October 2026 Director's Journal

“It gives me hope for humanity,” reflects Hilary, a Sitka Art Invitational volunteer, considering the collective impact of 100 artists from across the Pacific Northwest. “It’s such a risk to be an artist, to make art, with no certainty of reward.”

 At the 32nd annual Invitational, I find myself thinking about that risk and the creative optimism it represents. 

From the first steps into the gallery, an unexpected warmth radiates across the exhibit. Blush, rose and vivid pink move between paintings, textiles and sculptural forms, creating a sense of tenderness and exuberance. James Page’s disco ball-like photographic collage spheres orbit above Yoonhee Choi’s delicate cotton-pulp abstractions, while Anya Keyes’ lush, dreamlike paintings invite us to close our eyes and imagine worlds of our own.

Top left to right: work by Yoonhee Choi, James Page and Anya Keyes.

The exhibition has its darker enchantments, too. Around a corner, Kimberly Gronquist’s cavernous (and carnivorous?) ceramic pod rises from a tangle of glossy foliage just beyond the tree line of jesse narens’ haunted forest paintings, inviting viewers to peer inside and stray from the path. Nearby, Emily Bixler’s sculpture, A Brush for Sweeping Away Stubborn Memories, is both magical and functional.

Top front: Cosmic Womb, by Kimberly Gromquist; bottom: everythings a ghost now, by jesse narens

Circles are everywhere this year, appearing in Hilde Morin’s quilted triptych, the illuminated bamboo creations of collaborators Anne Crumpacker and JiMin Lee and sculptor Dave Haslet’s stonework. Working independently, artists explore a shared visual vocabulary.

“These shapes have no beginnings or endings,” Haslet shares. “Blood flows through our bodies in a spiral. The spirals of galaxies, the rings that radiate outward when a raindrop strikes water… they are continuous forms.”

At a time when the world is changing rapidly and many are rethinking what it means to imagine and create, this year’s Invitational offers renewal, connection and the possibility that something beautifully human is still unfolding.

Top: A Certain Rhythm #1, #2 and #3, by Hilde Morin; bottom: sculptures by Dave Haslet, Anne Crumpacker and JiMin Lee 

The more time I spend with a pair of portraits by Orlando Almanza, the more I see. In one, a woman holds an envelope addressed Para mi Alma, a message traveling from a future child to her mother in the past; her basket is filled with objects and flora imbued with medicinal and healing symbolism for life’s journey to come.

“Some of the artworks are extroverts,” observes Sheila, a third-year Invitational volunteer. Some announce themselves the moment you enter the room. Others take a little longer to reveal their personalities. “When you spend time with the art, you get to meet the introverts, too.”

Cartas para la casa/Letters home and El tiempo del río/The time of the river, by Orlando Almanza

Lingering is encouraged. So is playing.

Throughout the weekend, visitors of all ages take part in an art scavenger hunt, searching the galleries for a storm at sea, a dogwood tree and other details hidden in plain sight.

“It’s fun to see kids and teens so engaged with the art,” a visiting couple tells me on Saturday. Youth Program Director Leeauna Perry estimates the average age of this year’s scavenger hunters at about 35, with a wink toward the enthusiastic adults searching alongside the children.

“The music is so enlivening,” a visitor returning to the Invitational for the first time in years pulls me aside to share. “The next generation is here now. The whole neighborhood feels welcome.”

Above: Central Coast Jazz Alliance

The Invitational is a time-based art project. Each year, new artists enter the conversation, while longtime participants continue to experiment and surprise us. Across more than three decades, the exhibition is a collective work in progress, shaped by new work, evolving perspectives and the particular moments in which we gather.

To the volunteers, sponsors, collectors, visitors and our partners at Oregon Contemporary, thank you for making the 32nd Sitka Art Invitational such a heartfelt celebration of art and community.

Special thanks to Exhibits Coordinator Gillian Freney, exhibit curators Ruby Maly and Patty Maly, the installation team and the 2026 Sitka Art Invitational jury.

Most of all, to the artists: thank you for the risks you take, the worlds you imagine and the ripples your work will carry into the year ahead.

 Alison Dennis

Executive Director