March visit to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art has been on my radar for years and this month I was fortunate enough to finally visit, to put finishing touches on my first solo museum exhibit, and give an artist talk to an attentive, curious, full-capacity audience. The first (and I think only) Korean astronaut was in attendance, and later I had an upbeat talk about my work with the former governor of Washington.

I was up at 4am to get ready for a morning flight, managed longer than usual TSA precheck lines, and the car got me to the ferry in time to catch it if I knew how to actually get to the boarding area. But I didn't, but it wasn't an onerous wait for the next one. The curator, Erin, picked me up after I got off the ferry and after dumping my things at the airbnb, I asked for lunch right away. After that, we went to the museum and I got to see the show for the first time as a few other folks. Erin did a fabulous job installing and there wasn't much to update but I was glad I had a few days to fiddle with it.

Concurrently was a wonderful exhibit of the large-scale concrete art of sculptor / gardener / artist duo George and David Lewis, longtime and beloved residents of the island. A lot of pieces were on loan from various collections and had to be dislodged from gardens to install in the gallery, including fountains! It's a stunning show and I was happy to meet George and David my first evening in town. On my last full day before my talk, I took a walk in the morning and on the way back, passed the museum while they were in the gallery to take care of their beautiful pomegranate and tetrapanax sculptures.

It's a wealthy island but also progressive, so I saw a lot of signs like this in the neighborhood where I stayed.

I wasn't able to interact with the owner of my airbnb because of her cold, but I know she is very involved in the arts community and of course the whole house is beautiful and full of thoughtful touches, like the green driveway. I was so comfortable in the peaceful downstairs apartment.

It wasn't since my visit to Tasmania years ago that I had been greeted with such a beautiful welcome spread, which came in handy my second night when I was too jet lagged to go out and was content to have snacks as a meal.

It was gratifying to see my books highlighted at the museum shop, and the newest addition at top is the gorgeous catalog that Laura Zander designed with so much skill and care. Special thanks to Erin for the into, Vicky Stewart for the essay, and Mina Takahashi for the interview, and to all the generous people who provided testimonials that are sprinkled throughout. Everyone who was on this project worked really hard on it, including my photographer of 20+ years, Stefan.

That's just a few gallery shots and I was likely too discombobulated to do very good ones, which is why it's good that the museum has people for that! But you can see more, including a video walkthrough, here.

This is from a walk I took the morning of my artist talk, when things were mostly done and I could breathe a bit, heading to the post office to mail catalogs, happy to feel like I could walk after my steroid injection a week or so prior. I was amazed by how little pain I felt on this entire trip, but it's because I was treated so well, reunited with dear friends, and relieved that something I had worked on for years had come to fruition in an ideal way. There is so much I could share but it's all still processing, so all I can say is that this trip filled and overflowed my heart. Thanks to BIMA, Cynthia Sears, Erin Zona, Catherine Alice Michaelis, and the many more people who make all of this, and more, possible.