Trish Harding: Separated from Normal

A painted novel of coming of age on Lummi Island

December 5, 2019 – February 28, 2020

The Jansen Art Center is pleased to welcome Trish Harding to the Library for an exhibit of her work this Winter. The exhibit, Separated from Normal, opens with a reception from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM on Thursday, December 5. Enjoy Live Music in the Piano Lounge with Walt Burkett, meet the artists and explore all of our Winter Exhibits.

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the decade of the 60’s we were the feral teenagers of a San Juan Island known as Lummi, a 12 minute ferry crossing from Gooseberry Point which is 20 minutes west of Bellingham, Washington.

I met Paddy one night when she came climbing through my bedroom window. She said she had run away from home because her dad was being impossible. “Oh, hi, nice to meet you, I’m Patti too.”

Picture a little white cinder block beach cabin on an island at the tip of a spit of land with a bay on one side and Hale’s Pass, some of Puget Sound’s fastest waters rushing by on the other side. I grew up living there in that cabin where our yard was sand and rocks and waves and at high tide and super moon the water almost lapped inside the house.

Our years spent on Lummi Island were filled with angst, fishermen, boys, driving cars, rock & roll, and Joann’s home-made raspberry wine. Ours was a friendship that would last through college at Western, crazy days at The Academy of Art College in San Francisco, first loves, true loves, family, and careers. 

My studio work begins with plein air sketches and thumbnails. Then a painting becomes a composite of images of being on the edge at sea level. A place that was wild, free, liquid and bohemian.

Lummi Island was separated from normal.