PORT ANGELES — The wind walloped Ediz Hook.
Waves rushed in, adding to the soundtrack.
And Sahrah Brown, working in it without a shelter, answered her phone.
“I’m finishing it today,” she told a reporter, referring to her giant driftwood sculpture perched on the edge of the Hook.
Brown, an artist from Victoria, spent last week building a heart out of weathered branches.
When she had finished the heart’s face, she went around the back and bolstered it with curved pieces of wood — in the shape of a rainbow.
Yes, Brown, 43, is a romantic, and not afraid to put that out there.
Perfect symbol
Making art is her personal practice, and hearts are the perfect symbol of the message she wants to give the world.
Brown lives at Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria and has long adored the Olympic Mountains, seen from her window.
She has camped in the Hoh Rain Forest and attended Five Rhythms dance workshops in Olympia — and “always dreamed of coming here” to the northern reach of Port Angeles.
She’s built hearts of wood and rocks before. They can be seen on her website, www.Buildinghearts.com.
Big heart on Hook
But the one on Ediz Hook, on a northward beach facing Victoria, “feels very big,” Brown said.
With this heart made of natural materials, the artist hopes to remind people to connect with their own hearts.
“The world is shifting right now. Everything is speeding up,” she said.
When people slow down, breathe deeply and look within, Brown believes, peace is possible.
She calls her Ediz Hook heart “Sahrah’s MasterPeace,” in a nod to Sophie’s Masterpiece: A Spider’s Tale, Eileen Spinelli and Jane Dyer’s story of a spider-artist who searches for, and at last finds, a place to weave. It’s Brown’s favorite children’s book.
Brown is a single mother and a HeartMath coach. HeartMath, she said, combines mindfulness and Buddhism, “without any dogma,” to help people use their natural intuition to improve their lives.
Life has been sweet for Brown lately. Tuesday was bone-chilling cold, but she loved being out in it.
“I enjoy nature. I love feeling the wind. I love feeling the rain. So I dress accordingly,” she said.
She’s a hardy Canadian, after all, born in Toronto.
“That is cold,” she said.
Erecting a large driftwood structure wasn’t easy, but Brown has learned by doing. Years ago, she wouldn’t have thought she could construct such a thing.
‘Built to last’
“Not that I’m an engineer,” she said, but “this is built to last.
“It’s empowering to step into my potential as an artist.”
Irma Schneider of Port Angeles is among those who stopped to admire the “MasterPeace.”
“I am always looking for naturally occurring symbols in rocks, wood, clouds and such things. I am especially fond of hearts,” she said.
“MasterPeace” may or may not be naturally occurring, depending on how one sees it.
Schneider, who spent time talking with Brown, figures her art fits in just fine with its environment.
“I was inspired,” she said, “by her heart-centered intentions, her love of nature and her enthusiasm for hearts.”
Brown’s work, Schneider believes, “helps balance and bring light to our mixed-up world.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
