Art of the Pacific Northwest Series -- The Art of Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula

One of my readers asked that I publish an in-depth series, so I am posting about the Art of the Pacific Northwest. It will include art from cities in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Western Montana, and British Columbia. For example, in my Murals post, I included a somewhat famous building in Portland, OR, where, like Seattle, art is everywhere! Much of the art in the four remaining areas I have never seen in-person either because I didn't stay long enough or it wasn't installed until later. As always, I will try to find a personal connection to the city and its art to make it a more interesting read. 

Let's start with Port Townsend, my all-time favorite Washington vacation getaway spot. It's scenic, historic, recreational, relaxed, and family-friendly.  We enjoy staying at Fort Worden State Park and renting the officers' housing.

Here are two photos that I took and translated into art using the PRISMA App on my phone. The first is of the Olympic Peninsula landmark, Point Wilson Lighthouse (est. 1879) in the style of Piet Mondrian. The second is a view of Puget Sound's Admiralty Inlet from the Officer's Row at Fort Worden State Park, across the parade ground. Notice how the photo app created two focal points for the resulting artwork -- (1) the pink coat of the person climbing the stairs and  (2) the simple white triangle of the sailboat off in the distance.

[from my Art Around Us post in May 2019]

In the past, the starkly furnished houses only displayed black-and-white photographs from the turn of the century when it was used as a military base. Now that they have been renovated, new artwork has appeared. We were pleasantly surprised to see large needlepoint versions of Pinkie by Thomas Lawrence and Sir Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy displayed side-by-side in the dining room. My niece and I appreciated them. BTW, prints of these flank the entryway of the Cleavers' home on Leave it to Beaver.

My niece and nephew chose Port Townsend as the backdrop for their weddings, carrying on the family tradition of visiting this treasured place and adding to our collective memories. This photo shows another view of Pt Wilson's lighthouse complete with a moody sky, windswept shore pines, and local groundcover.

There are museums at the fort and in town, some taking donations for entry or with reduced rates with seasonal passports. We've gone to PT for years and hopefully this year I can check out the Jefferson Museum of Art & History (if it's open).

Another tradition is driving or walking to one of the beaches to watch the sunset. You may also visit nearby Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island and hike to see the old military bunkers there or at Fort Worden, where there's a Marine Science Center down on the dock, adjacent to some of the camping sites.

We also bring colored chalk and draw our own temporary family art on the sidewalks in front of our rental house. Another family tradition!

I spent some time on Father's Day weekend sketching faces and figures with my grand niece. I was inspired by her T-shirt with the face of an alien creature and decided to make one of my own. There was a crazy old nautical spotlight perched atop a closet in one of the rooms we were staying in (The Crow's Nest) at the Palace Hotel. I sketched it into my drawing as some sort of shrinking ray (note the miniaturized horse).

Now for art in and around town...

Also overlooking the inlet, and between Pt Wilson and Pt Hudson, is Chief Chetzemoka Park. Since 1996, the S'Klallam Indian Chief is memorialized in a bronze statue by Dick Brown.

Like the famous "Mitt" sculpture outside Seattle's T-Mobile Park, Gerard Tsutakawa (son of George Tsutakawa) also created the bronze "Salish Sea Circle" (a.k.a. "The Big Nut") for Pope Marine Park.

Downtown, at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Rothschild House State Museum and the Bell Tower, is the Haller Fountain, affectionately known as the Greek sea nymph, Galatea. The statue was once damaged beyond repair, then re-cast in 1992 after a community fundraising effort. She reminds me of Edvard Eriksen's iconic Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark, which also suffered vandalism (See my Baltics post). The steps leading upward remind me of the (Gustav) Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway.

On our recent Father's Day trip to Port Townsend, I visited the studio of acrylic landscape artist, Don Tiller. Here is his version of Galatea. I spent a while in his gallery admiring all of his bright canvases and marveling at the movement and the arrangement of colors. We discussed how he sketches his buildings then paints modified versions into his whimsical compositions. He is not a Plein-air painter. All of his paintings are sealed with the addition of a clear topcoat which gives a consistent finish to the varied layers of acrylics.

I was able to take away a few photographs and purchased some souvenir postcards that included bales of hay, as a nod to my brother who enjoys the subject matter. Tiller's colors are warm oranges and yellows that remind me of Van Gogh's wheat fields. 

As with many photos taken in a gallery setting, one can't help but get the sheen of the light reflecting off of the surface. You get the idea of the finish I was talking about.

I was also able to visit the studio of abstract artist, Milo Redwood. I opened the door to his shop and found him sketching and taking advantage of the natural light between the windows and a red curtain. In the window, you can see the green painting with the word, 'Pisces' painted in red in the top right corner. I wish I had seen it before I wrote my Zodiac post.

Milo was working on some small colored pencil designs on Crescent board that had been covered with two coats of black gesso. I told him that they would make great art projects for my fifth-grade students. He recommended using Prism brand pencils. Like researching the hardness of chalk pastels, you need the right softness so that the color adheres properly to the gesso.

We talked about Picasso, Pollock, and Mark Rothko, who he related stories about when a colleague of his met the artist.

Another impressive piece is Leafwing, a steel sculpture installed in June 2006 along Larry Scott Trail, and created by Russell Jaqua who sadly passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) one week after its dedication.

One of the most recent installations is Matt Babcok's Great Blue statue of a blue heron (with clock) that as of 2015 lives outside the PT Community Center. It bothers me that the clock is at an angle, but I guess it had to be rigidly attached to the canted pipe of the bird's beak.

We stayed in the old Palace Hotel, a city landmark located at the corner of Tyler and Water Streets. The Captain Henry L. Tibbals Building was built in 1889 and housed many businesses over the years. Each room is named after a call girl who worked there when the hotel was a brothel (1925-33), one of many manifestations. It is said to be haunted by at least 10 spirits.

While spending time with family in one of the common area sitting rooms, I enjoyed staring at the uniquely patterned stained glass windows.

Even the third-floor ceiling had large stained glass panels.

So that's Port Townsend in a nutshell! There's much more to see and do. And it's fun to explore and discover hidden treasures. We've been going there for over 30 years and I can still find something I haven't seen.