PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Historical Society will open three new exhibits at the Museum of Art + History next month.
“All of these exhibits help tell a story of place and help the visitor come to think about and understand this place,” said Tara McCauley, the executive director of the Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS).
The Museum of Art + History, 540 Water St., is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Hours are extended until 7 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month, which is free to attend.
Tickets are free for youth and members, $9 for adults and $7 for seniors and military.
Artist Kim Kopp’s retrospective exhibit, “A Practice of Noticing —1995-2025” will open Thursday in the Ferguson Gallery.
It will include a range of works from the last 30 years of her practice.
“It really is going to be a visual treat for somebody to immerse themselves in 30 years of an artist’s (work), that they’ll see all in one room,” said JCHS board president Ann Welch, who curated the exhibit. “I think it’s a powerful moment to be in this space. It really looks good.”
Kopp’s contemplative practice has involved multiple calendar projects where she has visited particular locations daily for a year to paint. Kopp finishes a small painting each day, Welch said.
“Over the past 35 years, my art practice has continued to evolve and thread its way through time and place,” Kopp said in a JCHS press release.
Kopp first came to Port Townsend to attend the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, Welch said. She was a member of the school’s 1993 class.
Since her exhibition is opening concurrently with the busy Wooden Boat Festival weekend, an event for her opening will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 4.
The community curated “The History of Home: Now” exhibit will open in the Wilson Gallery on Sept. 6.
The exhibit will include infographics on housing designed by Housing Solutions Network, an organization focused on developing strategies to expand affordable housing for the workforce in east Jefferson County.
The infographics, which will be blown up and on display at the museum, can be viewed at housingsolutionsnetwork.org/csr.
Eden Blooms’ “Curating Empathy” project is a collection of photographs, narratives and suggested policy changes from those experiencing homelessness in Port Townsend.
Taking the project on was an effort to undermine false narratives often perpetuated in the media, Blooms said.
“Those narratives being — they chose to be homeless, they’re all drug addicts — just really harmful narratives that have taken center stage about this population,” she said.
The project was also inspired by Blooms’ experiences with homelessness and housing insecurity, she said.
The project utilized the photovoice research method.
Blooms met and onboarded people at the Recovery Cafe.
Blooms gave participants cameras to capture the complex challenges they faced from their own perspectives.
After getting the film back, Blooms conducted interviews. Of the nine people who contributed photos, seven agreed to be interviewed.
Blooms highlighted Becky Forrester.
“Becky is from the area and she’s pretty much experienced homelessness her entire time here,” Blooms said.
Forrester was finally able to find housing at the Caswell Brown Village, where she is advocating for the residents.
“(She’s) really guided OlyCAP’s ability to be really centered around the people they are supporting,” Blooms said.
Those involved in the project were asked to suggest policy changes that could positively impact their lives.
One policy that came out of the project was the suggestion to create an urban rest stop, Blooms said.
The rest stop, which has been taken up as a serious possibility by community members, might include bathrooms, showers, laundry machines and kitchen space, Blooms said.
“Not just supporting unhoused people, (they) support people living in vans and people living off-grid,” she said.
The project further cemented for Blooms the idea that persons affected by policy should be centralized in its development.
In the Fire Hall, “Filipinos and Washington’s Waterfront” exhibit will open on Sept. 18. The exhibit was created by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) and Maritime Washington National Heritage Area.
The exhibit includes 10 freestanding panels that use both historic and contemporary images, as well as firsthand accounts from community members and historic research to talk about the Filipino community’s connection to Washington’s waterfront, McCauley said.
“Major themes include immigration, military service, food, cultural celebration and more,” she added.
FANHS’s webpage — fanhs.dudasites.com — hosts an in-depth, seven-chapter presentation also called “Filipinos and Washington’s Waterfront,” which includes oral histories, photographs, scanned historical documents and videos.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Exhibition “Filipinos and Washington’s Waterfront” opens Sept. 18.
