A community of artists from all over the island is hosting an art show full of unique, Whidbey-made treasures.

The Whidbey Allied Artists’ art show and sale will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 6 and 7, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 8, at the Recreation Hall in Coupeville.

The show features work from 16 island-based creatives who have banded together in a nonprofit support network for artists that has been around since 1958. Charlotte Gray, a member of the organization and one of the artists whose work will be featured in the upcoming show, said the event will be teeming with exciting new works, as the pandemic provided time for the participating artists to create.

“I’m sure a lot of the artists have been working steadily at home,” she said. “And so now we’ll have a lot of new items.”

The art show and sale will have works in a broad range of media, including paint, photography, ceramics and wood. Gray’s primary medium is mosaics.

Gray is relatively new to the art world; though she has always been crafty, she didn’t start taking mosaic classes until after retiring from a career in education and public service. Eventually she opened her shop, Whimsies, in the mall in downtown Oak Harbor, and last year, she moved Whimsies into her own space on Pioneer Way.

The free form of the art allows her to exercise her creative muscles while also recycling old items. Gray mosaics of all sorts of things — mirrors, shoes, violins and mannequins — have all been canvases of her craft.

“You’re taking things at times that would end up in a landfill, and recreating something totally new,” she said. “So that’s what I enjoy about it.”

Whimsies also hosts several other artists’ work, including some that will be in the upcoming art show.

Multimedia artist Libby Hammer sells her rock art in Gray’s shop. Like Gray, Hammer is a recent addition to the arts community, having only begun pursuing art within the last four years.

Hammer’s work breaks the boundaries of many traditional art forms to create something that is, in a literal sense, made of Whidbey Island. Hammer collects stones, shells, pieces of wood and other materials from Whidbey’s beaches and arranges them into pictures, such as a parent and child together.

“People connect to the rocks because they’re organic,” she said. “I feel like God just kind of gave me a gift to do something, and it’s unusual.”

Hammer said she draws inspiration for her art from her past experiences. After some significant hardships, Hammer felt broken and had to rebuild her life from the pieces.

Similarly, the rocks and shell fragments she collects are broken pieces of mountains or sea creatures, which she in turn builds into something lovely and new.

“There is beauty in broken things,” she said. “It just takes the eye of an artist to be able to put that together so other people can see it, too.”

Members of Whidbey Allied Artists display and sell their art in shops and galleries all across Whidbey Island. Margaret Livermore, Whidbey Allied Artists president and one of the artists participating in the show, said her fellow artists in the organization are a very welcoming group, and that the organization has helped many creatives find their footing as they venture into the island art scene.

“It’s a wonderful group, and we’re always looking for new people to want to join and show their work with us,” she said. “It’s a good outlet for folks.”

The group will also show their work Labor Day weekend at the Oak Harbor Music Festival and at a show in December.

Margaret Livermore’s paintings, pictured here in Garry Oak Gallery on Pioneer Way, will be shown at the Whidbey Allied Artists art show next month.

Libby Hammer’s unique rock art uses organic materials gathered from Whidbey Island beaches.

Charlotte Gray’s mosaic art can be found in her shop, Whimsies, on Pioneer Way.