PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Downtown Association is leading a fundraiser to help purchase a sculpture on loan from a Seattle artist today during the second annual Arts &Draughts Festival.
The festival is in its second day today in downtown Port Angeles. It includes a stage with live music at First and Laurel streets, street vendors, an art show at the former Bank of America building at the corner of Front and Laurel streets, and a beer garden.
New this year is a huge television on the festival stage, which will be tuned to the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers at 1:05 p.m. today.
The gallery will be open during the regular hours of the festival, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission to the street fair is free. Tickets to the concert stage and beer garden are $30. Tickets were good for both Saturday and today.
“Birds of a Feather” by Seattle sculptor Shawn Johnson was set just outside of the Station 51 Taphouse, 125 Front St., before being moved to the festival’s beer garden, where it currently is on display.
The cost to purchase the sculpture is $5,000, said Richard Stephens, Arts &Draughts committee chair, on Saturday.
A large donation box is set up next to the sculpture where residents and visitors can make donations to go toward its purchase.
Donations also can be mailed to the Port Angeles Downtown Association, P.O. Box 582, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
The rotating sculpture that turns in the wind is made of brass and galvanized steel and incorporates design elements of a cormorant, a heron, feathers and a whale fluke, which, according to Shawn, “symbolizes the greatness of ocean life [and] everyday marine reality” that embodies living in Port Angeles, according to a news release.
The piece, which is on long-term loan from Johnson, is one of the few kinetic sculptures in the Port Angeles Downtown Association’s Art on the Town collection of more than 60 pieces.
“We are very excited to begin actively fundraising again for our Art on the Town program, which we are very proud of,” Stephens said.
“This piece is such a testimony to the rich biodiversity that is found here where we live. We are so thrilled that Shawn loves the natural scenic beauty of our town and wants this piece to stay here and be enjoyed by generations of Port Angeles residents.”
All of the permanent pieces on display as part of Art on the Town “have been purchased through the generosity of local residents and visitors who recognize the long-term value of public art in public spaces,” Stephens said.
Johnson is a regular visitor to the North Olympic Peninsula. She also works in the Seattle school district teaching art programs.
For more information, contact Stephens at 360-808-4821 or Lauren Jeffries Johnson at 360-417-5489 or vice president@portangelesdowntown.com.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
