QUILCENE — Eight murals that had been displayed outside of the Seattle Aquarium for 32 years have arrived in Quilcene.
The murals were placed in storage after they arrived Thursday afternoon and will be exhibited once a display location is decided.
“This is really exciting,” said Quilcene Conversations’ Linda Herzog, who shepherded the process.
“It is the first time Quilcene will ever have any public art.”
The Plexiglas murals offer a three-dimensional representation of several nautical scenes that artist Jacob Kohn created after spending long evenings at the aquarium painting the fish.
It has not been determined exactly where the murals will be located.
Options include placing them along U.S. Highway 101 or on local trails.
Herzog and several volunteers wiped down the murals after they came off the truck because they had accumulated a lot of dust from a storage facility in South Seattle where they had been kept.
Two of the murals will be introduced to the community Saturday during the 11 a.m. parade that is part of the two-day Quilcene Fair, which will offer an antler show and arts-and-crafts show Saturday and Sunday, as well a fun run on Sunday.
Kohn, who will be in town for the parade as guest of honor, will ride on the float that contains the murals.
Kohn also will give presentations about how he created the murals at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday inside the Quilcene School.
Kohn received a commission to design and construct them in the l970s.
They were installed in 1980 at the aquarium, where they were displayed until earlier this year when it was remodeled.
This spring, aquarium management told Kohn there was no place for the murals and that if no new home was found for them, they would have to be destroyed.
Kohn distributed an email throughout the area, looking for a new home for the murals.
Herzog responded immediately and eventually talked to Kohn, pitching Quilcene as a location.
Kohn had his sights set on Port Townsend, but Herzog convinced him to donate the murals to Quilcene instead.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
