BY PATRICIA DUFF
Sept. 9, 2013
Blooms Winery continues to show its support of art and artists on the island, following in the footsteps of someone who made an indelible mark on them and as an island artist.
Blooms Winery Taste for Wine & Art will show works by the late Ken Hassrick through September and October. (See “Bayview Corner gets progressive about art, walking, enjoyment”).
Ken and Virginia Bloom have arranged a show that certainly has historical significance to the island based on the many years Hassrick lived and worked here, the fellow artists with whom he associated and the women models he used in his paintings. But Hassrick’s work is extra special to the Blooms because they had the pleasure to know Ken and and his wife, Doll Hassrick, well. They pay homage to their close friend and support his mission to help other island artists with this show and sale.
Before passing away in 2004, Hassrick expressed a desire that his remaining body of work be sold to support South Whidbey artists. Hassrick’s son Matthew donated a large number of his father’s painting and drawings to the Whidbey Island Arts Council. For this show, the Blooms selected 15 pieces of Hassrick’s work, which cover a period of time in which the painter pursued a line between realism and the abstract in his depiction of the female figure.
Here’s an excerpt from Hassrick writing about his work:
I have chosen at this time in my life to express my ideas by means of the female figure, which presents effective opportunity for my purposes and is the most useful subject I could find. It is without a doubt, one of the most complicated and ever variable of subjects. In seeing these paintings, I hope you will find some of the excitement and enjoyment that I have found in creating them.
Proceeds from the sale of Hassrick’s work will support island artists through the Arts in Education program sponsored by the Whidbey Island Arts Council. This program pays for artists-in-residence to teach in local classrooms from kindergarten through high school. The funding derived from this show will be directed to support seven artists-in-residence projects planned for the 2013/14 school year.
In addition to the work of the late Ken Hassrick, Blooms will also present the work of another longtime friend, Richard Rhydes, who will show his pointillism-style landscape paintings, along with a series of charcoal figurative sketches.
The show is open now and runs through October. An Artists’ Opening Reception is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12 during the Bayview Progressive Artwalk and will include live music by DBJazz.
Visit Blooms Winery Taste for Wine & Art for more info.