PORT ANGELES — Alongside the book Away Out Over Everything comes Between Heaven and Earth.
Mary Peck, the woman behind both books, is a photographer whose habitat until last year was the North Olympic Peninsula.
Now she is back from a place where she found both similarity and inspiration: Bhutan.
The landlocked Himalayan kingdom and the land beside the Salish Sea similar?
Peck should know.
She published Away Out Over Everything, a sweeping ode to the Elwha River and its hidden reaches, seven years ago.
And this month, her Bhutan: Between Heaven and Earth was released, while Peck herself planned a return to her former hometown of Port Angeles for a talk on parallels.
Monday program
Peck has invited a fellow student of the Olympic Peninsula, poet and nature writer Tim McNulty, to join her for a slide program and conversation at 7 p.m. Monday at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Admission is free, while copies of Peck’s newly published book will be available for purchase.
Peck, who now lives in Santa Fe, N.M., made three trips to Bhutan between 1999 and 2005, staying for a total of six months.
The place felt familiar to her in some senses: Bhutan is remote and mountainous, and the landscape is a powerful shaper of people’s lives.
“One of the things that was really inspiring to me — one that’s directly related to the Peninsula — is how they have cared for their environment and how it’s so integrated to their way of life,” Peck said.
The forests, birds and other creatures “are so abundant, so easy to see . . . there’s a lack of automated things,” as in no gadgets nor power tools.
“So the sounds you hear, when you’re in a village or walking along a trail — people talking, bird song, animal bells — are never complicated or muffled by the things we’ve become quite used to,” she said.
“There are no airplanes flying over the countryside. So you hear the rivers run. You can hear a flock of birds take off.”
Protect environment
At the fine arts center, Peck and McNulty will explore efforts to protect such parts of the natural world.
McNulty has studied the environment from many angles.
He wrote an essay for Away Out Over Everything and is the author of 16 books, including Olympic National Park: A Natural History and the poetry collection In Blue Mountain Dusk.
McNulty has not been to Bhutan, but as an admirer of Peck’s work, he’s learned that the small nation is now developing strategies to protect its biodiversity — while fostering ecotourism.
“It’s a Buddhist culture, so it’s a little different,” McNulty said, adding, “I’m fascinated with the place.”
Peck, for her part, said Bhutan is a place with “so many hopeful things.”
It’s heartening for her to see that a country can care for its natural wonders — “and it’s possible without great affluence.”
It was important to Peck to give her first presentation on the new book here in Port Angeles, where she continues to have a community of friends.
“To go so far away from home is possible when you know there are people supporting you and who know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” she said.
“Besides the interesting parallel between the two projects, [the Olympic Peninsula] is a touchstone for me.”
For information on Monday’s presentation and other activities at the fine arts center, visit www.PAFAC.org or phone 360-457-3532.
________
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
