‘Four Corners of the Year’
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 months, 1 week AGO
Moses Lake Museum & Art Center Gallery Coordinator Veronica Talbot, left, and Superintendent Dollie Boyd stand in front of some of Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s exhibit “The Four Corners of the Year,” depicting the seasons From left: Hidden from the Storm,” “Kathleen!”, “View from Under” and “In Thought.”
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s painting “Spring Breeze” calls up images of a windy day in the country. The style is that of the 19th century Impressionists, using bold colors and blurred shapes to call up feelings in the viewer.
In a departure from her usual acrylic medium, Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s multimedia piece “Rooted in Knowledge” shows the deep unseen roots that underlie a bright bunch of flowers.
This Pamela Petry-McKinsey painting uses dark, bold hues to show a summer night in the woods.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | January 9, 2026 3:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center’s first exhibit of 2026 encompasses the entire calendar.
“The title of the show is ‘The Four Corners of the Year,’” said Gallery Coordinator Veronica Talbot. “It goes through all four seasons. We wanted to start with winter, since that’s where we’re currently at, and then move our way down the year.”
Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s exhibit, which opens Friday, is almost entirely done in acrylics. Her work harks back to the Impressionism of the 19th century, which emphasized feelings and spontaneity over realism, Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd said.
“I personally love the color in this show,” she said. “It’s really wonderful to have such exuberant color up on the walls in the middle of winter. … The love of nature really shines through her work.”
The paintings are arranged at the museum to evoke the shift and order of the seasons, Talbot said. “Pone” depicts a row of playground swings packed with snow; another shows a little boy waving a U.S. flag with flowers in bloom behind him.
Boyd said she has a special liking for “Spring Breeze,” which shows a row of quilts waving in the wind on a clothesline.
“I have a love of quilts,” she said. “I’m from the South, and there’s a huge quilting culture back there. We all get handed down quilts from our grandmothers. It’s kind of emotional.”
The exhibit will kick off Friday at 4 p.m. with a reception where patrons can meet Petry-McKinsey and enjoy some complimentary refreshments. Along with the reception, the museum will host Art After Hours, a regular event where adults can turn loose their inner artist without children. This time around, the featured craft will be record mandalas, upcycling old record albums into art.
“It’s the cheapest date night in Moses Lake,” Boyd said. “Free food and a free craft.”
Most, if not all, of the paintings at “Four Corners of the Year” are for sale, Boyd said. The prices vary, but the smaller canvases are particularly affordable and sell well, Boyd said.
“There’s just nothing like owning a piece of original art,” she said. “It can’t be duplicated. You can’t just go down to Walmart and buy it. You own a piece of someone’s artistic vision.”
‘The Four Corners of the Year’
By Pamela Petry-McKinsey
Jan. 9-Feb. 20
Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
401 S. Balsam St.
Opening reception 4-7 p.m. Jan. 9
Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s painting “Spring Breeze” calls up images of a windy day in the country. The style is that of the 19th century Impressionists, using bold colors and blurred shapes to call up feelings in the viewer.
In a departure from her usual acrylic medium, Pamela Petry-McKinsey’s multimedia piece “Rooted in Knowledge” shows the deep unseen roots that underlie a bright bunch of flowers.
This Pamela Petry-McKinsey painting uses dark, bold hues to show a summer night in the woods.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”