PORT ANGELES — What if Sitting Bull, leader of the Lakota Sioux, were on the U.S. dollar bill?
How about putting a defiant artist — Frida Kahlo, say — on the money?
Don and Era Hamaji Farnsworth, the Oakland, Calif., artists whose show is about to open at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, do this and then some with their dollars.
“You name it, we’ve got it,” said Don, speaking of what he and Era call “art notes.” They make reimagined currency: greenbacks picturing alternatives to George Washington. About 20 notes, each with unexpected faces and quotations, appear in the Farnsworths’ exhibition.
There’s the “Immigrant Dollar,” for one, bills bearing the faces of Kahlo, Van Gogh, Goya and Duchamp. There’s the “Almighty Dollar,” with a snippet from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. And these are only part of the whole picture.
The name of the show opening Saturday is “I Forget I’m Human,” and it includes, alongside the “dollars,” large tapestries depicting a world both natural and mystical. A few lines from a poem by Wang Xiaoni inspired the title.
“Outside the window/ Sky and earth exchange silver.
“In the moonlight I forget I’m human,” Xiaoni wrote.
Era and Don will come to the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., to introduce their work with a free reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
On Sunday, the center, where admission is free, will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; after that its regular hours will be 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
The couple, collaborating artists for more than 30 years, will give a presentation at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
In this free event in the library’s Raymond Carver Room, they will show their paper making, weaving, woodcut and printmaking techniques, from the traditional to the cutting-edge. Don will discuss his quest to reproduce the texture of Renaissance-era paper, with the discoveries that came along the way. The illustrated two-hour program will include plenty of time for questions, Don said.
“I get excited about everything. I’m totally thrilled with Renaissance paper making,” he added, “and I love the tapestry-making.”
Back to the exhibition itself: The Farnsworths’ tapestries, mixed-media pieces and art notes explore the way we humans relate to the environment. They also play with symbols from the Buddhist, Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Islamic and Jungian traditions, such as umbrellas, elephants, moons and supernatural beings.
Sarah Jane, the fine arts center’s gallery and program director, finds it all poetic. The images in “I Forget I’m Human” invite people to slow down, she said, and explore the hidden layers not apparent at first glance.
“Throughout the exhibit, we will also have hands-on activities and games,” Jane added, “to help our youngest viewers explore the artwork and express their own creativity. I encourage visitors to bring the whole family, and to plan a bit of extra time to take in this lovely exhibit.”
The Farnsworths are known across the American art world as co-directors of Magnolia Editions, a fine art studio and printmaking warehouse in West Oakland. The studio has developed production techniques for artists including Kiki Smith, Squeak Carnwath, Hung Liu, Chuck Close, Alexandre Arrechea and Enrique Chagoya.
For their part, Era and Don continue to explore the art of collaboration. After all, said Don, artists have created together in workshop settings for centuries.
“We’re standing on the shoulders” of the great masters, he said.
“Everything is collaborative.”
The Farnsworths’ show will stay on display through Nov. 18. For more about the center, see www.PAFAC.org, visit the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center page on Facebook or call 360-457-3532.
