SAN JUAN ISLAND ART RESIDENCY SEPTEMBER 2025 

Taking advantage of Teresa Gillespie's alumni status, we returned for the sixth time to spend 5 days (September 2–7, 2025) making art at the University of Washington's Whiteley Center on San Juan Island. Dedicated to approved creative projects, the Center is part of a marine research facility called the Friday Harbor Labs. We stayed in Cabin #3, a one-bedroom facility within the complex of six cabins specifically designed for professors, graduate students, and alumni pursuing creative work.

This time Teresa focused on watercolor sketches in her sketchbook and watercolor pads of island scenes, continuing her exploration of nature themes that have proven successful in recent exhibitions. Gary worked on 4 abstract collages, building on his multimedia approach that incorporates found papers, newspaper ads, crossword puzzles, and various cloth and tissue materials.

Residency Outcomes

Gary's four collages from this residency have achieved a remarkable 100% placement rate:

• "Pieces of the Sky" — Published in Lone Mountain Literary Society, Winter 2026; submitted to the Northwest Collage Society Spring 2026 Exhibition
• "Crazy Diamond #3" — Published in Reed Magazine, Issue 159, 2026; exhibited in a solo show at the Coupeville Public Library, January 2026
• "Only a Memory" — Published in Tendon Magazine (Johns Hopkins Center for Medical Humanities), February 2026
• "Into the Mystic #4" — Submitted to Rock Salt Journal, Spring 2026

Teresa's watercolor studies from the residency became the foundation for a highly successful season of exhibitions. She showed 19 woodcut prints at the Oak Harbor Public Library in September 2025, followed by a solo show of 25 Japanese woodcuts at the Coupeville Public Library in November 2025. At the La Conner Birding Festival in January 2026, she displayed 20 framed woodcuts and sold $900 worth of prints to festival participants.

About the Artists

Teresa Gillespie, JD (University of Washington 1985) is a published poet, accomplished violinist, and visual artist who has built an impressive exhibition record. She was recently featured at the La Conner Birding Festival in January 2026 where she showed 30 Japanese style woodcut prints of regional birds, selling half the prints on display to festival participants. Her art prints have also appeared in shows at the Oak Harbor Public Library in August 2023 and May 2024, and her work was part of a 2006 retrospective covering 30 years of work at the Northwest University Hurst Gallery in Kirkland. Her watercolor sketches continue to inform her woodcut print practice and may appear in future local shows and literary journals.

GJ Gillespie is a collage artist living in a 1928 Tudor Revival farmhouse overlooking Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Inspired by art history, especially mid-century abstract expressionism and the "Northwest Mystics" who produced haunting images from this region 70 years ago, he is winner of 23 awards with art appearing in 70 shows and more than 207 publications (including 23 covers). His previous Whiteley Center work has been published in literary journals including Willows Wept Review (cover), Arboreal Literary Magazine, Red Cedar Review, and exhibited at the Museum of Northwest Art. When not making art, he runs his sketchbook company Leda Art Supply.

This September 2025 residency continues the artists' established goal to "blend science and art, realism and imagination" in the unique environment where scientific research meets natural beauty. Art made by both Gary and Teresa is posted on their web pages and social media.