Creative Circle Exhibit

The Creative Circle is one of Whatcom County’s longest-standing women’s art groups. The members are all seasoned professionals and have been meeting monthly at one another’s homes or studios over a potluck dinner for more years than any of us can remember! We share news and recent work and offer one another technical help and emotional support when needed. 

Many of us have taught art, served on boards of community arts organizations, participated in art walks and WAST, and are members of professional arts groups such as Woman Painters of Washington, Plein Air Painters of Washington, and the Northwest Designer Craftsman.

The strength of our group comes from the diversity and interplay of media and styles, which is evident in this exhibition. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to share our work together in the beautiful Fine Arts Gallery at the Jansen!

Exhibiting members include: 

Amy Armitage, whose vibrant paintings of wildlife express the beauty of each animal while suggesting narratives about the interrelationships between species. 

Anita Boyle is a poet, printmaker, publisher of handmade books and maker of assemblages inspired by the natural world as she tends to her bee hives, chickens and garden. 

Lynn Dee specializes in Raku ceramics, making functional ware that has been collected and enjoyed by many families here and in the Anza Borrego desert where she winters. 

Jeni Cottrell is passionate about engaging the community in the arts through events and site-specific installations (such as the crocheted Creative Circle she made for this exhibit). 

Marcia Culver is a consummate craftsman whether she’s weaving, quilting, or assembling bits of driftwood, metal, shells, and glass that she collects at her family cabin on Orcas Island.

Shirley Erickson designs large and small sculptures from metal, glass, and salvaged materials. Her symbolic work has been collected by many people and can be seen in public places around the region. 

Mary Jo Maute’s daily studio time is filled with the joy of experimentation and discovery as she composes colors and biomorphic shapes that interconnect and transform in a fluid dreamlike space. 

Deb McCunn’s ceramic sculptures playfully capture the nature of goats, sheep, wolves, rabbits, and other beloved creatures. She is especially known for her anthropomorphic female rabbits which pay homage to and comment on social stereotypes about feminine identity.

Renee Sherrer, owner of Social Fabric in downtown Bellingham, is a wizard with fabric! She designs and makes couture clothing, costumes for theater, fiber artwork, and sculpture, often with up-cycled materials.

Denise Snyder is well known for relief and free-standing sculptures and installations carefully crafted from peeled tree limbs and branches, natural fibers, paper, and metals.  

Laurie Potter captures the wonders of the woods and waterways, birds, and other wildlife in vibrant expressive representational paintings which often contain metaphorical elements.