By Laurelle Walsh
Three local designers – architect Ray Johnston, fine woodworker Rick Swanson and visual artist Theresa Miller – will give a multi-media presentation and panel discussion titled “Inside Out: The Secret Door” at the Merc Playhouse on Saturday (Aug. 17) at 7 p.m.
The evening is part of Confluence Gallery and Art Center’s month-long focus on design and the built environment that began with the opening of the exhibit “Inside Out” (on display until Sept. 21), and continued with last week’s Home Tour that took participants through some of the Methow’s most creative and eclectic homes.
The presenters of “Inside Out: The Secret Door” will discuss the design qualities of the thresholds and transitions in our built environments – doorways, passages from indoors to out, entry paths, gardens – and how they can reveal the “accidentally perfect transition from the safe and protected to the dramatic and exposed, from the cave to the plain, from the inside to the outside,” according to Johnston.
Each designer will share their approach in collaborating with clients “to help create spaces that give them comfort and reflect who they are,” said Swanson.
A short question-and-answer period will follow each presenter, culminating in an open a forum during which the designers will respond to audience questions from their varied perspectives.
“We hope the audience takes away a sense that they are the important part of this collaboration,” Swanson said.
Although each designer deals with different elements of the built environment, “the integrity of what we do with design is the same, working with balance, points, line, light and texture,” said Miller.
After the panel discussion, the presenters plan to move the participants across the street to Confluence Gallery to view the work on display and design of the exhibit “Inside Out.”
The event is free. The Merc Playhouse is located at 101 S. Glover St. in Twisp. For more information contact Confluence Gallery and Art Center at 997- 2787.
