PORT ANGELES — Starting tonight, the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center will be in two places at once.
And for the first time, the center’s annual holiday gift market will be downtown, inside The Landing mall at 115 E. Railroad Ave.
Art Is a Gift, showcasing present-friendly original art, opens this evening with a sneak preview for Friends of the Fine Arts Center members from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Get a first look
So to have a first look at the shimmering jewelry, velvety scarves and sweaters, vivid paintings, rugs and pottery, you can become a Friend at the door, said Jake Seniuk, the center’s director.
Annual memberships cost $35 per person or $50 per family, and the benefits include discounts at other fine arts center events.
Art Is a Gift is filling The Landing mall’s upstairs banquet room — down the hall from Wine on the Waterfront — thanks to mall owner Paul Cronauer’s generosity, Seniuk added.
The monthlong art show and sale has been at the fine arts center itself for the past three years.
Seniuk and Barbara Slavik, the center’s education director and organizer of Art Is a Gift, are delighted to have the event in the larger downtown space this year.
“Downtown is where the action is,” Seniuk said.
Two places at once
There’s another reason why the move is a good thing: “25! A Silver Milestone,” the fine arts center’s 25th anniversary show, can stay up through Jan. 8 in its Webster House gallery at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Without Cronauer’s donation of space at The Landing, the exhibition would have been taken down this week.
Both “25! A Silver Milestone” and Art Is a Gift are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. In addition, Art Is a Gift will be open from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, during Port Angeles’ Second Weekend downtown art walk. It will be closed Dec. 24 and 25 and wrap up Friday, Dec. 30.
Admission is free to both Art Is a Gift and to “25!” at the fine arts center. Of course, art lovers may want to bring cash or credit cards to The Landing.
Art Is a Gift features a variety of handmade items from artists across the Pacific Northwest, Seniuk said, adding that their creations “make very personal statements when given to those you care about most.
“Prices range to fit every budget, from the highly affordable to collector’s finds,” Seniuk noted, adding that a portion of Art Is a Gift proceeds benefits the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.
To learn more about Art Is a Gift and other center activities, visit www.PAFAC.org or phone 360-457-3532.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
