PORT ANGELES — With his enormous sculptural sign to be unveiled Friday, Clark Mundy seeks to give people a whole new experience.
The copper and stainless steel creation, at 18 feet long and 4 feet high, forms a new entryway for the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles’ place to explore the undersea world.
For much of its 30-year history, the center on City Pier at 315 N. Lincoln St. hasn’t been all that noticeable to passers-by.
But through the unveiling — just one element of Friday’s summer-opening party from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. — that will change.
The public is invited, and admission is free to the celebration, which has among its other highlights a performance by the Elwha Klallam Singers and Dancers, refreshments and the debut of the Feiro’s new logo.
Giant octopus
Mundy’s entrance sculpture, to be visible from the Waterfront Trail as well as from Front Street, stars Lucy, a giant copper octopus.
“She is just plain gorgeous,” Mundy said, adding that she shares her space with four Elwha River chinook salmon and his “cool” copper crab, a crustacean with its claws up, alongside symbols of human hands in a gesture of welcome.
“I wanted to do something that will draw people together,” Mundy said.
Betsy Wharton, vice president of the Feiro board of directors, “dreamed up the idea,” he added, for an octopus on the roof.
Then, “I sat out there and sketched . . . and I had a vision, that’s all.”
Mundy has been sculpting Lucy, the crab and the Elwha chinook since last fall.
The work honors the members of this community, he said, adding that the Lower Elwha Klallam people are represented by the Elwha salmon.
The sculptural sign also includes 12-inch-high letters announcing to visitors that they have arrived at the Feiro Marine Life Center.
Mundy’s installation is funded by a $10,798 matching grant with the city of Port Angeles; the Feiro raised half, and the city provided the rest, said Feiro Director Deborah Moriarty.
Inside the Feiro Marine Life Center, more art and science await.
Larry Eifert, a Port Townsend artist known for his work for America’s national parks, has created 12 interpretive panels telling the story of the Elwha River — soon to be set free through removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams in September.
In his vivid mural, Eifert shows how the nearshore — where river and sea commingle — could flourish after the nearly century-old dams are gone.
“These big paintings are always fun for me. I just never get tired of figuring out how to somehow ‘build’ all these 3-D plants and critters into a somewhat realistic and complex world of only two dimensions,” Eifert writes in his blog, available via www.LarryEifert.com.
Both Eifert and Mundy are feeling gratitude for their connection to the Feiro, the Elwha and their communities of human and waterborne life.
Part of restoration effort
The Elwha River Restoration effort, Eifert noted, is a “forward-thinking environmental project” and the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
Mundy, whose work graces many public spaces, art galleries and community festivals across the Pacific Northwest, paid tribute to a fellow Port Angeles artist: Paul LaBrie, whose Blow Hard Glass studio is nearby at 110 E. Railroad Ave., added the one aspect of the entrance sculpture that isn’t copper or steel.
“LaBrie blew a glass eye for Lucy,” the octopus, Mundy said.
“The afternoon sun will backlight it.”
More details about and photographs from the Feiro are now visible on the center’s new website, www.FeiroMarineLifeCenter.org.
The actual center has switched to its summertime hours, which are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. To reach the staff, phone 360-417-6254.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
