PORT ANGELES — For Josephine Pedersen, imagination is still the thing.
It’s what attracted her to the work of James T. Hubbell, a sculptor in Santa Ysabel, Calif.
A few decades ago, Pedersen, a storyteller and longtime North Olympic Peninsula resident, discovered Hubbell’s art, and in 1997, she commissioned a piece in honor of her husband, the late oceanographer Melvin Pedersen.
Installed on grounds
Titled “Spirit,” the sculpture was installed on the grounds of their home outside Port Angeles.
But now the tall stone-and-bronze creation has been moved to Webster’s Woods, the art park surrounding the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. Pedersen has donated it and will attend a dedication this Friday morning.
The public is invited to the 11:30 a.m. ceremony at the entrance to Webster’s Woods, adjacent to the fine arts center’s parking lot at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
“I’m 89. I’m trying to take care of things,” Pedersen said of her decision to give the sculpture to the center.
In memoriam
“Spirit” will be dedicated to the memory of “a kind man and a wonderful husband,” said Melvin Pedersen’s widow.
They were together 30 years. They began their married life in Southern California and then retired to her hometown of Port Angeles in 1991.
Installing the piece, fine arts center director Robin Anderson said, was no simple task.
A crew of city workers had to dismantle and transport it to Webster’s Woods, where it joins scores of other sculptures created by artists from across and beyond the Peninsula.
The park is open to the public with free admission from dawn till dusk 365 days a year, while the center’s indoor gallery, the Webster House, is open and free from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
Information about activities and art on display can be found at www.PAFAC.org and 360-457-3532.
Performance
This weekend, Webster’s Woods will be the site for the inaugural performances of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Anna Andersen and featuring a large cast of local actors.
Show time is 5 p.m. this Friday through Sunday. The production will return for three final performances at 5 p.m. Aug. 28-30.
Admission will be by donation, and much more about “Midsummer” will appear in this Friday’s Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ arts and entertainment magazine.
Josephine Pedersen, for her part, knew this forest long before it became an art park.
Hometown girl
She was a girl in Port Angeles when Charles and Esther Webster built a house among the trees, a house later bequeathed to the city.
She grew up to be a teacher who believed in the connective power of stories.
Shortly after retiring here, she co-founded the Story People of Clallam County, a nonprofit organization that continues to run, among other events, the Forest Storytelling Festival every October.
“Imagination is what got me into storytelling,” she said.
“We can imagine a better world.”
________
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
