PORT ANGELES — At the inaugural night of the Dinner Talk series at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, about one-third of the people were stepping inside the place for the first time.
“My favorite part,” said Sarah Jane, fine arts center gallery and program director, “was the crowd it attracted. People were excited about meeting and connecting … Several people came alone,” and were quickly swept up in the conversation.
That January Dinner Talk, titled “Art and Activism,” is to be followed this Monday with the second one simply called “Let’s Talk about Art.”
The evening from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. features an Indian-inspired meal of vegetarian paneer curry over basmati rice accompanied by a turmeric cabbage slaw with halvah for dessert.
Port Angeles chef Scottie Sinclair is putting it together, and for those who love spice, he’ll provide a sweet -and-sour green mango-pickle condiment with ginger to go on top of the curry.
The Webster House art gallery is the venue at the PAFAC, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The talk part also should be flavorful, Jane added.
This dinner is for “anyone who’s ever walked into a museum or gallery and thought, ‘What’s that all about!?’ — in other words, pretty much everyone,” she said.
To get the discussion rolling, Jane will chat with Mike Middlestead of Port Angeles and Ramon Cerna of Moses Lake. Middlestead, a retired Coast Guard officer who took up ceramics five years ago, is an enthusiastic artist and art aficionado, while Cerna has been exhibit installer at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center for 17 years now.
Cerna has “great insights about how to become more comfortable and curious in approaching new artwork,” Jane said. She’ll add to the conversation her own perspective as gallery director and as a working artist, and PAFAC executive director Jessica Elliott will serve as moderator.
Tickets to “Let’s Talk about Art” are $40 including the catered dinner and a glass of beer or wine. Reservations can be made at www.pafac.org; click on Exhibitions and Events. The center can also be reached at 360-457-3532; it’s open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
Jane said she, Elliott, Cerna and Middlestead will delve into how artwork can be challenging and even baffling — and how it’s that kind of work that can be most powerful for the viewer. They will also discuss some of the inside baseball of the art world.
“As far back as I can remember, art and creative thinkers have always drawn me in,” Cerna wrote in an email.
He’s watched the Moses Lake Museum be reincarnated several times. It serves a rural, working community of people who don’t necessarily see how art fits into their lives, he said.
“We have a constant struggle to get them to come in and see shows,” but as soon as people feel welcome to own their own opinions about what art is, they start to have a good time. The message at the museum is not “This is art,” but rather the questions: “Is this art? What makes it so?”
Personally, Cerna said, he’s become more open-minded toward art by understanding that there is not one single definition out there.
Elliott, for her part, added that one doesn’t need a degree to delight in seeing and talking about the art at PAFAC.
“Our gallery exhibits and events are for everyone,” she said, “regardless of your background and prior experiences with art.”
Both Elliott and Jane look forward to another evening with a mix of people all up for a good talk over dinner. Monday’s gathering is part of an ongoing series at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, which also has a spring and summer schedule of free art exhibitions. On display now is “Mothers & Makers,” photographer Jessica Holleque’s exhibition of black-and-white images depicting artists who also are moms.
“I love that we’re not just hosting a one-time event,” Jane said, “but opening a conversation that continues to grow beyond this evening together.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz, a former features editor for the Peninsula Daily News, is a freelance writer living in Port Townsend.
