PORT ANGELES — The mural behind the Conrad Dyer Memorial Fountain at First and Laurel streets is, in part, an homage to the two former presidents responsible for creating Olympic National Park.
The faces of Franklin Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt appear in the clouds, looking down upon the mountains they helped protect, in the painting “Olympic Visions.”
But for Port Angeles artist Jackson Smart, who was applying the finishing touches to the large painting Saturday, it also stands in memory of one of his closest friends, the late artist Tim Quinn.
Quinn was painting the mural, called “Olympic Visions,” for the second time in December at the time of his death.
He completed the mural in 1999, but the paint peeled away over the years because a sealant wasn’t applied correctly by volunteers.
Quinn, who lived in Sequim, restarted the project last year and was about half done when he died suddenly from cancer-related causes at 62.
Smart, proprietor of Jackson’s SignArt Studio in Port Angeles, jumped to the task when the mural’s sponsor, the Nor’wester Rotary Club, put a call out to artists interested in finishing the redo of “Olympic Visions.”
Smart is being paid about $11,000 by the Rotary club to redo the mural.
Artist Dani LaBlond is Smart’s partner on the project.
Nor’wester Rotary Club also sponsored three other large murals in downtown Port Angeles.
“Tim and I were special friends,” Smart said. “I felt honored to be the one to be able to finish it.”
Smart showed his appreciation for his late friend in the redo.
Loving memory
Inside the mural, “Tim Quinn in loving memory” is painted onto a tree not far from names of other local people — many contributed money to the original mural project and the redo — which are artfully worked into leafy trees and other plants by both artists.
“Slick the Slug,” a character that Quinn hid within each of his cartoons, can be seen nearby slowly making his way up the trunk.
Quinn also slipped in some vampire faces and a werewolf as he was working on the redo.
Olympic National Park is one of the venues in the “Twilight” books and movies.
In addition, Quinn appears in the painting, walking along Rialto Beach.
“He loved to go for a walk on the beach,” Smart said after pointing out the small figure.
“It was his favorite thing to do.”
Smart said he believes Quinn would “absolutely approve” of the redone mural.
“I’m sure he did because he [his spirit] didn’t knock us off the scaffolding,” he joked.
When asked if he thinks Quinn is smiling down on the painting, much like the face of Franklin Roosevelt in the clouds, Smart shrugs off the possibility.
“I have to be practical,” he said.
“I would say if he were here, actually here again, he’d be happy with it.”
Other signs by Smart
Smart is a well-known Peninsula sign maker, and his work was recently applauded in Signs of the Times, a magazine for the sign industry since 1906.
He painted a huge “Welcome to Port Angeles” sign in 2009 on the north wall of the Black Ball Ferry Building.
It greets travelers arriving in Port Angeles from Victoria on the MV Coho ferry.
The 10-foot-by-20-foot sign is also a mural, depicting the arrival of the first European ship — the San Carlos from Spain — in Port Angeles Harbor in 1791.
It is shown being greeted by members of the Klallam tribe in their canoes.
Smart also did a series of interpretive signs mounted on pedestals along the Port Angeles waterfront and also made a welcome sign in 2004 for the eastern entrance to Port Angeles on U.S. Highway 101 as part of a Port Angeles Rotary Club project.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
