QUILCENE — One May day, photographer Randy Hopfer and his wife, Patti, rode on the back of an Asian elephant. They walked through a lush Indian valley, looking for big cats.
“We made the trip as we were told that the middle of India’s summer heat was the best time to see tigers,” Hopfer said, “as many of the water holes dry up, making [them] easier to find.”
With a mahout — a professional elephant rider — as their guide, the Hopfers drew alongside a stream. There, they looked up and saw a young Bengal atop a massive boulder, right at their level.
Their elephant walked within 20 feet of the tiger. “Its eyes locked on,” Hopfer said.
Then the cat stood up, as if preparing to pounce.
“Our elephant trumpeted, turned and ran,” said Hopfer, adding that he was disappointed to miss a photo of the tiger in action.
The photo he did capture, however, has made its way to a show and sale in Quilcene.
“Soul Searcher,” so titled since Hopfer felt the cat looking straight through him, is part of the Olympic Art Festival, a showcase of nature-inspired art. The event, whose works range from watercolors and photos to metal lawn sculpture, will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Olympic Art Gallery, where admission is free. Shoppers will find art prices ranging from $10 to north of $1,000.
Hopfer, who lives in Vancouver, Wash., has shown his work in Quilcene on many holiday weekends. The Olympic Art Gallery opens just a few times a year, and this time it’s participating in Small Business Saturday, the post-Thanksgiving event promoting local shops and artisans across the country.
This gallery, at 40 Washington St., is actually on U.S. Highway 101 some 23 miles south of Port Townsend.
During Saturday’s festival, visitors will have the chance to browse through hand-blown glass Christmas ornaments, jewelry, copper and other metal sculpture, hand-turned wooden bowls and boxes, raku and other ceramic pieces, scratchboard art, chainsaw bears and salmon, antler baskets, horses and moose painted on maple slabs and hand-braided reins and hackamores.
Gallery co-owner Sally Brown listed some of the 26 participating artists: sculptor Charlie Brown — builder of garden-art pieces “each with its own personality,” said Sally — along with salmon sculptor Art Domer; scratchboarder Sharon Wald; bowl-turner Paul Kaiser and ceramist Barbara Krieg, the Olympic Art Gallery’s best seller.
To find out more about the Olympic Art Festival and get directions, phone Sally at 360-531-2015, email info@olympicartgallery.com or visit www.olympicartgallery.com.
