Category: Port Angeles

The Longhouse “House of Learning”

The Peninsula College Longhouse is the first traditional longhouse in the nation on a community college campus. It was built as a collaboration between the Peninsula College and six Tribes in our region, the Hoh, Quileute, Makah, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and the Lower Elwah Klallam. The Longhouse is known as the Longhouse “House of Learning” and it functions as an art gallery featuring Native artists as well as hosting tribal ceremonies and and a variety of programs from film screenings and classes to study halls and summer camps.

The interior great room is warm and welcoming, styled with updated features that are reminiscent of a traditional longhouse, including long benches along the walls, a skylight to represent a traditional smoke hole and sunlight cast onto the floor to represent a fire pit.

Native art and carvings line the walls of the great room. There are masks which represent traditional mythological creatures, drums, a painting, and an eagle blanket that was created as a joint project by a student group.

This is a detail of one of two wolf masks carved by Quileute Tribal Member David Jackson and designed by Evinjames Ashue of the Hoh Tribe.

I have additional photos of Longhouse artwork that I plan to post from time to time. There is some beautiful art there.

Masterful carvings

The carvings of Dusty Humphries, Sr. were featured at the Peninsula College Longhouse for three months recently. I got there last week on the second to last day of the exhibit. I’m sorry I couldn’t publicize the beautiful show to locals before it closed.

Humphries is of the Jamestown S’Klallam and Makah Tribes and his work explores Native American themes. The detail above is part of a seabird paddle.

This is a Salmon spindle whorl. I’ve lightened the shot to show more of the detail. It’s a deeply colored red cedar piece, approximately 18 inches (approx. 1/2 meter) across.

Early versions of these contemporary combs have been found in local archaeological digs. Similar pieces from one dig were displayed by the Lower Elwah Tribe a couple of years ago but photos were not allowed. I was pleased to photograph these contemporary beautiful, functional pieces.

This piece was carved from yew with applied abalone shell. There were other works on display but these were some of my favorites.

Working wood

There was an exhibit of the beautiful wood carvings of Dusty Humphries, Sr. at the Longhouse of Peninsula College in Port Angeles recently.

Humphries’ work features traditional Native American themes. These handmade tools were part of the display.

Most tool users can appreciate the beauty of these pieces.

Can you make out the piles of wood chips in this old photograph? This is a massive tree trunk being worked into a traditional Native American boat, chip by chip. The Native woodworker here is using an adz, variations of which are shown in the top photos. The man was photographed around 1914-15 by Fannie Taylor, an early postmistress in Mora, an early white settlement on our coast that no longer exists. This photo was in an office in the Longhouse.

Come back tomorrow to have a look at some of the work of Dusty Humphries, Sr.

Rhythm of the Dance

I was treated to a performance by the National Dance Company of Ireland on Sunday. In addition to a fabulous four day festival in May, our Juan de Fuca Foundation offers a season of concerts, music, dance, and performance. A friend had a spare ticket and I got lucky. A front row seat to Irish dancing.

It was a blur of high energy step dancing accompanied by lively music. Check their website here for a video and more information about the company. They have traveled the world and are touring the U.S. over the next month with a schedule that looks exhausting.

Port Book and News

Port Book and News in Port Angeles is one of the local stops on a book lover’s circuit. They sell both new and used books and have a robust selection of periodicals. After combing library book sales — another great resource for readers — I managed to find two more Michael Connelly books to fill out my obsessive growing library of Bosch mysteries.

The Courthouse

This is our Clallam County courthouse, located in Port Angeles, the next city west of Sequim. It was originally built in 1914 and has twice been restored. It was designed in Classical Revival style by architect Francis Grant.

The clock in the courthouse tower has an interesting history. It was originally manufactured in 1880 by E. Howard & Co. in Boston, then shipped around Cape Horn to Seattle. Unclaimed by a buyer, it was warehoused for 29 years until it was discovered by Francis Grant and purchased by the County for $5,115. The tower and clock were renovated in 2010-2011. Click here if you’re interested in more information about the courthouse.