Karen Brownlee will showcase handmade stoneware pottery, raku and garden art at her Long Beach studio. These items are on display at BOLD Coffee, Art and Framing nearby.

This spring, the Peninsula Arts Association will celebrate a sweet 16. That’s the number of art studios along Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula that will open their doors to visitors during the association’s spring open studios tour this year.

Association member Dierdre Duewel is ecstatic. “Because of COVID, PAA has missed being able to showcase the talents of their artists,” Duewel said. “So, to help remedy this situation, PAA has created 16 reasons people should mark their calendars.” The tour will include members’ artwork on display at BOLD Coffee, Art and Framing in Long Beach, Washington, Bay Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park, Washington, and at individual studios along the peninsula.

Spring Open Studios Tour

Peninsula Arts Association

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tour maps are available at galleries, tourist information centers and online at www.beachartist.org

“Our artists will be offering one-of-a-kind artwork, prints, art cards, pottery, jewelry, photography, mosaics, metal art, leather goods, chainsaw carvings and stained glass,” Duewel said.

Tour maps are available at the two galleries and at tourist information centers in Long Beach, Ocean Park and Seaview, Washington. Maps can also be downloaded from Peninsula Art Association’s website.

Duewel makes mosaic creations, garden art and mirrors. Her work will be displayed at the Old Long Beach Train Depot along with jewelry, beaded magnets, blinged-out animals and miniatures by JoAnne Webster. The site will also feature pottery, ceramic jewelry, mushrooms and fairy houses by Vicki and Michael Sullivan.

The Sullivans, who live east of Astoria, impressed Sue Raymond, owner of the Bay Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park. The gallery now displays their work year-round. “They are a fabulous couple and so talented,” Raymond said, “people just adore their work, the detail, the color.”

Handmade stoneware pottery, functional, raku and garden art will be highlighted by Karen Brownlee at her studio, while Rita Brown will show quilted and pieced wall hangings.

Others featured include two Surfside artists, Don Perry, who uses recycled saw blades, and Cathy Hamilton, who makes craft items from sea shells. Wes Elwood of Ocean Park has horseshoe and railroad spike garden art. In Seaview, Catherine Clark has pastel paintings and cards and Mary Halvorson has cooper, brass and stainless jewelry. In Long Beach, there will be wood carvings showing driftwood spirits and pottery by RSR Creations.

The Ocean Park Camp and Retreat Center will show works by watercolor artists and more on Friday and Saturday, including Jeanette Hansen, Gloria Martin and Brenda Sharkey. Also featured will be abstract and expressionistic paintings and photos by Robin Stromholt and repurposed collages by Jeanne Bellinger.

On Friday and Saturday, the Surfside Community Center in Ocean Park will showcase Coral Hughes, who transforms items into wearable jewelry and accessories, and Helen Marston, whose work includes watercolors, mosaics, windchimes and mixed media.

Chainsaw artist Blaine Gunkel is one of the less traditional art styles represented. He is preparing a showroom and outdoor work area in Ocean Park, which will feature his carvings of bears, fish, ice cream cones, birds and bird houses. “This place is phenomenal for artists,” said Gunkel, a retired educator and recent transplant to the peninsula. “The people here have such talent.”

The Peninsula Arts Association exists as a support resource for area artists and has two charitable components. Members award a $1,000 scholarship to one local graduating high school student pursuing some form of art education (applications are being accepted until April 29) and work on an enrichment program providing art and supplies for classrooms within the Ocean Beach and Naselle-Grays River Valley school districts.

In December, first grade teacher Marina Smith highlighted how she incorporates art in her Naselle, Washington, classroom throughout the day , not just during art classes but in math, science and writing. Smith appreciated a donation of supplies from the association. “They have truly been a blessing to our students of all ages and grades in our school,” Smith said at the time, “they have invested in our children.”

This year’s studio tour will replace an annual spring art show, once a fixture of the Long Beach Peninsula activities calendar. “We decided to offer a spring studio tour to our members in lieu of a spring art show, and the interest has been exciting,” longtime arts leader Bette Lu Krause said. Krause is delighted at the number of new artists taking part in the tour.