Whidbey artists showcase joy in steampunk lamps and floral paintings

Joy takes shape in Langley

At the Lasher Gallery inside the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Chris Spencer and Louie Rochon are showing that joy does not have to stay small. Their exhibit runs through May 31 and was introduced with an opening reception scheduled for April 10 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., giving South Whidbey a chance to see how two very different artists can arrive at the same emotional destination.

The pairing works because it is not neat or predictable. Spencer brings salvaged metal, mechanical odds and ends, and a steampunk sensibility that WICA describes as a reallocation of discarded artifacts joined with creative imagination. Rochon brings large floral paintings, loose canvas, and a color-forward style that is meant to brighten the day. Together, they create a show that feels less like a routine gallery stop and more like a public reminder that beauty can be built from scrap, memory, motion, and care.

What Spencer builds from salvage

Spencer’s work turns found materials into functional art that still feels playful. His steampunk lamps are not just decorative objects, they are working lamps with a personality, shaped from discarded pieces that have been given a second life. WICA’s gallery listing also notes that his additional sculptures tell a humorous story, which matters because the laughter in these objects is part of the point.

The effect is especially strong when the metalwork is placed beside Rochon’s floral canvases. Spencer’s pieces carry the weight and texture of industry, but they are softened by whimsy. That mix gives the show an unusual emotional range, because the lamps are built from hard material yet aimed at a lighthearted result. In a community where resourcefulness is often a necessity, his approach feels familiar and inventive at the same time.

What Rochon paints, and why it lands so hard

Rochon’s work takes the opposite route visually, but it arrives at the same place emotionally. He paints large floral works on loose canvas, often on the floor, with music playing, in a process that is physical, fast, and emotionally intense. Whidbey Working Artists says he works in abstract, expressionist, and impressionist styles, using bold colors and loose lines to express joy and a deep appreciation of nature.

His own site describes the work as “Happy Art,” a phrase that fits the message without making the paintings feel shallow. The goal is to celebrate color, joy, and creativity, and to uplift and brighten viewers’ days. That mission carries extra weight because Rochon has said painting helps his mental health. He lives with bipolar disorder and describes art as therapy, which gives the exhibition a deeper human dimension than a simple show of bright walls and pretty flowers.

That personal layer matters. When visitors say his paintings make them happy, Rochon is not hearing a decorative compliment, he is hearing that the work is doing what he intended it to do: offering lift, energy, and relief. In a time when many people are carrying stress quietly, that kind of art can feel like a form of community care.

Why this resonates on Whidbey right now

The show feels especially local because it is rooted in recognizable places and real access points. The Lasher Gallery is part of the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley, a venue that keeps island creativity visible in a town where people already gather for daily life, ferry travel, and errands. Rochon’s own Rochon Fine Art Studio & Gallery is at 4777 Commercial Street in Clinton, only a short walk from the Clinton Ferry, so the work is tied not just to exhibition space but to the rhythm of island movement.

That matters for Island County because arts coverage is often strongest when it is connected to places people actually pass through. Rochon Fine Art is open most weekends from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by chance, or by appointment, which makes the work accessible beyond a one-night opening. The gallery location also means visitors can move between Langley and Clinton and see how the same impulse toward color and invention shows up in both the public exhibition and Rochon’s own studio setting.

For Whidbey readers, the appeal is not abstract. Spencer’s lamps and Rochon’s canvases are specific, local, and unmistakably handmade. One turns discarded metal into something that glows; the other turns paint, motion, and music into flowers that seem to open across the canvas. The emotional message is the same in both cases: joy can be constructed, enlarged, and shared.

What to look for in the gallery

When you step into the show, the easiest way to take it in is to look for contrasts that still feel unified.

• Spencer’s functional lamps show how industrial scraps can become warm, whimsical light.

• His humorous sculptures add a narrative edge, giving the show a sense of story as well as craft.

• Rochon’s large-scale floral paintings reward distance and closeness, because the loose lines and bold colors read differently depending on where you stand.

• The music-driven, floor-based painting process shows up in the energy of the finished work, which feels spontaneous without being random.

The result is a show that does more than decorate a wall. It argues, quietly but insistently, that optimism has a place in public life, and that on Whidbey, joy can be built with salvaged metal, broad brushstrokes, and enough imagination to make both feel necessary.