NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 19.
SEQUIM — When a friend came calling, Don Berger was happy to help — or, in this case, sand and shine.
Berger, a founding member of the Olympic Driftwood Sculptors, recently was approached by fellow club member Cliff Peterson to help finish a driftwood art piece.
“He’s had some pulmonary health problems, and physicians told him to stay away from dust, so he asked me to finish this piece for him,” Berger said.
Three-day show
A big portion of driftwood art is sanding, so Berger took over with the intent to finish and display it at the club’s free Sequim Lavender Weekend Driftwood Show, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday at Sequim Middle School.
Berger and Peterson’s art piece will be one of about 150 sculptures on display.
Berger has spent 50 to 60 hours on the piece.
Once finished, Peterson plans to give the sculpture to his health care administrator, who has helped him throughout the years, Berger said.
Tuttie Peetz, club instructor, said Berger’s actions exemplify the club.
“That’s the thing we do as a group,” she said. “We help each other. It’s why we don’t have any competition in our shows. It’s not who we are.”
New Sequim resident and club member Colleen Bittner agreed.
She first saw driftwood art while visiting the area two years ago during Lavender Weekend. After moving to the North Olympic Peninsula a few months ago, she joined the club.
“It’s by far the most gregarious and super-accepting group,” she said.
Bittner said she’s not an artistic person but she has always loved working with wood and was reassured in the short time she visited the driftwood show she could do it.
“Eight people assured me I didn’t have to be artistic to make it happen,” she said.
Bittner and her husband, Kenneth, took a class with Peetz and began creating driftwood art.
“It’s neat. I put pictures online at the beginning [of the process], and my friends ask, ‘What the heck is that?’ . . . By the end, they say, ‘I can’t believe you did that,’ ” Bittner said.
“The wood is going to be what it’s going to be. You kind of release it and get all the crud off of it.”
Interest is high in the art form, Peetz said.
She recently finished two classes with about 20 people, and the members correspond from as far away as Texas and China.
Li Xin of China entered a piece at last year’s show, Peetz said.
She conducted a class with him entirely by email as he sent in progress pictures via email.
As a whole, club members try to do things outside of the box, she said.
“Our focus is to be as creative as possible,” Peetz said.
Her latest experiment was using Gilder’s paste wax for a new sheen on one of her pieces.
Look for new things
“We’re always looking for new things. I found it [Gilder’s] in a catalog,” she said.
Berger, who will submit only Peterson’s art piece in the show, said he enjoys the entire process.
“The final product is rewarding,” he said.
“I take a lot of time. It’s very meticulous, but I get a lot of self-satisfaction with trying to do a good job.”
For more information about the club and its show, go to www.olympicdriftwoodsculptors.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
