PORT TOWNSEND — More than 50 images, some of them banner-size, will soon adorn the Port of Port Townsend’s new administration building and nearby Sunrise Coffee Co. in an exhibition titled “The Alaska Fishing Gold Rush of the 1980s.”
These are photographs by former Port Townsender Jana M. Suchy, a woman who was part of this gold rush. Crewing on salmon and halibut boats, she documented it all for the Alaska Fisherman’s Journal.
Suchy’s show opens Saturday at the Port building, 2701 Jefferson St., behind the Safeway gas station, with another collection of prints at Sunrise Coffee, 308 10th St.
She’ll welcome visitors to a free opening reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Port building; copies of her book, also titled Alaska Fishing Gold Rush of the 1980s, will be available for purchase and signing by the author. The photo exhibition will stay up through March, while more information about it and the book can be found at fishingforalivingalaska.com.
Suchy lived in Port Angeles in 1998 and ’99 and Port Townsend from 2000 to 2006, after which she moved to Montana. Most recently, she’s departed winters entirely and moved to Tucson, Ariz.