PORT TOWNSEND — Artist and community organizer Sara Mall Johani has a new book out: “Mine, Yours, Nobody’s: My Story of Wild Olympic Salmon,” and she’s coming to the Jefferson Museum of Art & History to sign copies from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
This is a time of transition for Johani. Her husband, the sculptor, writer and philosopher Tom Jay, died in 2019. In her studio deep in the woods, she’s making new art and marveling at the way her book turned out.
Thanks to designer Kerry Tremain, Johani said, the slim paperback blends photos and text to tell the story of Wild Olympic Salmon, the organization she and Jay started 35 years ago.
Together with other artists and educators, they put together the yearly Salmon Festival as well as other salmon-related activities around the Puget Sound region.
“Mine, Yours, Nobody’s” documents “a spirited and inspiring experiment,” Johani writes in the book’s end note.
When asked whether she’ll give a formal talk Saturday, she said that’s not her style.
“I like things to speak for themselves,” said Johani, 75.
As she releases her book into the world, Johani is also letting go of some of the old things she no longer uses. Two of these are the giant molds Jay made, more than two decades ago, for some 100 salmon sculptures for public display in cities across the Pacific Northwest. Images and information about the project can be found at soulsalmon.org.
Johani is selling the molds, which are made of fiberglass and silicone rubber suitable for sculpture in just about any material. At about 9 feet in length, the molds come with custom paraphernalia that helps with filling them. Johani can be reached via her website, www.thelateralline.com.
Copies of her book, meantime, will be available for purchase at Saturday’s signing and can be ordered by emailing Johani at housojay@olympus.net.
________
Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
