PORT TOWNSEND — A Seattle Metals Guild exhibition at the Northwind Arts Center will highlight jewelry and sculpture created from pieces of a demolished historic schooner.
The exhibition will open Thursday and run through May 29 at the center at 701 Water St. An art talk is scheduled at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Launched in 1897, the Wawona at 165 feet long was among the largest three-masted sailing schooners ever built in North America. The ship was used to haul lumber up and down the Pacific Coast and used in the Bering Sea cod fishing trade.
In 1970, the Wawona became a National Historic Site and was the first ship in the nation to be listed on the National Register. In 2009, deemed too expensive to restore, the ship was demolished at a dry dock on the east side of Lake Union.
In 2012, artist John Grade constructed a nearly 64-foot-high sculpture using salvaged Douglas fir wood from the Wawona’s hull.
This sculpture stands within the atrium of the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. The leftover pieces of Douglas fir from this sculpture were given to Seattle Metals Guild artists, a community of jewelers, metalsmiths and artists in the greater Puget Sound area.
The artists were given full creative freedom and allowed to collaborate with one another.
For more about the show or the guild, contact exhibitions@seattlemetalsguild.org or see www.seattlemetalsguild.org/programs/exhibitions, where an online gallery will be posted after the opening.
For more about the nonprofit Northwind Arts Center, call 360-379-1086, email info@northwindarts.org or see www.northwindarts.org.
