ArtSEA: Stretch the last days of summer with a NW arts road trip

La Conner offers a couple art stops in addition to its beachy boardwalk along the Samish River. The Museum of Northwest Art is presenting two powerful shows by longtime Northwest artists.

Joseph Gregory Rossano: Portraits of the Divine (through Sept. 29) is the multimedia artist’s homage to extinct animals — and plea to preserve species. His pile of shorn “ivory” tusks (made of blown glass) is particularly arresting.

Also on view at MONA: William Morris: Early Rituals (through Sept. 29), which showcases the esteemed artist’s skill at forming glass into something that looks prehistoric and only just unearthed. See his antlers, skulls and burial urns — and don’t miss the bones lurking within.

Up the hill in La Conner is the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Museum, a new favorite stop of mine, housed in the historic Gaches Mansion (1891), which boasts a scenic view. While the building is old-fashioned (and beautifully restored), the current programming isn’t, thanks in part to new executive director Carla Funk, who is bringing in more contemporary interpretations of textile art. 

Take for example Oklahoma City fiber artist Kendall Ross (known as “I’d Knit That” on social media), whose show Having a Moment (through Oct. 6) feels like a Taylor Swift spin on textile art. For Ross it’s always sweater season, thanks to her inventively knitted confessional garments featuring texts that read like diary entries. 

“Don’t mind me I’m just having a moment …” one gigantic fuchsia sweater vest begins. “I’ve got too much time to think and I love to be disappointed.” It goes on for 11 more lines of self-doubt, marching all the way down the body of the oversized garment. 

These deeply personal thoughts take on new heft when hand-knit in wool for all to see — a sort of self-imposed scarlet letter (in all colors) that challenges the trivialization of knitting as a “domestic art” for women. 

Also at the museum: a boisterous show of contemporary quilts by Fidalgo Island textile artist Julie Sevilla Drake — who happens to be featured in Episode 3 of our new show, Art by Northwest (on broadcast Aug. 16 at 8:50 p.m.; streaming online starting Aug. 19). 

As you’ll see in the episode, Drake takes a colorist’s approach to textile art, hand-dying every piece of cotton to specific formulas. But while her dying process is meticulous, her designing process is intuitive as she improvises abstract shapes that come to her in dreams and daily walks through the woods. 

And don’t miss our previous episodes, featuring Port Townsend’s Tininha Silva, who weaves wall hangings from beach finds, and Skagit Valley’s Todd Horton, whose inventions allow trees and tides to do the drawing. Bonus: Each episode is like taking a summer arts road trip from the comfort of your couch.