While Gallery 9 features gourd artist Debbie Cain and photographer Becky Stinnett for the month of March, the Grover Gallery is kicking off the second weekend of the month with artist talks by Port Townsend painter Linda Okazaki and Sequim painter and textile artist Lora Armstrong.

Okazaki earned both her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Fine Arts degrees from Washington State University where she also taught painting in the Fine Arts department, establishing its first course devoted to women’s art.

Okazaki moved to Port Townsend in 1980, and built a studio and house with her husband, Ray Weber.

Okazaki’s work has appeared in numerous gallery and museum exhibitions, including a recently mounted retrospective, “Linda Okazaki: Into the Light,” at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Fine Art.

Okazaki’s “Realms of Influence” at the Grover Gallery in March will be followed by her “Familiar Places” at the same gallery in April.

Kerry Tremain, who wrote the introductory essay to the catalog for “Linda Okazaki: Into the Light,” will interview Okazaki from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, March 7, at the Grover Gallery, while Armstrong’s artist talk at the Grover Gallery will run from 6-7 p.m. on Saturday, March 8.

Armstrong learned to knit at the age of 4, dabbled in painting, design and fashion in her teens and 20s, spinning in her 30s, nuno-felting in her 40s and weaving in her 50s.

Armstrong took up acrylic painting when her kids flew the nest, and she’s built her skills through several mentors since.

Moving onto Gallery 9’s featured artists, Cain began working with gourd art in 2005, after a number of years of working with stained glass, because she saw gourds as multi-dimensional canvases.

Cain’s artwork has included wood-burning, micro-carving and hand-painting, and she’s worked alongside Native American artists enough for many of her creations to include Native American motifs, from animals to flowers and landscapes.

Cain also uses feathers, beads, cabochons and other natural items to embellish her gourds. She also collaborates with other artists using pine needles and resin.

Cain has submitted her work to the Arizona Gourd Society, and won two ribbons in the Yucca Valley Gourd Show, a People’s Choice Award as well as a first place for Creativity.

Cain’s Blue Mountain Gourd Creations are Gallery 9’s featured 3D art for March.

Stinnett’s photography reflects her desire to preserve land and wildlife for future generations. She arrived on the Olympic Peninsula in 2013, and wanted to show off its mountains, forests and beaches to her family back in the Midwest.

Stinnett acquired her first DSLR camera in 2016, and taught herself how to use it well enough to share her explorations of  “wild places where few people have the opportunity to go.”

By reproducing that natural beauty in print, Stinnett hopes her photos will persuade others that such places are worth protecting.

Stinnet has recently focused on night skies using the camera to capture details in them that human eyes can miss, which requires both planning and luck.

Stinnett utilizes various resources to determine when and how the Milky Way will align with the foreground landscapes, and shoots as close to the new moon as possible, to ensure the skies are the darkest, while also crossing her fingers for forecasts of clear skies to hold true.

She said she finds the solitude of such shoots both intimidating and therapeutic, while the resulting photos are “inspiring” and “breathtaking” to her.

What to know

The Grover Gallery is located at 236 Taylor St. and  Gallery 9 is located at 1012 Water St. downtown.