Time for a change

Published 3:38 am Thursday, January 24, 2008

Some things don’t change. Since its founding in 1848, fishing, forestry, cranberry farming and tourism have been important industries in the little berg of Ilwaco, Wash. The old Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company (1889 to 1930) transported sightseers, along with oysters and other goods, from the ferry landing at Megler all the way to Ocean Park. There was no official schedule of stops – the train simply ran according to the tides.

Right in step, two new developments in Ilwaco will also bring visitors to the area, especially ones who are interested in its history and culture. First, some pretty exciting changes are underway at the city’s Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum. Second, there’s a new art gallery, the Waterfront Artists Market, which opened in November. It showcases the talents of a wide variety of local artists and crafters, some nationally known.

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum

The Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum is located in downtown Ilwaco. Quite a few changes and improvements have been made there recently as part of the museum’s Millennium Project. More work is to be done in phases as funds allow. There’s been real progress, though – much of it under the auspices of the museum’s former executive director, Nancey Olson.

A colorful design sits unfinished on a loom inside the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, formerly known as the Ilwaco Heritage Museum, in Ilwaco, Wash.

A rub board, used by Cajun and zydeco bands, is one of many instruments for visitors of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum to test out their musical skills. It is part of the New Harmonies exhibit that will be at the museum until the end of January.

Reflected in a painting at the Waterfront Artists Market, Art Herring inspects his handiwork on a needlepoint piece he is working on.

While pointing at a painting of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse at the Waterfront Artists Market, Diane Wynter, left, describes the origins of the lighthouse’s nickname, ‘Terrible Tilly,’ to friend Becky Andersen.For a start, the museum’s name, formerly the Ilwaco Heritage Museum, has been changed to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, reflecting a more regional focus. The museum building itself has had a face lift – to the exterior and parts of the interior – and looks just grand. A memorial park and historic garden (featuring artwork by celebrated local artist Renee O’Connor) is now open to the public. What’s more, there’s a new executive director, Betsy Millard.

Millard has been retired for the last five years and spends part of the time living at the North Coast. She was executive director at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Mo., for 10 years prior to retirement. That all changed, however, because “the lure of the museum was just too much,” she says. As part of her new job, Millard will help with fund raising and work closely with the community as implementation of the Millennium Project continues. Permanent exhibits and histories need updating; and there are collections to be “solidified” (looking at what’s there and not there, as she explains it.)

Currently at the CPHM is “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and Humanities Washington. Made up of several free-standing panels, this exhibit pictorially depicts the history of American “roots” music – everything from Klezmer to Dylan and Robert Johnson to Johnny Cash. It’s interactive, too.

Around the perimeter of the SITES exhibit is a local exhibit, “Music in a Beach Community,” loosely derived from the history of the Long Beach Peninsula’s Water Music Festival. Millard praised Lisa Mattfield, the museum’s volunteer exhibits specialist, for creating the display which gives visitors a fascinating peek into the past using local artifacts.

“History is not just about the past,” Millard says. Objects from another time can be viewed in an interpretive way, by looking at the culture that made them and what they represent within a given area. But they can be looked at in a cultural way too. She gives the example of a basket – an Indian artifact, perhaps – that’s beautiful, with tactile and other qualities that now come into play, adding to the object and helping make it part of a community and its heritage.

There’ll be another SITES exhibit at the CPHM in fall 2009. Other upcoming events include a celebration of the museum’s 25th anniversary, Railroad Days, a Quilt Festival (in conjunction with the Peninsula Quilt Guild, whose members exhibit and craft, as do rug hookers, spinners and weavers, on the museum’s mezzanine), and a Cranberry Festival.

Waterfront Artists Market

There’s now another place for local artists and crafters to show their work on the North Coast. It’s Ilwaco’s new Waterfront Artists Market, open year-round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. The new gallery is strictly an indoor affair and a component of the Saturday Market at the Port of Ilwaco, which is an open-air market that runs from May through September.

Sharon Saunders helped start Ilwaco’s existing outdoor market in 1996. She left for a spell and then came back three years ago to manage the Saturday Market and, now, the Artists Market as well. She’d spent two years writing and submitting (and continues to write) grant applications to pay for an indoor facility, to no avail. When a real estate office pulled up stakes, Saunders was quick to make a bid for the roughly 1,100 square feet of vacant space, sandwiched between Time Enough Books and the Tuscany Café along the waterfront.

She credits local artists Eric Black, Dave Bartholet and Bart Miller with helping her pull off this new venture. Saunders says the Port, city of Ilwaco, charter offices and local galleries have also been “very supportive.” Current exhibiting artists include nationally-recognized wildlife artists Jeannie Warren and Dave Bartholet, seascapist Joleen Wambolt and many more. There’s Western and Native American-themed art, whimsical art and “mystic melt Italian glass” works on display. Ceramics, pottery, photography, metal, jewelry, watercolors and oils are just some of the media represented. Crafts on display include quilts, knitted and crocheted items and embroidered clothing.

Artists are charged $1 per square foot for exhibit space and $2 for floor space. The market gets a commission on what’s sold, which pays the rent (almost). Exhibits for both the indoor and outdoor markets will now be juried by a jury of five, comprised of Saunders and four artists/vendors of her choosing, in accordance with guidelines established by the Washington State Farmers Market Association. Upcoming events at the new Artists Market include demonstrations and a “sweetheart special”

Artists are charged $1 per square foot for exhibit space; $2 for floor space. The market gets a commission on what’s sold, which pays the rent (almost). Exhibits for both the indoor and outdoor markets will now be juried by a jury of five, comprised of Saunders and four artists/vendors of her choosing, in accordance with guidelines established by the Washington State Farmers Market Association. Upcoming events at the new Artists Market include demonstrations and a “sweetheart special” for Valentine’s Day.

For more information about the Waterfront Artists Market, e-mail saturdaymarket@centurytel.net. Saunders cautions that prospective exhibitors might want to get in touch now while there’s still space. When things start moving in March, she says, the gallery may be full.

The last musical program in a series of four sponsored by the CPHM will be 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. Lauren Sheehan, from Portland, bills herself as an American songster and has “a vast store of knowledge and talent to share” with audiences. Museum hours will be extended both before and after the performance, so that people may visit the exhibit. Regular museum admission will be the only charge: $5 for adults; $4 for seniors; $2.50 for youth (ages 12 to 17); and $1 for children younger than 12.