Museum of Art+History Now Open

Renovated Museum of Art + History Now Open

The Newly Imagined JCHS Museum of Art + History is now open, and we are thrilled to welcome our community back into this re-envisioned space. After an unforgettable Grand Re-Opening of the Newly Imagined Museum of Art + History, we invite everyone - whether you joined us for opening weekend or not - to come experience the transformation. With all-new exhibits throughout the building, there is plenty of time to explore, including our featured exhibition, Martha Worthley: More Love.

Martha Worthley

JCHS Museum is proud to present Martha Worthley: More Love, on view in the Ferguson Gallery from April 3 through August 23. The exhibition serves as the kickoff art exhibition for the Newly Imagined Museum, debuting alongside all new exhibits throughout the building.

Spanning nearly 40 years of creating home in Port Townsend, More Love celebrates the deeply personal and figurative work of Martha Worthley. Worthley arrived in Port Townsend a few years after graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, bringing with her the Bay Area’s lasting embrace of personal narrative and figurative painting, an influence that continues to shape her practice.

From the beginning, Worthley has drawn directly from her own life, pulling artifacts and pieces of her daily experience into her paintings and creative work. Guided by the feminist principle that “the personal is political,” she has chronicled her journey through marriage, motherhood, and the roles of householder, collector of vintage ceramics and textiles, gardener, dog lover, and now grandmother.

JCHS Board President and Chair of the Arts Advisory Committee Ann Welch shared, “Martha’s works are deeply personal and reflect the world she has crafted with love. Her paintings are filled with the collections that adorn her home and the things that she holds most dearly.  The garden paintings and the gardens that surround her home are celebratory and filled with her undaunted spirit.  She is an extremely accomplished painter and uses watercolor in a style that is uniquely her own and stretches the bounds of the medium.”

Rich with color and imagery, Worthley’s paintings invite viewers into a world shaped by family, place, and the rituals of life. As the inaugural art exhibition in the museum’s reimagined space, More Love sets the tone for a renewed commitment to celebrating regional artists and the stories that define our community.

For more information about Martha Worthley: More Love and the newly imagined JCHS Museum, please contact Tara McCauley, Director, at director@jchsmuseum.com.