True colors on display at Goosefoot show

An all-ages art and poetry competition on South Whidbey inspired a rainbow of responses, culminating in a colorful array of pieces now on display at the Hub Gallery in the Bayview Cash Store.

Goosefoot Community Fund and the Goose Community Grocer sponsored the contest in conjunction with a customer appreciation event held at the grocery store on Sept. 13. Submissions followed the prompt “What Does ‘Community’ on South Whidbey Mean to You?”

Director of Programs Marian Myszkowski said Goosefoot wanted to hear from members of the community directly on why living on Whidbey is so special. The organization received a variety of thoughtful, delightful and meaningful pieces, all of which are in the gallery until Nov. 10.

“Goosefoot hopes gallery visitors will be prompted to answer the questions of what community means to them, regardless of where they live,” Myszkowski said.

In addition, visitors can see art displayed by students from the Youth of Color Collective, sponsored by Langley-based Pamoja Place for the second year in a row.

South Whidbey High School freshman Luna Bartholomew submitted two artworks for the Youth of Color Collective show. Both depict the Rainbow Bridge, a Waldorf School tradition that symbolizes the transition of kindergarteners into first graders, who are welcomed by an older student. In one version, Bartholomew is the younger student, while in the other, she is the older student.

Bartholomew is also the third-place art winner for the Goosefoot art contest. Her winning entry, a mixed media painting, depicts a group of people standing outside the Goose, which Bartholomew felt was important to include.

“We are more than a community,” she said. “We’re like a family, always helping each other and everything.”

Art has been a love of hers that has developed over the years.

“I kind of self-doubted myself a little when I did enter my piece,” the Bayview area resident said. “People around me, my family and everyone, encouraged me.”

Her mother, Martha-Rocio Gil-Osorio, said she has always seen the artist in her and the potential.

Rather than submitting just her own perspective on community, Clinton resident Kara Peabody gathered two dozen responses and incorporated them into a larger project that won first place in the contest.

Peabody placed a jar at Bailey’s Corner Store that encouraged people to share something about life and community on the South End. She then traced the handwritten notes onto five different pieces of wood, using graphite paper. With the help of a wood burning tool, she made the messages permanently appear on the slabs of wood, looking as if they had been written there.

“My original project was going to be with glass but I really like working with wood,” she said.

She kept things as authentic as possible by not correcting spelling. Some of her favorite responses include one from a visiting child who enjoyed the beautiful scenery, another from a resident appreciative of people giving time, money, expertise and love and one from someone who noted feeling accepted as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Most of them are pretty touching like that,” Peabody said.

All the wood she used came from Whidbey itself, and she used paint to add color.

In a true show of community, she ended up donating her winnings to her partner Ken Stange’s campaign for Mr. South Whidbey – an annual fundraiser for Friends of Friends Medical Support Fund – which were won in an auction by a couple who then donated the money to Good Cheer.

Branden White, a Clinton farmer, claimed first place as the written winner for his poem about the care and acceptance he received as he adjusted to a new community far from his home in Atlanta, Georgia.

“It’s been a dream of mine, actually, to be out here,” he said of South Whidbey, where he is employed at Sweetwater Farm.

Observant readers will pick up on words familiar to island residents.

Part of the poem reads, “My life is turning around in this Sound, / Or maybe it’s the melody from Lake, / playing softly in the distance. / You called my Bluff, denied my Useless claim, / Spoke life to the Tilth of my soul — / rich, ready, reclaimed.”

“I wanted it to speak to this community,” White said. “If you are from here, live here, some of that will stand out to you.”

This is the first time he’s ever submitted anything for a contest, and he’s happy with the results.

(Photo by Martha-Rocio Gil-Osorio) This artwork submitted as part of the Youth of Color Collective shows Luna Bartholomew, left, as a young child participating in a Waldorf School tradition.

(Photo by Martha-Rocio Gil-Osorio) This artwork submitted as part of the Youth of Color Collective shows Luna Bartholomew, left, as an older child participating in a Waldorf School tradition.