Three artists from around this neck of the woods have been transformed by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, a part of a bigger world called Cascadia. Cascadia stretches along from the majestic Oregon Coast north to the inner passage islands of Puget Sound and British Columbia, from the sea to the mountains.

A resident of the Seven Lakes area of north Snohomish County, Marguerite Goff expresses her love of the natural world with ceramics. In Arlington, she is known as the fish lady; she created the Council of Salmon that hangs on the exterior wall of City Hall. She joins two friends from Camano Island who are also inspired by this natural world in a show opening Friday, Oct. 3 at the Depot Arts Gallery in Anacortes.

The show, “Cascadia – Born From Nature” illustrates how this region has affected them as artists.

A child of the Northeast, i.e. Boston, Goff admits that Cascadia has transformed her creative expression. Although most of her adult, artistic career has been spent here in the Northwest, she did begin her art studies on the East Coast.

She has made a career out of sculpting the tulips, the salmon, and the critters of this place into ceramics for a variety of uses. While she evolves from vases and dinnerware to huge wall murals, Goff continues to use the natural world as her inspiration.

“My early pottery work was very New England,” Goff said. “It was all about form and function. Obviously this place, the Northwest, has become evident in the images that I use. The salmon, of course, and the ferns and ravens. I enjoy bringing the things that I see hiking, like dogwoods and maple leaves, into my work,” Goff said, adding that the Japanese influence on pottery in the Pacific Northwest is also manifested in her work.

“This Cascadia show is giving me the opportunity to look at cultural influences as well,” she said. Goff is exploring new images, like kimono robes, that reflect that Japanese influence in Cascadia. Her raku work comprises the serendipity that is essential in Japanese art.

“In raku, I create the form, but the final product is out of my hands. Sometimes it’s beautiful; sometimes it’s awful,” Goff said.

Her fellow artists in this three-woman show, Patricia Resseguie is similarly inspired for her expressions in fiber as is Renate Trapkowski in her paintings.

“By recreating natural beauty through art, the trio has taken Cascadia out of the esoteric atmosphere and brought it into the realm of more visceral experience,” said a fan of theirs, Rosanne Cohn, who is offering her assistance in promoting the show.

Cascadia — born from nature …

… a state of mind

… a place in nature

… a multi-dimensional environment

translating nature and culture into art form.