PORT ANGELES — An exhibit at the The Landing mall has the goal of showing the North Olympic Peninsula through the ages “in all of its quirky wonderfulness.”
Jack Gunter, 61, whose Ideas Gallery held an opening celebration earlier this month, presents “The History of the Olympic Peninsula Including the Future,” through February.
The folk art paintings and interactive artwork feature a time line from bubbling primeval molecules to a bridge to Victoria, and removable dams showing the Elwha River after the National Forest Service dam-removal project, planned to begin after 2012, is complete.
While the style may at times seem whimsical, with inclusions of Gunter’s trademark flying pigs, the future depicts an ominous message.
Warnings
Among them, the sale of Hurricane Ridge to balance the federal budget.
“These are all warnings,” Gunter said.
“We should pay attention or the future will be like this.”
Gunter, of Camano Island, is known for his realistic dot-matrix style as well as folk art.
He has painted the Peninsula scenes in the folk art style to tell a story.
“I’m always looking for how humans interact,” he said. “Folk art is about humans interacting.”
Several of Gunter’s paintings are based on historical events.
One is of a young Quileute serving coffee to shipwreck survivors.
The Quileute “found a can of coffee floating in the wreckage,” Gunter said.
“He made them coffee and bread and saved their lives.”
The coffee cup in the painting existed only in the artist’s imagination.
Retrieving records
Another painting deals with Port Angeles sending 50 people to New Dungeness to get city records.
Port Angeles had been chosen as the county seat, but the county records were at New Dungeness, close to present-day Sequim.
New Dungeness hadn’t answered a request for records, and so Port Angeles sent people over to get them.
Gunter said that as the Port Angeles troops neared New Dungeness, “they heard a scary sound, and it was all the people singing at New Dungeness Church. Then they baked them a pie and gave them the records.”
Gallery hours
Ideas Gallery opened on July 4 at The Landing mall, 115 E. Railroad Ave.
It is open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
More information is available on Gunter’s Web site, www.jackgunterartlanding.com.
