PORT TOWNSEND — Artist Sylvia White, who envisioned an arts center in Port Townsend some three decades ago, is contributing $100,000 to fund a new program at Northwind Art: an exhibit program that will add to the organization’s offerings to Port Townsend and the Pacific Northwest.
The Sylvia White Sculpture and Craft Exhibit is the working title of this celebration of high-caliber three-dimensional artwork. Northwind Art also will place a plaque in the gallery, honoring White’s legacy and generous contribution.
“I want to see Northwind as a major attraction for all visitors and residents on the Peninsula,” White said.
She added that she hopes to inspire artists to explore other artistic realms beyond the two-dimensional. Just as important to White: supporting the education of young artists.
“This gift will enable us to engage an expert curator for the sculpture and craft shows, which will take place at least once in every two-year cycle,” said Martha Worthley, Northwind’s executive director.
White’s contribution will help cover other costs at the nonprofit gallery and make it possible to offer education programs at Northwind Art School in tandem with the exhibits.
“It’s an exciting opportunity, and one that will honor Sylvia’s legacy for years to come,” Worthley added.
Northwind’s gallery at 701 Water St. is named after the late Jeanette Best, White’s friend and fellow artist and activist. During the late 1990s, the women co-founded the Jefferson Arts Alliance in a small office off Water Street.
“The office began to attract attention from both resident artists and tourists,” White recalled, adding that volunteers staffed the little storefront — people such as Karen Putterman, who is still a volunteer at the Jeanette Best Gallery of today.
When the spacious ground floor of the historic Waterman & Katz building became available in 2014, the arts alliance, by then called the Northwind Arts Center, began raising funds to move into it. White played a key role in that effort, as did a substantial donation from Best.
In January 2021, the Northwind Arts Center and the Port Townsend School of the Arts at Fort Worden merged to form Northwind Art. The nonprofit organization now presents seven to eight shows annually in the streetside venue and a year-round exhibit in the adjacent Showcase Gallery, as well as artists’ talks and Art Walk evenings downtown.
At the art school, Northwind offers more than 200 classes per year for adults and youngsters.
When asked why she is making this gift to Northwind now, White readily replied that she is 86 and wants to keep making a difference in the arts community while she can.
White and her husband Don moved to Port Townsend in 1994 from Los Angeles, where Don was a trial attorney in a busy law practice and she was a professor of urban and regional planning at California Polytechnic State University in Pomona.
White also served in the Peace Corps, living in Ghana and Tanzania, where she learned about using recycled materials in her art.
“I have always been engaged in some kind of artistic pursuit. My real interest has been three-dimensional design,” she said, adding she studied architecture, ceramics and model building.
Then White discovered basketry, which combined her facility in weaving with making three-dimensional art. She began studying with premier basket makers around the country.
Sylvia and Don White have been married 65 years and about half of that time has been in Port Townsend, where both are supporters of the arts community, including Northwind, KPTZ-FM and Key City Public Theatre.
Along with her work as an artist, White served for many years on the Jefferson County Library Board of Trustees and the Jefferson County Planning Commission.
“I met Sylvia when we were colleagues on the planning commission, charged with writing our county’s first comprehensive plan and development code,” recalled Phil Andrus, a radio journalist who lives in Chimacum.
“Whether as chair or as contributing member, Sylvia artfully directed our sometimes-wayward group towards our common goal: planning documents which have directed development in our county for the past two decades,” he said.
Andrus later came to know her as an artist when he saw a show of her basketry.
“I was impressed, and still am, that Sylvia can demonstrate her artful passion in realms so different as basketry and land use planning,” Andrus said.
Lois James, a longtime friend who is a nationally recognized paper artist, likewise marvels at White’s artistry.
“She just does beautiful work,” from baskets to decorated gourds and wire sculptures, James said.
The two went on many hunts for recycled materials for their art.
“Sylvia’s adventurous, creative legacy and vision have helped us arrive at where we are today,” Worthley said.
“Northwind Art treasures her many contributions over the years. We’re looking forward to celebrating her vision in future exhibitions and educational offerings.”
