PORT ANGELES — Stitched sea kelp, rocks, commercial fishing line and even vintage game-board pieces find their way into Shannon Weber’s art.
For decades now, the Oregonian has been gathering materials on beaches and docks, and making them into her particular brand of sculpture.
And this coming week, Weber is bringing 15 works to her first show at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.
Admission is free to “Underwater,” Weber’s exhibition opening Thursday at the center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., and to Weber’s short presentation and reception that afternoon.
Weber, who comes from Cottage Grove, near Eugene, Ore., will give a talk at 4:30 p.m. and stay for reception from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday.
Her show will stay up through May 10 at the fine arts center, which is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
Weber has always taken the gather-your-ingredients-as-you-may approach, scooping up seaweed and sewing it into orbs, vessels and nests.
“Fast-forward 30 years,” she added, “and I get categorized as a ‘green’ artist,” for these recycled materials.
That’s pretty amusing to Weber.
Her style grew out of a long-held sense of practicality.
“This is who I am,” she said. “I don’t have access to art stores. And I don’t really need to.”
She’s doing what comes naturally, after all.
“As human beings,” said Weber, “we are makers,” spurred to create art from our surroundings.
This can be seen plenty around the Olympic Peninsula too, with marine-debris art projects at local festivals and galleries.
At last year’s Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, for example, local artist Sarah Tucker assembled a beach-debris art show.
Weber’s creations, which have names such as “Sailing by Star Charts,” “Talisman” and “Tossed Ashore,” have won awards across the country, including the Lancaster, Pa., Museum of Art’s Fiber Art National Award of Excellence. Last year she showed her work at the National Association of Women Artists in New York.
Also a teacher who frequently gives workshops, Weber will offer a “Mastering The Arts” class Saturday, May 9, in which participants will make a bullwhip sea kelp pouch.
The cost for the workshop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is $125.
For full details about this and other fine arts center activities, see www.pafac.org or phone the arts center at 360-457-3532.
