PORT TOWNSEND — These will be sculptures, not just signs.
In the first project as a Washington state Creative District, Port Townsend’s Main Street Program is inviting artists to submit designs for a set of five “art markers,” large-scale public art pieces for downtown, Uptown and the Fort Worden campus.
The award of up to $28,000 will go to an artist or artists to create the logo and markers to tell people “you have arrived. This is where the art happens,” said City Council member Owen Rowe, a member of the Creative District subcommittee.
The deadline to send these proposals is Jan. 15; the place to go for details is tinyurl.com/PDN-Wayfinding, while information about Port Townsend’s Creative District designation can be found at PTMainstreet.org.
This renewed focus on the creative economy — performing, visual, literary and culinary arts — is an invitation to locals and visitors alike, Main Street director Mari Mullen said.
The wayfinding markers are part of the Creative District strategic plan set in motion last May. The Washington State Arts Commission, ArtsWA, gave Port Townsend the designation.
Other Creative Districts include Issaquah, Olympia, Edmonds, Langley, Tenino and Twisp.
The plan is to install the Creative District markers in June at the edges of Uptown and downtown and at the Fort Worden gate, Rowe said. And while its physical area is the city of Port Townsend, “if you’re in Quilcene or Brinnon or Sequim, and you’re showing at a gallery in Port Townsend, or playing music in Port Townsend,” he said, you’re part of this whole ecosystem.
The Creative District project is part of a $50,000 outlay of funding: half from ArtsWA, part of the state Department of Commerce, and half from a local match. Donors such as the Port Townsend Food Co-op supplied $12,500, Mullen said, while the city Public Works department added a $12,500 in-kind donation for installation of the large wayfinding markers plus up to 60 small signs around the city.
Cultural organizations recognized on Main Street’s Creative District page range from Key City Public Theatre and the Northwest Maritime Center to the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Rainshadow Recording, Copper Canyon Press and Centrum. The Wooden Boat Foundation and the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race are also listed, as are nine art galleries.
The Creative District website will be a more robust version of Main Street’s current page, Mullen said, with a registry and resources for such organizations and for artists themselves.
The winner of the art-markers competition will be announced Feb. 5 after the Creative District subcommittee finishes reviewing proposals.
Along with Mullen and Rowe, that group includes restaurateur Kris Nelson, Key City Public Theatre’s Denise Winter, Centrum’s Robert Birman, Northwind Arts Center’s Michael D’Alessandro, Port Townsend Library Director Melody Sky Eisler, Port Townsend Arts Commission member Jason Victor Serinus, Main Street’s Eryn Smith and KPTZ’s Dominic Svornich.
While the project is open to any Washington state artist, those who live or show their work in Jefferson County are strongly encouraged, Rowe said.
These art markers “will have a distinctive look,” he said.
Besides marking the thresholds of the Creative District, the pieces could set an example for other cities looking to join ArtsWA’s lineup, Rowe added.
“Showing that existing Creative Districts are running with [the designation] and doing good things,” he said, “helps creative economies across the state.”
________
Diane Urbani de la Paz, senior reporter in Jefferson County, can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
