Introducing our 2023 Chair Artists!

Donna Auer

Donna studied painting in the BFA Program at the University of Washington under Jacob Lawrence and Robert Jones, and earlier at the Cornish College of the Arts. She also has a Masters of Counseling Psychology from Seattle University. Since 1998, she has had 2 one-woman shows, has been featured in many two-person and group exhibitions, has provided book covers for Pearson Publishing, and is in the collection of St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham.

​Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Donna’s artwork illuminates the quiet solitude of the seasons and of the Salish Sea. For this project, she utilized her many years of study in Chinese calligraphy and a former restoration of an 18th C Italian bedroom, to create a chair that she would like to sit in while contemplating her own garden.

Sean & Leneen Carr

As the daughter of an artist and boat captain, Sean is no stranger to the beauty of the Salish Sea. During her family’s yearly sailboat trips to the Gulf Islands, this 15 year old from south Whidbey sketched her surroundings daily with pencils, pastels, and her favorite, watercolors. Those journals hooked her on art that captures nature’s finest details. In addition to her art, Sean swims like the fish that adorn her chair, competing at state for South Whidbey High School this past fall. During the summer, she captains her own 14 foot sailboat, racing around various lakes and harbors.

​Joining Sean on this Adirondack adventure is fellow artist(and mother), Leneen. With a background in scientific illustration and a passion for, well, everything, Leneen spends her days tending her bountiful vegetable and flower gardens as well as supporting Sean’s far-flung adventures. she strives to instill a passion for both science and art in everyone she meets, but many wouldn’t guess that this loving momma is also hooked on salted licorice and operating boom lifts!

Rebecca Collins

Rebecca is a Washington native born into a creative family. She felt encouraged to explore all types of media; drawing, silversmithing, bronze casting, weaving, spinning, natural dyes, felting, knitting, color pencil, oil pastels and furniture making.

She has a BA from Central Washington University and an MFA from Syracuse University where she studied fine art and anthropology and added Japanese paper making, letterpress printing and book binding to her skill set.

​Rebecca loves to travel, especially to see indigenous fiber arts and traditions. Always seeing the world in terms of color and shape, and with a camera ready, travel inspires her to create new paintings, gardens and textiles.

Janie Cribbs

Janie is a self-taught artist and singer-songwriter who has lived on Whidbey Island since 1988. Growing up in the west of Ireland influenced her creative passions for both art and music.
Known for the expressive, whimsical and playful characters that inhabit her work, she paints on mostly repurposed/found beach and old barn wood. She finds great pleasure in evoking smiles and joy from the viewer. 

Rene ​Flynn-Federspiel

Rene has always wanted to be an artist. She graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975, majoring in Lithography and then worked for 23 years at Boeing, mainly as an illustrator. Rene has traveled, painted, and exhibited her work in Everett, Seattle, and several galleries on Whidbey Island after moving here in 2002.  
As a painter, Rene intends to express human emotions by providing a suspension of time and a stillness to connect the viewer to their memories or desires. She seldom includes people because they can be too distracting. She keeps organic elements to a minimum as she is more interested in the beauty of the man-made, letting architecture, usually European architectural forms, convey their long history of permanence and human/animal shelter. 
Rene's paintings can be seen at Ott & Hunter Winery Tasting Room, on First St. in Langley, Wa. ​​

Heather Forrest

Heather loves creating art using many different mediums including watercolor, acrylic, alcohol ink, and pen. She has dabbled in many different forms of art from photography to pyrography. She is a longtime Whidbey resident, living in Oak Harbor for over 30 years. Heather currently lives with her husband, children, and three Great Danes. She left her job in healthcare in late 2019 to pursue her own art business. Art is her form of self care and she loves sharing it with the world. Her goal is for her viewers to feel something from what she creates. ​

Mary Luft Gladhart

“When you hold a starfish or flower in your hand, often you may not REALLY see its complexity and connection to the rest of the world. Fibonacci’s discovery of the relationship between nature and math opened my eyes to the balance in nature and ourselves”.

Mary’s work expresses the rhythm of nature and the interconnectedness plants and animals have with each other and humanity. After working in under-developed countries in Africa and Asia for many years, much of her art is influenced by those experiences and her background in cultural anthropology.

​As a painter, Mary takes the time to “see” the beauty, vivid colors, and patterns in our world. She aims to create images of landscapes, people, and animals that are calming influences on the viewer.

Kim Kelzer

Kim has always made stuff - starting with Barbie furniture, progressing to ceramics, paintings and then on to a career as a furniture maker/teacher and along the way she has built a house (or two). In retirement she's become a glorified janitor always trying to fix and improve what she's got, garden profusely, makes collages and decorate all her mail.

Lynne Kohlwes

Lynn grew up on Vashon Island. After high school she attended DePauw University in Indiana, and then transferred to Washington State University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and Education. Lynn has been an elementary teacher for the past 40 years. Her connection to Whidbey is through her husband and his family who have been long time Island residents spanning four generations. Lynn treasures the summers spent on Mutiny Bay at her in-laws home, and with her husband, two sons and their wives, and now two grandsons. Like her “Vashon Island roots“ Whidbey Island has been a sanctuary for family time, relaxation and connections to nature.

Although not a studio artist by trade, Lynn has worked with many mediums including wood burning, and painting on glass and rock, wood and canvas. As an avid, hiker, alpine skier, and paddle boarder, her art reflects the diverse animals, landscapes, and ecosystems found from the sea to the mountains in Western Washington. Lynn favors painting with acrylic and oils, with attention to the playfulness of color and light, and the patterns that are created when balancing foreground and background space. Lynn’s hope is that her chair painting will reflect the importance of family, adventure, and the tranquility of living in the Pacific Northwest.

Tim "Airman Timmy" McCants

Tim is a retired Navy veteran who's art would most likely be categorized as lowbrow art. A mixture of comic book and skateboard style art that influenced him greatly during his youth. A self taught artist painting mostly with acrylic paints and inks on anything from skateboards to canvas or an occasional pen and ink stipple drawing on thick bristol paper. Tim currently lives in Oak Harbor with his wife and can usually be found hanging out at the local skate shop or vibing in his home studio. ​

Gail Miller

Gail has lived her life immersed in color that is sometimes subtle and soft, sometimes vibrant and vivacious. Having grown up in the Arizona desert and now having lived many years in the PNW, the differences in how the environment affects color and how people respond to it has been both a source of fascination and a challenge in encouraging people to understand how color affects them. Her background in architecture and interior design brings a structured detailing to her painted furniture, becoming the framework in which an exuberant use of color and pattern is purely to delight, engage, and give pleasure.

Kristi O'Donnell

Kristi is a multi-media artist who has been creating on Whidbey Island for thirty years, from living landscapes to colorful murals and performance art as a musician. She is an avid supporter of WIN’s mission and has been a volunteer as an artist, a lead in the kitchen, in the baking department, as a teacher and for PR via Facebook. ​

Henry Olson

Henry is a multifaceted 17-year-old with a distinct passion for nature that sprouted from a childhood spent on an organic fruit farm in Northern California. More than anything, he enjoys being in nature with a sketchbook, drawing and painting nature with emotion in a modern landscape style. 
In addition to art, Henry is a dedicated scholar with aspirations in computer science. He is also an athlete and plays varsity tennis and golf for South Whidbey High School.

Siobhan Wright

Siobhan is a multi faceted artist. Her dark symbolist creations center around Faerie tales, magic and the sacred feminine. She is a painter and an illustrator. She is inspired by Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphealite artists. Siobhan also designs and constructs theatrical head pieces, costumes and makeup, often drawing on her background in fine arts.

​Siobhan's artwork evolved from many wonderful teachers and her love of world travel, as well as her education at Art Center School of Design in Pasadena California.