PORT ANGELES — Artist and community pillar Bob Stokes has died, leaving a hole in both the Port Angeles art scene and many people’s hearts. He was 76.
The art Stokes created remains in the community, as does the culture he worked so hard to promote.
“He was brilliant. He was compassionate. He was passionate about what he did and what he believed in,” said Cindy Elstrom, Stokes’ partner. “He was always willing to give his time to talk to somebody or help them out.”
Stokes inspired a love for the arts in nearly everyone he knew. Growing up, his daughter Taylor Stokes said she remembers being taught how to use the shop tools to make art out of odds and ends.
“He wanted to integrate us into the art life,” she said.
Bob moved to Port Angeles in the early 2000s, following his sister Betsy Reed Schultz.
“He could see that there was a potential for the art community here,” Taylor said.
Locally, Bob created benches, murals, the Veteran’s Memorial Park silhouettes and the “Avenue of the People,” the life-sized metal statues that span downtown.
“His vision was to have his statues be a permanent part of this town,” local artist Sarah Tucker said. “He came to town with a vision, and he carried out that vision.”
“I can drive through town and see where he welded gates up and took care of the art that was on the streets,” local artist Gray Lucier said.
Former arts reporter and editor Diane Urbani de la Paz described Stokes’ art as “really powerful.”
“He was the kind of person that gave artists a place to be themselves and stood back and cheered them on in a way that only he could,” she said.
Stokes’ most well-known impact on the art community might be the opening of Studio Bob, which Elstrom said he built up from nothing.
“Everything about Studio Bob was Bob’s and Bob’s energy,” she said.
The art and events venue, which was established soon after Bob moved to the area, “provided a space for a lot of first-time artists, or those who weren’t showing in more established places, to try more things, to engage with each other, to form connections and partnerships and collaborations and just to have a place to hang out,” current co-owner Christopher Allen said.
One of Studio Bob’s events is its biannual bring-your-own art show. At the most recent show, its 26th occurrence, Tucker said there were more than 200 pieces of art.
“A lot of folks got their first chance to show art at these events, and some of them turned around and did something with art after that,” she said.
Over the years, Studio Bob grew to be a place where concerts, gatherings, dances, theatrical productions, drag shows and more were welcomed.
“There was definitely nothing like Studio Bob in its inclusivity,” Urbani de la Paz said. “He was inclusive before it was hip to be inclusive.”
“He was like a cultivator of artistry,” former Port Angeles mayor Karen Rogers said.
“Bob knew what was going on because everyone would stop and talk to him,” Tucker said, noting that he connected people to the arts through simple, old-fashioned conversations.
One of Bob’s goals was to make Port Angeles a town where art could be shared, Elstrom said. He accomplished that through events such as monthly art walks.
“He thought that art was vital to towns,” she said. “If they supported the arts, then the arts would support the town back.”
Stokes also co-owned Harbor Arts and helped create the Port Angeles Arts Council. His primary artistic mediums were metal sculptures and light fixtures, and he created custom lighting for buildings all around the globe.
He won multiple artistic awards, including for his collection of 12 sculptures entitled “Remember Pearl Harbor” that sit in front of the U.S. Navy Base Headquarters at Pearl Harbor.
“We all benefited from him,” Lucier said.
While there are a lot of artists and people who can begin to fill in the space that Stokes left, Elstrom said, “there’s going to be a big, gaping hole.”
“You never realize it until people are gone how thankful you are for them,” Urbani de la Paz said. “He was such a big personality, that I thought he was always going to be there.”
Stokes died of a heart attack on Saturday, Elstrom said. Many of his friends noted it was sudden and unexpected.
“Those are the ones that are the hardest to say goodbye,” Rogers said.
The celebration of life will be held March 23 from 1 p.m. to about 5 p.m. at Studio Bob at 118 1/2 E Front St in Port Angeles.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
