Camano Gateway Gallery

Molly LeMaster’s world class art is accessible to all for viewing and collecting in the beautiful, relaxed environment that is the Gateway Gallery. This space is for members of the Camano Arts Association who are at every level of their development and exploration as artists, from established artists like Molly, John Ebner, Barbara Noonan and Debbie Kluge, to emerging and mid-career artists who build confidence with each showing of a piece in a gallery setting. The camaraderie of this creative community is palpable when you walk through the door of the Gateway Gallery- stop in, you’ll walk away wanting to be a part of this fellowship of artists, and perhaps owning a piece of art you’ll enjoy for years to come.

Artist reception: Friday June 21 4-6
Molly LeMaster: watercolor, acrylics, mixed media

Molly is a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and participated in 23 of the Camano Island Studio Tours! She took a sabbatical this May- how lucky we are to have an opportunity this year to see her work in the lovely Gateway Gallery.

Another weekend demo! Debra LePage painting on vepo, a slick surfaced paper that receives her watercolors in a different way than typical hard or soft pressed paper.

Debra routinely volunteers to cover shifts at our chapel-like gallery. Come visit us- the little red Camano Gateway building at Freedom Park

Tomorrow from 12-4 come in to flip through our portfolio of Studio Tour Posters from years past! Almost all of the 24 tour posters are available for a $20 minimum donation to the Camano Arts Association’s Scholarship Fund. Each year we financially assist graduating Stanwood High Seniors as they set out to pursue advanced education in visual arts. The wonderful Stanwood Camano Area Foundation arranges a scholarship night every Spring- in 2024 it was just last week.

Did you hit traffic from Stanwood trying to get onto the island? Relax your brain with some ART!!!

CAA members Bob and Patt Causey at the Gateway Gallery today, ready to welcome you! Bob has set up a demo: here he is applying an underglaze then carving a decorative pattern into a mug.

After calming down with art, pick your heart rate back up to a healthy, energetic level by walking further into Freedom Park for the Pride Party!!! Lots of vendors set up, and wonderfully happy humans celebrating love.

Come in! Come in! Our sweetest little space is humming with good energy.

We’ve bumbled around this last year, figuring out who in CAA would do what parts of what needs to be done to run a little gallery/gift shop/visitor center. Still not without hiccups but the mood is so good now. Like we know the ‘why’ includes so much more than the potential to make money for individual artists.

As we saw during the Studio Tour, this place really is becoming a hub for our local creatives, where we come in to meet each other and see each other’s work. Visitors to the island are tumbling in, often from the playground, finding our gem of a building sparking inside with refracted light from Jack Archibald’s stained glass wall. They say “Oh! What a surprise! It seems so small from the outside! This is delightful!”

We have a multitude of local, community run non-profits all of which seem to have reason to work together on parts of this gallery. The Camano Chamber of Commerce, the Freedom Park Association, The Stanwood Camano Arts Advocacy Commission, for example. It’s a hub like our wonderful Stanwood based non-profit supporting organization, the Stanwood Camano Area Foundation, where we non profit geeks get to know each other and how we can maximize our collective impact on our community.

Okay, that’s enough. I’ll leave it at…
Come in! Come in!






We are now in a phase of making it feel more permanent. We have a grant from the county to have a sign designed and built instead of the feather flags (which seem to declare more of a fort than a gallery!).

Come visit our beautiful, light filled gallery. Member artists of the Camano Arts Association, the group that produces the annual Camano Island Studio Tour, now in its 25th year.

During this year’s tour, light and airy jewelry from Amy Bush takes over a corner of the gallery as it becomes venue #20 on your brochure map. The walls have examples of work from many other of our tour artists.

Here til 5pm on Mother’s Day, then next weekend:
Friday May 17 12-4
Saturday May 18 10-5
Sunday May 19 10-5

Art enthusiasts stopping into the Gateway Gallery today to peek at the sampling of work from CAA member artists we have on the walls to help plan out their tour.

Camano As Association’s President, Amy Bush, is there 10-5 to answer questions about the history of the tour, the gallery, the association, and her own jewelry which is on display- perfect for Mother’s Day gifting.

Friends!
The Stanwood Camano Arts Advocacy Comission (SCAAC) generously offered to be a place in Stanwood for visitors to the tour to stop for a booklet/brochure and they do NOT have enough volunteers.

Friends, if you are coming to the island this weekend or next, you need not have any experience at all- just be an advocate of the arts. Spend two hours in a REALLY COOL mobile art center that you can tell people about back in whatever town you are visiting from.

Putting a link to a sign up in comments.

A new show has arrived!

Studio Tour and Beyond features examples of work by many of the artists on the 25th Annual Studio Tour while also including non-tour artist members of the Camano Arts Association.

Stop in tomorrow 12-4 to pick up a tour brochure/booklet and see the new show. You’ll notice a large blank display that will be filled with the work of starting on the first day of the tour, Friday May 10.

The self guided Studio Tour around Camano Island and in adjacent Stanwood is free! Stops are open from 10-5 each day May 10, 11, 12 & 18, 19.

Cluster of pretty ceramic vases from Yonnah Ben Levy next to wooden objects by
Painting by Jeanette Mahoney and sconces by Brenda Bolte.

I studied interior design 20+ years ago; the best advice I can give from those years of study? Fill your home only with things you love, that give you joy just to rest your eyes upon them.

‘Barnum Point Inlet’ giclee (original in watercolor) by John Ebner at the Camano Arts Association’s Gateway Gallery.

Fun Fact: the Gateway Gallery exists is because John’s wife Paula told him she noticed the Gateway was for lease and that CAA ought to have it as a gallery. John called Amy Bush, then CAA’s President, and suggested she look into it. A year and a half later there is a darling, colorful, life filled gallery!!!

‘Watching Pigs Fly’ by longtime Camano resident Jack Gunter at the Gateway Gallery.

Read about the history of the gateway- which Jack helped to build 25 years ago- at camanoarts.org/gateway-gallery/ for a picture of Jack climbing a ladder as the glass was installed! Also, go to camanoarts.org/about/media/ to listen to a fun interview with Jack on KNKX about his days on the Camano Chamber in the 1990s.

What’s in this building? Something for locals and visitors alike.

A friendly, approachable gallery featuring the fine art and craft of established and emerging artist members of the Camano Arts Association (CAA). CAA is the producer of the annual Camano Island Studio Tour, heading towards its 25th year in 2024!

We also host a Camano Chamber of Commerce visitor ‘kiosk’, a virtual visitors center. Come in and check it out!

We work side by side with the Freedom Park Association, the Camano Island Chamber of Commerce and the Stanwood Camano Arts Advocacy Commission and other local arts groups.

Limited hours as we grow into this new project, staffing with volunteers

These cheerful mugs are available to purchase at the Gateway Gallery. A fundraiser for the art classrooms of Stanwood Middle School and Stanwood High School, proceeds collected go to purchasing art supplies for students.

Handwoven scarves and shawls by Camano weaver Kathy Edelman Hutchinson are exquisite. Hand dyed fiber, colors woven together just so. The sun is out but cold nights remain for a few more months- gift one of these unique and special pieces to a loved one.

Virtual Visitor Center ‘kiosk’ inside the Gateway Gallery allows visitors to search for things to see, places to eat, trails to hike, lodging etc

Come view/collect/gift work from 15 Camano and Stanwood based artists! Gateway gallery open Fri/Sat/Sun or by appointment [email protected]

This show is a good preview to some of the work you’ll see on the 25th Annual Camano Island Studio Tour this May. The Camano Arts Association produces the tour, but has dozens more member artists not on the tour- they are encouraged to show their work at the gallery!

Solo show by Monika DeNasha showcases her intricate beadwork. Group wall includes perennial favorites and handcrafted lighting by Brenda Bolte of Ambient Art, jewelry by and woven textiles by Kathy Edelman Hutchinson, wood and stone sculptures from glass from works by

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Oh yes. We are going to party.

Artist reception this Saturday
March 30 from 3pm to 5pm
LIVE MUSIC! Bluegrass from
Band of Friends
Celebrate Monika DeNasha and 15 other CAA member artists! Make sure to see the whole line up in the second picture here.

Detail of a beaded bag with deer dewclaws by Monika DeNasha.

At the Gateway Gallery through April 28, Preserving the Past and the Present for the Future: Beadwork Based on Tradition

Pretty colors abound in Dolors Ruscha’s work, just like Springtime.

is a longtime Camano Island resident, raising her now grown children here and building her business, Accents in Glass. Her work is sold on the island at the Matzke Fine Art Gallery, at her own gallery (seasonal), and at the Gateway Gallery. Look for recent collaborative work she is making with her life partner, Rick Wesley- beautiful gates and large scale sculptures. There is an example of a gate at Matzke’s!