PORT ANGELES — Dinner, art and conversation from scratch: the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center staff wants it all.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, the center will host “Art as Activism,” a dinner talk at its gallery, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Friendly people of all backgrounds and political persuasions are invited, said center gallery and program director Sarah Jane, who added that this is the first in a series of dinner gatherings addressing how the arts are relevant in American life.
“I love combining good food with good art and conversation,” and activism seemed relevant on this day, said Scottie Sinclair, the Port Angeles chef and artist who will cook up the meal.
He plans a supper of turmeric-ginger roasted chicken, fresh steamed green beans, mixed green salad with his tahini dressing, coconut lime rice pilaf and for dessert, his ginger bars.
Tickets are $35 including the 5:30 p.m. dinner and a glass of red or white wine, while reservations are available at www.pafac.org.
The evening will start out with Peninsula College student actor Ashley Rosser’s reading on “art is never enough” from Tony Kushner’s play “A Bright Room Called Day.”
Then Program Director Sarah Jane, along with theater professor Kelly Doran and Jessica Elliott, executive director of the fine arts center, will get the discussion going.
Doran, with her students at Peninsula College, is developing a performance about opioid abuse on the North Olympic Peninsula. She also teaches theater to the men of the Black Prisoners Caucus at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.
Jane, a multimedia artist, has projects including “Mere Objects,” an ongoing, participatory work honoring people who’ve experienced sexual violence.
She’s also been involved in artisan job training as part of a job-creation effort for mothers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
You don’t have to belong to any particular profession or party to enjoy this dinner talk, Jane emphasized.
“Regardless of our formal background,” she said, “the impulse to create and the desire for a better world are part of our shared human experience.”
The evening’s discussion will touch on artists who’ve been part of movements for social change over the years, and include Doran’s and Jane’s own experiences.
“Each of us will talk about some of the challenges,” Jane said, “and share ways that we’ve seen our work have an impact.” She’ll encourage everyone to join in the conversation.
The fine arts center, meanwhile, has a related show up right now: “Material as Metaphor,” an exhibition of art by four women from immigrant families. The show, on display through Feb. 17, is free to the public in the center’s gallery, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
