MOSES LAKE — Patricia Jensen has walked a long road, and it’s on display at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. 

“Those are paintings from very different time eras, probably spanning the last 30 years,” Jensen said. “They are different areas of my life, because I share my feelings and what I'm going through, through my artwork.” 

Jensen is already well known in Moses Lake for her murals at Sinkiuse Square and the Moses Lake Food Bank, among others. She moved to Phoenix, where her work was shown at numerous galleries, for 12 years and recently returned. Her exhibition, called “A Road Less Traveled,” opens with a reception at the museum Friday.  

The paintings are large and many of them feature strong colors and layers of imagery, like “Empowerment,” which depicts a woman with flowing hair and an ethereal-looking eagle over her shoulder. A closer look shows a polar bear and a panther, less visible as though they were more distant memories. Behind her the sky is split between bright daylight and the last vestiges of sunset.  

Other of Jensen’s art is more conventional, like a painting of her granddaughters running hand-in-hand and another of her daughter and grandson. 

Female strength and defiance are recurring themes in “A Road Less Traveled.” One piece shows a woman standing on a grassy hill, holding a samurai sword behind her head as she surveys the valley below. 

“It feels like you’re looking at a photograph,” said museum Communications Coordinator Natalia Zuyeva. “You just see the back of her and it feels very warrior-like to me.” 

“I was coming out of a very, very dark time, and it just felt like the world was against me,” Jensen said of the painting. “I had an attitude, like ‘I don’t care anymore. This is what’s going to happen.’ I just felt it so intensely.” 

Another is called “Batman,” although the figure in the familiar superhero’s mask is clearly a woman. Compared to many of the other paintings it’s stark, tending toward gray and black. 

“It doesn’t have hidden imagery,” Boyd said. “It’s got a different color palette. It’s got a lot of space that the others don’t have. She likes to fill the picture plane in a lot of other paintings, but in this one, we’re really focusing on the figure sitting there in an open room.” 

Not all the female empowerment in “A Road Less Traveled” is angry or defiant. “Saving the World” is done with bold lines and muted colors, showing a woman pouring a basket of butterflies into the sky. It’s one of her earlier pieces, inspired by a 19th-century painting she had seen, she said. 

“I was just enthralled at the feeling of love and peace in the world, and you start that off one person at a time,” Jensen said. “You're one person that ripples out like butterflies to change the world one person at a time.” 

The opening reception will feature refreshments along with Art After Hours, the museum’s regular art program for adults. Participants will paint tile coasters with alcohol in, a notoriously tricky medium, Boyd said. 

“I'm really excited about this show,” Zuyeva said. “I think it's very different from what we've had, especially recently. I love the mystical element … I feel like a lot of those pieces feel very empowering.” 

Observers have noticed a depth to the paintings over time.

“The more you look at them, the more you see,” Boyd said. 

‘A Road Less Traveled’ 

March 14-May 2 

Moses Lake Museum & Art Center 

401 S. Balsam St. 

Opening reception 4-7 p.m. March 14  

    Female empowerment and defiance are strong themes in Patricia Jensen’s exhibition “A Road Less Traveled,” opening Friday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.
  

    Strong colors and subtle, layered images are a common theme in Patricia Jensen’s exhibition “A Road Less Traveled.”
  

    “Saving the World” is one of the earlier pieces in “A Road Less Traveled,” opening Friday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.