collaboration with Matthew Palmer”
LIMINAL CURRENTS: Explorations of an empathic umwelt, A Community Collaboration designed and directed by Matthew Gray Palmer.

Umwelt: pron: /o͝omvelt/ the world as it is experienced by any one particular organism.

IMA’s first ever community collaboration provides an opportunity to embrace another way of seeing reality as we immerse ourselves and experience empathy with underwater marine life. Palmer is a sculptor dedicated to teaching natural science through public art and has completed several projects with the National Park Service. Visitors are invited to help complete the project throughout the exhibition. To participate and explore the construction schedule, please call Diane at 360-370-5814.

IMA is open Thursdays through Mondays 11 to 6. Admission is FREE!

San Juan Islands Museum of Art (aka IMA) a premier world-class visual arts museum, opened this year in a dramatic new building on quiet, beautiful San Juan Island, Washington. IMA began with a group of visionary volunteers who believed that this artistic community needed a real fine art museum. For ten years, IMA wandered the streets of Friday Harbor, putting on highly professional shows that began to attract the attention of the world beyond the water. IMA thrived amid controversy and challenges, and at last the little museum with big plans has a permanent home, in a repurposed emergency medical vehicle garage. Remade in a modern glass and steel design that will forever transform this quiet and quaint historic town, the new IMA positions the San Juans as a new art destination welcomed by art lovers around the world. (from the museum website, www.sjima.org )

The Spineless/Rist/Palmer exhibition runs through August 21.