Poems meet canvas for Women Painters September 15

Two Shoreline residents, Helen Drummond and Paula Parks, will be participating in the statewide Women Painters of Washington upcoming show “Painting Poetry” running September 15-December 31 in downtown Seattle at the Columbia Center Building.  

Over thirty-five members of Women Painters of Washington will show their work inspired by poems, sonnets, limericks, and lyrics from a multitude of genres and authors, including some original poetry written by the artists themselves.

Burning Bush by Helen Drummond

“I think a lot about nature, and the poem I wrote came from observation,” said Drummond of both her painting and poem. Drummond’s poem “Burning a Paper Bag” was published in the twentieth edition of Bottomfish in 1999 and speaks of a bag returning back to its roots in the ground after becoming ash.  

“The painting is related to the poem and came from me playing with paint and finding the image of burning leaves,” she said of the piece that will show in “Painting Poetry”.

After the Storm by Paula Parks

Parks mused on an untitled poem by Lisa Smith of oncoming spring with the painting she will show. 

“I was inspired by a trip through the Skagit Valley tulip fields,” said Parks. “The rain had just stopped, and I was inspired by how clean and bright the colors of the fields were and how fresh the air was as the storm retreated over the mountains.”

Plutarch famously said, “painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.”  You can see both on canvas and paper by some of the finest women artists in Washington State in “Painting Poetry” showing at the Women Painters of Washington Gallery located in the Columbia Center Building in downtown Seattle.

There will be an artist reception on October 1 from 4-6pm directly before the Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk.  More information can be found online 

Women Painters of Washington Gallery is located in the Columbia Center Building at 701-5th Ave., Suite 310, Seattle.