Orcas artist Michele Needham is holding an exhibit of 10 years worth of paintings that explore the human experience seen through a lens of hope. The exhibit is called “While I was Seeking” and will be at the Orcas Senior Center from Sept. 4 through Sept. 30.

Needham’s says she had a life-changing spiritual experience in 1999 that filled her with hope and joy. Since that time she has done over 400 paintings on topics from a sister’s fight with cancer to a father’s death to portraits of people dealing with struggle. The pictures were never done for a public market, but her husband has convinced her that they needed to be seen.

Nothing at the exhibit is for sale.

Needham lives in Deer Harbor with her husband, Pat, and their dog, Barney.