Sequim Studio Tour: Photographer Charlotte Watts
On July 17th, 18th, and 19th Sequim Arts will host its third annual Open Studio Tour. On this year’s tour will be a total of 13 artists. This list includes, in order of the tour, Charlotte Watts, John McBride, Susan Gansert Shaw, Dana Hyde, Cynthia Thomas, Coffee Miklos, Rudy Bauer, Renee Mulikin, Lizzbeth Harper, Patricia Gordon, Richard O’Conner, Janine Hegy and myself, Susan Martin Spar.
Over the next three weeks leading up to the tour, Sequim-Port Angeles News Online will be featuring a series of articles on the artists in the order that they appear on the tour map. So sit back, cradle your coffee and let’s get started.
First on our schedule is the studio of Charlotte Watts, professional photographer. As you drive up the secluded road to Charlotte Watts’ studio, you’ll hardly need the studio tour guide map, just let your senses be your guide—not only your visual but also your other faculties. Listen to the wind whisper through the cedar and poplars and willows, and the bumblebees tasting so many blossoms it’s difficult to choose; smell the rhodies still in bloom, wild strawberries, Salal, bitter cherry and the moisture of the pond behind the gallery; know there are many animals who call this place home too, even if they aren’t seen—three coyote pups, resident bobcat pair, bear with cub, and deer of course, and over 50 species of birds whose songs compete with the frogs for claim to loudest. Remember too the humans who once called this place home, and whose spirits still do. Come calmly and gently and quietly and then enjoy the studio and surroundings—here is sanctuary for all creatures.
Charlotte Watts is an award-winning photographer who wears many hats—she retired from a 25-year practice of Emergency Medicine in 2000 after spending her last 10 years at Olympic Medical Center. Her camera was around her neck as much or more than her stethoscope, and retirement allowed her to devote all her energies to creating a wildlife sanctuary and to her art. As a Fine Art Photographer and award-winner she has been in many shows on the Peninsula, as well as Seattle, and the United States. She began teaching at the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops last year and will do so again this fall.
From stunning wildlife to sensual flowers, Charlotte’s still pictures defy time and space. She captures images that inspire action, all the while daring the viewer to look intimately within his soul. Charlotte believes that the photographic image starts the process of motion, and is motion—one in the same. Charlotte, when speaking of her work says: “When people define photography, they say that it ‘stops time’, but to me that’s not what photography does. The best images resonate in your brain and bring back dreams or cause a déjà vu, they are brief ‘brainprints’ which just begin the process of seeing, they start the arc of vision-memory-visions. The word that describes my work best is Pentimento—those many layers of oil on paint—changed and redone as the painter changed his mind or ’repented’. My style is painterly and the prints very tactile—gorgeous to the eye and hand.”
This year also saw her open her studio The Progress of Light Studios to the public—especially for advanced amateurs and professionals artists who can use her state of the art scanning and archival printing capabilities. Charlotte also teaches Photoshop on a personal one-one basis.
Another project near to Watts’ heart is the making of “Prayer Wheels for the Earth” — an idea inspired by Buddhist prayer wheels. Instead of a mantra repeated around the outside of the “wheel”, a photograph is taken of a place such as a home-owners special property, or wildlife preserve, or as in the premier piece—the grounds of Webster Woods at the Port Angeles Fine Art Center. The image is printed by Charlotte onto an aluminum sheet then wrapped around a large stainless steel cylinder, and capped by a solid copper top—designed by Charlotte and fabricated individually to her specifications. Charlotte says, “as one turns the wheel, one sends a prayer or blessing for that place out into the universe. Turning the wheel also reminds us of the cyclical renewal of all things.”
Charlotte states that the work that brings her the most joy is the raising and releasing of Wood Ducks on her sanctuary. When she first moved on her property, she found it recovering from clear-cutting and other man-made scars. But its past riparian beauty and future possibilities were evident. And most importantly – there were Wood Ducks, just a few, but coming to the pond each fall. Since 1990 she has raised and released Wood Ducks, and now the population has increased to the point that a hand-full of nesting boxes is no-longer enough: not only do Wood Ducks need them, but other cavity nesters like Hooded Mergansers increasingly use the spaces.
Charlotte’s life and art is all of a piece—inspired by her love of nature and her knowing that we must nurture all of life if our fragile planet is to survive.
I hope you’ll visit Charlotte Watt’s sanctuary during the Open Studio Tour. For scintillating preview, click here to view Charlotte’s video and check out her website at: http://www.charlottewatts.com.
