PORT ANGELES — Walk in here, and you’re enveloped in visions and dreams.
Whales to hummingbirds, “Pocket Spirits” and mystical masks, cedar baskets and deerskin moccasins await inside the Lower Elwha Gallery & Gift at the Lower Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E. First St.
The place is filled with Pacific Northwest pleasures, from visual art to hot espresso.
Following Thursday’s ribbon-cutting, the 844-square-foot store on the northeast corner of First and Peabody streets in Port Angeles continues its grand opening festivities both today and Saturday, with free gifts for the first 50 customers and 50-cent discounts on coffee-bar beverages.
The art gallery, gift shop and beverage counter are open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
This is a home not only for Lower Elwha Klallam art, but also for the drums, blankets, prints, baskets and other creations from Canada’s First Nations people and other tribes including the Makah of Neah Bay, said gallery manager Teresa Sanders.
The priciest item is a $5,000 cedar hat from Makah weaver Carl Irving’s hands — while a few feet away are note cards, bookmarks, pens and journals under $10.
“We go from very high end,” Sanders said, “all the way down to a dollar.”
And those “Pocket Spirits,” coin-like disks bearing inspirational symbols — a salmon for determination, a butterfly for grace, a beaver for focus — sell for $2, while blank books with vivid tribal-art covers go for $3 apiece.
In the $250 to $2,400 range are the drums, masks and paintings on the gallery’s rear wall.
There, Makahs such as Micah McCarty of Neah Bay — who also is chairman of the Makah Tribal Council — share space with Elwha tribal artists Darrell Charles of Port Angeles and Roger Fernandes of Seattle.
Near the front entrance, meantime, is a table offering the delicate handiwork of S’Klallam basket weaver Vicki L. Charles-Trudeau of Quinault.
Everywhere in between are the images of the wild Northwest: green frogs, blue-winged dragonflies and of course schools of red salmon swimming across silk scarves, hooded sweatshirts, neckties, magnets, aprons, caps, blankets and temporary tattoos.
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles, however, wants even more.
“We’re really trying to do an outreach to our local artists,” she said, using a cross-border definition of local.
“We have a lot of relatives in Canada” who could market their art here, she said.
“We want to hit the younger generation” and encourage them to “bring [their art] in, see how they do and go from there.”
Lower Elwha Gallery & Gift isn’t open Sundays — yet. Charles said she and the tribe will be watching to see what shoppers want.
The gallery and shop have always been part of the Elwhas’ plan for the Heritage Center since before it opened last year.
The 9,808-square-foot center is the profoundly remodeled former Perry’s tire shop and a spacious place where the tribe now holds classes and rents meeting rooms to the public.
Its facilities include a 683-square-foot commercial kitchen and space for conferences and receptions.
To find out more about the Heritage Center and Lower Elwha Gallery & Gift, phone 360-417-8545.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
