SEQUIM — They take driftwood and wood pieces from forests and clearcuts and make smooth, swirling art of it, often adding their own special touches.
Olympic Driftwood Sculptors, a group that has grown from 13 founding members in October 2008 to more than 70 now, is actively expanding its role in the community.
Today, it will staff a booth at the Sequim Open Aire Market, which is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Cedar Street.
It also is exhibiting 41 pieces by club members at the Museum & Arts Center of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley through June 25.
In July and August, members will staff a booth at the Port Angeles Farmers Market.
The club, which has legal nonprofit status and is a member of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, also is giving a scholarship of $750 to a promising Sequim High School art students this year, the second year it has offered the award.
Creating a driftwood sculpture “is a huge amount of work,” said one of the founding members, Tuttie Peetz, a Carlsborg-area artist.
Each piece takes months, from removing rotted parts to sanding to finishing the piece.
Putting a price on the work is almost impossible, Peetz said.
The group, which meets at 10 a.m. the first Wednesday of every month at Macleay Hall Grange in Carlsborg, broke away from Peninsula Driftwood Artists, a group that created driftwood sculptures using rules that Peetz, Barbara Ralph and her husband, Tony, among others, could no longer live by.
“One of the reasons we started a new group was we didn’t want rules,” Peetz said.
“You shouldn’t put artists in a box.
“We’re more interested in creating it as a fine art form instead of a craft.”
Tony Ralph said that is why the group thinks of itself as “above and beyond” the LuRon-method classes that Peetz teaches.
If an artist chooses to add a small touch, such as an eye, to a bird-shaped piece, so be it.
Members display their works at the Dungeness River Audubon Center in Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, and at the annual Dungeness River Festival.
Works on exhibit at the Museum & Arts Center on West Cedar come with a theme — this year’s being a “regatta” of sailing pieces, many with wood shaped like sails.
The group will put on a show at the Carlsborg Conference Center, across Carlsborg Road from the Carlsborg Post Office during the two Sequim lavender festivals July 15-17.
Many of the pieces are left unfinished to show the aesthetic contrast of natural versus highly polished wood.
“This is something I can do because the wood is going to tell you what it’s going to be,” said Barbara Ralph at the MAC exhibit.
Peetz said the Macleay Hall meetings allow the group’s artists to meet, share information and ideas, and get a second opinion on a piece from a fellow artist.
It also gives artists a place to create without worry about making a big mess at home.
“We even help each other with names,” Barbara Ralph said of artists’ pieces.
Peetz teaches driftwood sculpture classes and is starting a new class Monday. For information, phone 360-683-6860.
For more information about the club, visit www.olympicdriftwoodsculptors.org.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
