Blue Whole Gallery exhibit to spotlight Sequim’s ‘Spacious Skies’

By Sequim Gazette Staff • October 26, 2022 1:30 am

Jolene Sanborn and Julie Senf, artists and friends, lead the celebration of the great Olympic Peninsula in beautiful autumn with their colorful paintings with “Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies!,” the new exhibit at Blue Whole Gallery throughout the month of November.

A meet-the-artist event is set for 5-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, during the First Friday Art Walk at the gallery, 129 W. Washington St.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday, and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sundays.

Sanborn was born in Colorado, where she spent her summers in the mountains at a family ranch. Family vacations were spent camping and fishing. She moved to Washington state 45 years ago, and said she spends as much time as she can outside and in the mountains. The views and scenery of the Olympic Peninsula feed her spirit and inspire her painting.

Senf was born in Washington state and lived part of her early childhood in Alaska, but has been living on the Olympic Peninsula for more than 45 years. She has been an avid outdoors person her whole life. She said she loves the peninsula with its grandeur and vistas — that it speaks to her soul, grounds her Christian beliefs and inspires her art.

The artists, gallery representatives note, are great friends, having met eight years ago.

“They chose to title their windows ‘Oh Beautiful for Spacious Sky’ out of their love of the peninsula and their deep concern for the political division in the country they both love so much,” gallery representatives note.

“One is deeply conservative, the other very liberal. They honor their differences, respect each other’s opinions and revel in the values they share … a mutual love of art, life, and our community.”

For more information, visit bluewholegallery.com.