This weekend, you’re invited into the woods. There, art beckons, along with belly dancers, a rhythm circle and even a Pagan Barbecue.
This is the inaugural Summer Solstice Festival in Webster’s Woods, the 5-acre park surrounding the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd. The event, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, is free. It’s a busting-out, on a couple of levels.
For years, June has been the opening month for Art Outside, the new crop of sculptures installed in the woods. Artists from Port Angeles to Pennsylvania bring their creations; some works stay for a season and others for years.
Micajah Bienvenu’s “Pi a la Mode,” the “Eyelash Bench” by Sheila Klein and “Paul Bunyan’s Chair” by Dani LaBlond are among the long-standing works, sculptures that adorn the meadow and bluff. And LaBlond, a Port Angeles artist and teacher, is among those bringing a fresh influx of art to the park. She’s built “Ocean’s Revenge,” an 8-foot crab capturing a man in its claws, for Saturday’s opening.
The 2015 event is something else again, thanks to fine arts center director Robin Anderson and her crew of volunteers.
“People love to come and tour the woods to see the new sculptures,” she said, “so we thought it was the perfect time to do something to broaden the event.”
So the new summer festival will bring artisan vendors, a variety of drummers from Sequim’s Village Heartbeat Studio and belly dancers from the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center. The Pagan Barbecue, in honor of the solstice’s pagan history, will start at noon, courtesy of the fine arts center’s volunteer cooks. Lunch is free, while a $10 donation is suggested to support the nonprofit center.
Also Saturday, visitors can take themselves on tours of nine new art installations. Woven into the landscape, they include Barbara De Pirro’s “Nests,” Lin McJunkin’s “Culture Catcher” and Claudia Lorenz’ “There Once Was a Shaman.”
Made of unprocessed sheep’s wool on a wire armature, “Shaman” is “an eco-interactive piece,” Lorenz said, meaning that she intends it to be a nesting or feeding place for non-human creatures over time.
The title reflects this, added the artist, who is from Sidney, B.C.: Ancient shamanic practices aligned with natural processes and animal life.
“Culture Catcher” plays on the idea of a Native American dream catcher. It’s a web of recycled horse leads, shoelaces and giant beads, stretching between two trees.
“This net lures visitors in,” McJunkin notes in her artist’s statement. It’s designed to highlight the natural enchantments of the woods, she said, so that people can shed their worldly cares.
McJunkin, who lives in Conway, Skagit County, is among the artists who will be on hand Saturday to chat about their work.
“This is a relaxed opportunity,” she says, “to find out things you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask in a stuffy gallery, like ‘What was she thinking?’ and ‘How did she do that?’”
Local artists are represented too: Along with LaBlond’s “Ocean’s Revenge,” Margie McDonald of Port Townsend and Stanley Rill, both of Port Townsend, will bring “Tangled Web” and “Antler Snag,” respectively.
Like many of the Art Outside participants, De Pirro uses recycled materials to build things that cling to the trees.
“I received a large donation of green plastic banding, so of course I needed to weave it,” said the sculptor, who’s from Allyn in Mason County. Her “Nests,” 20 feet up in the branches, seem to her perfectly at home under the leaves’ green glow.
Other Art Outsiders include Karen White of Edmonds, Gabe Babcock of Corvallis, Ore., and Yelena Roslaya of Battle Ground. Each received a $500 stipend funded by the Friends of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. Their art will remain through spring 2016 in Webster’s Woods, which is open and free to the public daily from dawn till dusk.
“There is life in the woods,” Lorenz said, “more than you can see.”