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ISH B R I T B IA M COLU WAY GETA DE GU I
Floret Flower Farm’s Dazzling Blooms
Gooseberries: Crêpes to Crumble
Funding Health Care Access with Wine
Your Summer Travel
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WASHINGTON June | July
volume 37
artist in residence
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1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE JUNE | JULY 2023
Artist Taylor Hudson elevates body organs to a soulful level through paint.
artist in residence
Taylor Hudson at work in her studio.
Body and Soul
Time is on the side of Washington artist Taylor Hudson written by Ellen Hiatt | photography by Jason Redmond
ARTIST TAYLOR HUDSON sees the world through a lens of yin and yang, give and pull, trauma and joy, labor and ease. The juxtaposition of seeming opposites, and their somehow inextricably linked nature—one not existing without the other, joy made greater by hardship, both luxury and simplicity made more desirable by the very existence of the other. Her larger-than-life paintings hone in on a single human organ, laid bare by a surgical scalpel, representing the human body and its vulnerability and pain. The body and spirit, separate yet linked. Oil paints and aerosol combine to create colorful, swirling images, complex and yet approachable, jarring yet consuming. “I was thinking, what’s the deepest thing, the darkest, deepest thing,” she said, noting that having your own body cut into for heart surgery felt very invasive. “I want to use that as a visual tool to convey that depth of soul and spirit.”
Hudson has images on her computer screen that she sees daily—details of surgeries that she’s mulling over for her work. They are “impactful and beautiful and uncomfortable images,” she said. “I think I always want to convey my work, this element of the body and the spiritual together,” she said. “If someone can look at my painting and think about their own body, their own soul connection, then I feel that my work is doing exactly what I want it to be doing.” JUNE | JULY 2023
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Scenic Trips to Put on Your Summer Bucket List
Wandering
written by Ryn Pfeuffer
Every Washingtonian knows that our picture-perfect summers are the reward for enduring such long, gray winters. From Seabrook to the San Juan Islands, here are six places to put on your summer travel bucket list. Every single one of these destinations is a winner. So, whether you book a trip this year or put these on the list of places you dream about, they’re all within Washington state and suitable for a quick trip or extended stay. 52
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE JUNE | JULY 2023
Photos, from left: Monika Wieland Shields/San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, Jason Hummel Photography/State of Washington Tourism
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San Juan Islands San Juan Island Plan It State Park—the 36is a popular bucket acre park is home STAY list trip for several to some of the best Pebble Cove Farm reasons, including land-based whale ORCAS ISLAND its stunning natural watching in the www.pebblecove farm.com beauty, unique wildworld. If you want life, rich history to see more, book PLAY and abundant outa whale-watching Maya’s Legacy door activities. tour—visitors often Whale Watching From Seattle, take spot orca, humpback SAN JUAN ISLAND www.sanjuanisland and gray whales. a ferry from Anawhalewatch.com cortes to the town Take a ferry to Orof Friday Harbor on cas Island and spend EAT San Juan Island. The the day exploring the Ursa Minor ferry ride is a scenic island. Visit Moran LOPEZ ISLAND www.ursaminor experience and takes State Park and hike, lopez.com about an hour. drive or bike (May After arriving 15 to September 15) DRINK in Friday Harbor, to the top of Mount The Barnacle check into your acConstitution for ORCAS ISLAND www.thebarnacle. commodation and panoramic views of com spend the afternoon the islands. In the San Juan Island exploring the town. afternoon, head to Or take a short drive Brewing Company Eastsound and grab a SAN JUAN ISLAND to English Camp, pastry at Brown Bear www.sanjuan established by the Baking, then peruse brew.com British in the 1860s the books at Darvill’s and now a National HistoriBookstore. If the tide is low, cal Park. walk to Indian Island via a In the evening, enjoy dinner “tombolo” or raised sandbar. at Coho Restaurant. For those Or, take a ferry to Lopez staying in Friday Harbor, it’s Island and spend the day cya few blocks from the ferry cling around the island. Lopez station. The four-course tastis known for its bike-friendly ing menu is a steal at $85 roads and beautiful scenery, per person. Then, catch the so bicycles are a great way to sunset from Lime Kiln Point experience the island.
ABOVE, FROM TOP Mount Constitution on Orcas Island provides panoramic views of the San Juan Islands. Lopez Island offers stress-free cycling and gorgeous views. BELOW Enjoy world-class whale watching at Lime Kiln Point State Park on San Juan Island. (photos, from top: Carina Skrobecki Swain/State of Washington Tourism, Robert Harrison/San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, Jason Hummel Photography/State of Washington Tourism)
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Erin Benzakein has been growing dahlias for nearly 20 years. What started as a backyard cutting garden has blossomed into a robust research and education farm. (photo: Chris Benzakein)
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The Darlings of Dahlias written by Kerry Newberry
IN WASHINGTON’S beautiful Skagit Valley, a sea of show-stopping blooms from dahlias and peonies to sweet peas and zinnias brighten the landscape from spring to summer. The famed farming region is where Erin Benzakein, one of the country’s most influential farmer-florists, first started growing flowers on a 2-acre plot to cultivate beauty. At that time, she had no idea that a few years later, she’d spark a global seasonal flower movement. As Benzakein grew her floral business, she focused on illuminating the story behind the blooms—the farms, the faces, the fleeting moment in time found in each bouquet. She shared anecdotes on her blog along with slice-of-life photographs captured by her husband, Chris Benzakein, that further brought Floret to life. An enthusiastic audience quickly followed, captivated by life on a small flower farm in the Pacific Northwest. Floret continued to flourish with Erin’s three best-selling books (A Year in Flowers, Cut Flower Garden and Discovering Dahlias). In 2021, Growing Floret, a documentary series that debuted on the Magnolia Network, chronicled the couple as they expanded to a new 24-acre farm. But the heart of it all is found in these luminous photos, where Chris reminds us of simple pleasures like fuchsia-pink dahlia blooms at sunset.
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