PORT ANGELES — This winter art show has been through a lot already. It’s time for a party.
The exhibition “Material as Metaphor,” featuring art by four women from immigrant families, debuted at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center in mid-December, with the holiday season at full tilt. The public, while invited, might have been distracted.
Then, shortly before the night of the opening reception, a windstorm walloped Port Angeles. Trees and other debris made the fine arts center parking lot a no-go. Executive Director Jessica Elliott decided to postpone the Dec. 15 reception to give staff and volunteers a chance to clean up.
So the “Material as Metaphor” party, free to the public, is set for this Saturday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the fine arts center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Two of the show’s artists, English-Sri Lankan collagist Miriam Omura and Haitian potter Kira Tippenhauer, are coming out from Alabama and Florida, respectively.
Tippenhauer, the show’s curator, will give an informal talk about the art on display, and both she and Omura look forward to talking with visitors. As ever, light refreshments will be served.
“It’s a chance to meet the artists, and gain an insider’s perspective on how and why they made their pieces,” said Sarah Jane, the center’s gallery and program director.
“Gallery receptions are a lot of fun, and every one is a bit different. It makes an inexpensive date-night activity,” or a place to meet art lovers.
“Material as Metaphor,” so named because the materials in each piece contribute to its meaning, features photography, collage, ceramics, sculpture — and Filipina-American artist Kristen Soller’s single, suspended woven piece, “Trapeze Artists.”
“The other day we had a group of fiber artists stop in,” Jane said. “They were fascinated with how [Soller’s] lightweight piece moves and changes as visitors walk through the gallery.”
Omura’s antique photographs, cut into intricate feather shapes, are also getting people’s attention, she said. So is Peruvian sculptor Carolina Cueva’s piece, titled “And then I remembered, we are all mortal and youth is fleeting.”
In her talk starting around 5:15 p.m., Tippenhauer will offer her observations about these works. Jane, who first met her at an art workshop at the Grunewald Guild near Leavenworth, said Tippenhauer is a fierce speaker on the creative process.
“I’ve really appreciated Kira’s insights,” Jane said, “into the common experiences shared by young, female immigrant artists.”
For her part, Tippenhauer noted that all four “Material as Metaphor” artists come from a culture outside the United States; they grew up speaking languages other than English.
All are fluent in the language of visual art. Omura mixes hundreds of old photos with maps and drawings; Tippenhauer adds fiber to her whimsical ceramic characters. Cueva mixes media in her sculptures while Soller made her large installation out of handwoven fiber.
After Saturday’s reception, “Material” will stay on display through Feb. 17.
The fine arts center’s gallery is open, with free admission, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
For information, call 360-457-3532, visit the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center’s Facebook page or see PAFAC.org.
Antique photographs become feathers afloat in Miriam Omura’s display at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. This Saturday evening, Omura will appear at the center’s public reception.
