PORT ANGELES — After a tour of downtown Port Angeles that started last month, a stainless-steel eagle has found a new home.
At least for a day.
“AR Tee” the Eagle, one of a trio of metal bird sculptures that once stood vigil over the downtown waterfront, will spend Wednesday at Northwest Fudge and Confections at 108 W. First St., said Barb Frederick, the executive director of the Port Angeles Downtown Association.
Between now and then, it “will be fitted for shoes,” said Frederick, and will not be on display.
The traveling sculpture has been featured in a PADA promotion in which business owners donate $10 in exchange for having it in their shops for a day, said Charles Smith, chairman of the Art on the Town Committee.
“People can come in [to the business] and get their pictures taken with AR Tee,” said Smith.
, adding that donations also will be accepted.
AR Tee’s visit to Northwest Fudge and Confections follows a reconnaissance mission, of sorts, for a new permanent home around downtown Port Angeles, Smith said, a trip that has been photo-documented on the downtown association’s Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/PADAFB.
The journeys of AR Tee began March 29 as an imagined trek on the part of the sculpture to find a new roost for himself and his metallic companions: Curious Crane and Webb the Pelican, Smith said.
The trio were once stationed near the corner of West Railroad Avenue and North Laurel Street until construction in the area, including work on the city’s new concrete esplanade running out over the water parallel to Railroad Avenue, displaced them, Smith said.
AR Tee and his friends are the product of California-based artist Steve Hamilton and were added to the Art on the Town Program in 1999 as some of the collection’s first sculptures, which now number between 45 and 47, Smith said.
AR Tee’s mission has taken him numerous places downtown, including the esplanade construction site and the now-toppled plywood mill smokestack, Smith said.
How was the 30-pound AR Tee enlisted?
“[He] is the easiest and lightest one to move,” Smith said with a laugh.
Smith said the Art on the Town Committee is in talks with the city and a few private land owners about where the trio’s permanent home will be, adding that no final decision has been made.
“We have some options were looking at,” Smith said.
“There’s no final option that is in the running yet.”
Updates on AR Tee’s ongoing search for a new home will be posted to the downtown association’s Facebook page.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
