Recent Exchange Highlights Community Engagement and Artistic Collaboration

Article by Patricia Duff, independent journalist

*Thato Kokwana at Hude's studio Greenbank Sept. 2025.*

Whidbey Island continues to foster its reputation as a vibrant hub for artistic exchange, recently welcoming two young glassblowers from Pretoria, South Africa—Kgomotso Mtsweni and Thato Kokwana. Both artists are fine art graduates of Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria. Their visit, hosted by WIAC President and longtime glass artist Katrina Hude through the Kay Parsons Memorial Fund, exemplifies the Whidbey Island Arts Council’s vision of connecting the community with creative minds from around the world.

The exchange was inspired by the late WIAC president and painter, Kay Parsons, whose belief in art as a shared journey encouraged community action and global collaboration. As WIAC's newest grant program available to WIAC members and member organizations, provides funds which will allow local recipients to sponsor professional and/or emerging artists of merit from economically challenged backgrounds for a creative residency on Whidbey Island. These visits will serve the needs of both the artist and Whidbey's creative community.

Hude first met Mtsweni and Kokwana while teaching a workshop at a glassblowers’ conference in South Africa. Their journey to Whidbey followed a stint with other reputable glassblowers in San Francisco. During their 10-day stay, the South African artists shared their passion to learn from experienced glass artists in America, while deepening cross-cultural ties.

This visit is part of a larger effort to position Whidbey Island not merely as a tourist destination for arts and crafts, but as a place where artists and the community actively engage, exchange ideas, and strengthen the global circle of creativity. As the Arts Council continues to welcome visiting artists of all media, Whidbey Island’s legacy grows ever richer—shaped by meaningful encounters and a shared commitment to artistic growth.

WIAC Members Can Engage and Inspire

“Whidbey is a place where professional artists come together to engage and inspire the community. Not just a place to sell arts and crafts to tourists,” Hude said. “We’d like our members to engage our community with visiting artists of all kinds from all over the world.”

Hude wants to inform members about how the council can provide a tax-free platform to support artists in a unique way: by bringing them into the community to share their experiences. This is more than a donation. The goal is to host artists each summer, though the exact timing is flexible and up to the hosts.

Funds will be raised through donations and crowdfunding and will cover travel expenses and a stipend for food for five days on the island with the WIAC member host.

“It’s important for the visiting artists to engage in the community,” Hude noted. “These artists and their hosts can make lifelong friends in the places they stay. The idea is to make the world a smaller, more friendly place one person at a time.”

Contact Katrina Hude for more information.

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