Redmond Saturday Market features poster created by Patti Simpson Ward

The Redmond Satuday Market has chosen a poster by Patti Simpson Ward as the promotional piece for its soon-to-open 2010 season.

The market runs May 1-Oct. 30 at 7730 Leary Way.

A familiar face at the Redmond Saturday Market for the past four years, Simpson Ward is both an experienced graphic designer and fine artist who draws and paints in the American Primitive style.

Her "Meeting at the Market" poster lovingly spotlights the quality and quantity of the venue's grown-in-Washington or made-in-Washington produce, specialty foods, arts, crafts, jewelry and clothing, as well as the market's other big draw: mixing and mingling with friends and neighbors.

Simpson Ward has lived in Sammamish since it was still a part of Redmond and feels very much part of the Redmond community, not only because of her ties to the Saturday Market but her appreciation for landmarks from the Happy Valley Grange to the Clise Mansion at Marymoor Park.

She donates her services to design the Redmond Historical Society's newsletter and has art sold at, or displayed in, local buildings, including the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, the Stone House on Cleveland Street and the Windermere Real Estate office on Redmond Way.

Her renderings of famous buildings have been featured in calendars for towns and cities all over the Northwest, from Seattle and the Eastside to Snohomish, Port Townsend and her native Spokane.

She's also co-chair of the Sammamish Art Fair, which is set for Oct. 9-10 this year and is actively involved in the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane.

At the Redmond Saturday Market, Simpson Ward will sell originals and prints of her art, as well as greeting cards, magnets, calendars — and journals which contain 40 of her paintings and are good for use in any year.

"I'm getting more and more commissions from the U.S. and Europe," she remarked. "Sometimes it's homes, farm houses ... an old barn from 1910, a tug boat in La Conner. I've started doing portraits. It used to be more graphic design, now I'm doing more fine art work."

She said her Web site is her best selling tool but nothing beats the "face time" at the Redmond Saturday Market.

"I got into the market four years ago and it has been such a treat, so wonderful," said Simpson Ward. "The Saturday Market is the highlight of my summer. There are nice shade trees, I love the people who work there and the people who shop there. There's nothing else like it."

For more information about the Redmond Saturday Market, visit www.RedmondSaturdayMarket.org.

For more information about Patti Simpson Ward, visit www.pattisimpsonward.com.

Contact Redmond Reporter Reporter Mary Stevens Decker at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com or (425) 867-0353, ext. 5052.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.