Joan Pinney standing in front of her water color paintings inside the Arts of Snohomish Gallery. Pinney is one of the founding members of the gallery, and has been working in watercolor since the 1980s.
Maeve Smith / UW Newslab
SNOHOMISH — A vibrant arts community is emerging in Snohomish.
There’s now a monthly art walk and get-togethers for artists. It’s an effort to foster a burgeoning art community. The monthly art walks occur on the third Thursday of each month and are supplemented by frequent artist meetups as the community is building momentum.
When asked about the current state of the art scene in Snohomish at last month’s Art Walk, mixed-media collage artist Gina Hanzsek said it’s “growing, budding and booming.”
“It seems more diversified which is neat. And there’s definitely an increasingly strong arts presence,” photographer Dave Demarest said.
In the Arts of Snohomish Gallery, on First Street, a diverse range of works decorated the walls of the galleries. There were watercolor paintings, soft pastels, photography, jewelry, collages, and more.
Artists chatted about their work with one another while inviting each other to various artist meetups — one of them being Ladies Night, a night dedicated to female-identifying artists that occurs on the third Friday of every month at Stilig Studio, 122 Ave. A.
The backbone of this emerging art scene is supported by the Snohomish Art Community (SAC), an organization that connects artists and integrates the arts into the community of Snohomish.
The community was founded by three members: Jennifer Oak, Nikki Gardner and David Flynn.
“I moved my studio into town…when I moved into Snohomish I could tell there was an art scene but I had a hard time finding the artists,” Oak said.
Oak felt like all the artists were hiding in the corner until everyone started to come out since the creation of the group.
The organization held its first meeting in November 2022 and nearly 50 people showed up. Now the organization directly promotes studio tours and art walks. It has formed a mural team and a life drawing team, while a performing arts team is currently in its initial stages of development.
“It must have been the right time because it’s been truly magical,” Oak said.
The group also hosts monthly gatherings at downtown’s Looking Glass Coffee on the third Monday evening of every month where artists can speak about their upcoming projects or types of art they want to be involved in.
Last month, they held a meetup at Flower World, a huge garden center, where artists could sketch, paint or photograph the surrounding nature.
“We are just a bunch of people who like to draw. I used to do urban sketching in Edmonds which is a ways away, so I wanted to have something that was close,” said community leader and artist Mary Klump.
The group is actively seeking grants to support artists and foster additional community projects, aiming to demonstrate its role as a resource capable of backing artists’ ideas and initiatives.
“ I would love to see everyone get recognized for their individual creativity and uniqueness and through those differences we can see that we are all alike and that’s what makes community,” said Flynn, co-founder and Snohomish City Council member.
