Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
I visited the new Museum and Arts Center last December and showed you a couple of exhibits inside, here and here. But I didn’t take shots of the exterior on that trip. Here it is on a quiet Sunday afternoon recently. It’s still getting finishing touches but it has a nice hometown feel to it.
The Threads Count exhibit at the Museum and Arts Center has both delights and surprises. Take this hat, for example. Interesting on the face of it. Even more interesting after you read the artist’s statement by Lauralee DeLucca from Sequim:
“Stuck by a freak snowstorm in a creepy hotel in N. CA I did this to crack my kids up. It worked and doesn’t look half bad!”
The hat is constructed from…ready?…toilet paper!
There were a number of interesting hats displayed on animal heads, or “chapooches,” as they are called by Michele Delli Gatt of Port Angeles. Delli Gatt, fond of puns and word play, entitles the hat above, covered with “Pupp Pastry,” “Great Dane-ish.” Can you see why I found this exhibit so much fun?
Lest you come away thinking this exhibit is short on traditional weaving and fiber arts, here’s a glimpse of some of the beautiful, more conventional pieces. There are also fine examples of textile techniques and some lovely woven hangings. If you’re local or happen to be coming to Sequim the exhibit is well worth a visit.
I’d heard there was a textiles exhibit at the Museum and Arts Center and took a look last week. I was glad I did. While it has a selection of beautifully woven and stitched items, the displays included the sorts of whimsical items that I never fail to find delightful. One example is “The Madwoman in the Basement,” above, by Diane Williams of Port Angeles.
I love the artist’s statement: “The Madwoman in the Basement is a self-portrait. She is constructed mostly of stuff that fell to the floor of my basement studio. I swept up and had a doll. Her hair is very much like mine, thick, multi-textured, and uncontrollable. Her glasses are a scatter pin that I got for my sixth birthday. Sometimes it pays to keep everything and make messes. Her husband thinks she’s a hoarder.”
The Peace Mandala, above, is one of two items from Pat Herkal of Port Townsend that caught my eye.
This is the second piece from Pat Herkal that I liked, called “Two Time Tina.” The artist’s statement is, “Two Time Tina is as frustrated as I am with today’s technology. We are both using all our parts to try to stay current and to hold onto our past skills.” I’m no technophobe but I can definitely relate.
The “Threads Count — Textiles, Technology and Tales” exhibit will be on display through November. I’ll show you a few more pieces tomorrow.
This is Peeper Squeak, a Swedish blue duck. He hangs out at Sequim’s Museum and Arts Center on Fridays while his person volunteers there. He’s large – almost as big as a Canada goose – and a friendly sort, curious, and full of personality. He submits to wearing costumes around various holidays (there’s a picture of him costumed in the background above). And he likes to hug. Have you ever hugged a duck? Peeper Squeak has an autograph book of people he’s hugged and so far he’s hugged people from 40 U.S. states and counting.
I’d never hugged a duck. Peeper Squeak is the first, and probably the last. Really, how often do you come across hugging ducks?
There’s a best selling book called “The Boys in The Boat” by Daniel James Brown. Here’s a link to a short YouTube video about it. It’s a wonderful book about an improbable group of young men, a crew team from University of Washington, and their quest for gold at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. One of the team, Joe Rantz, came from Sequim (shown in the video and described as a “small dusty town”). Our local Museum and Arts Center (MAC) currently has an exhibit on “The Boys in the Boat,” including a smaller version of their rowing shell and memorabilia contributed by Joe Rantz’s family. The shell, Working Girl, designed and built by George Yeoman Pocock, is shown above.
Pocock revolutionized rowing shells by fitting together two long, single planks rather than multiple narrow strakes, or planks, creating lighter, more streamlined vessels. Working Girl has four positions; the University of Washington Pocock shell had eight.
In addition to the rowing shell, the exhibit includes copies of some of Rantz’s travel documents and high school keepsakes. My favorite personal item was a postcard Rantz sent his father: “Dear Pa, Here is a view of the finish of the race course where the world championship race takes place next week. By the time you get this I’ll either be chump or champ.”
The MAC is a small museum but it’s got a little bit of everything, including art, an exhibit on the local S’Klallam tribe, information about Sequim’s famous mastodon, and more. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about MAC’s Friday duck celebrity.