On May 26, 2007, "Horizon," the totem pole Charles Forlines has been working on for two years, was dedicated at our opening here in Clallam Bay. That's Charles with Quileute Valley School Superintendent Frank Hanson. Full Photo Stream
Gallery owners -- that's us, Sue Heiny and Diana Goplen -- were excited Charles honored us with this incredible artwork.
This place was transformed from the former Bay Hardware and Supply building. It took a lot of work, but we refinished the floors, rebuilt walls, and painted with gallons of paint we got from the back room at Parker Paints in PA (or, as Diana says, "Five gallon, five dollah!") . That's why the building is that bright green.
The building -- now named "Wilma," because that's the way she wants it -- will be the center of the arts and healing scene in the west end community (no brag, just fact), as well as providing hostel space for visiting artists. We have so much community support, and so many neat things have showed up to give this gallery its character.
The "Flintstone" door and window frames, the giant rootball that came from the former Woody's Restaurant, the chandeliers, the paint, the huge amount of just plain work -- it all came from this hard-working, talented, wonderful community, out here on the West End.
We started the day with a Starving Artists Sale. It was so great seeing all those tables representing our local artists' community, with everything from paintings to jewelry to fancy homemade soap.
The seven-foot-tall totem pole is carved from cedar, its post representing a family of dolphins. The eagle's wings show a man and a woman's face, with abalone inlaid eyes. The eagle's claws are carved from Brazilian coca bola wood. Charles said each claw took him an entire day to carve, the wood was so hard.
Superintendent of Lapush Schools Frank Hanson helped Charles raise the totem pole. It was exciting!
The Quilleute drummers sang a song of dedication -- and then a table song for the community potluck. Drummer Russell Woodruff said about Forlines, “This man is a builder, he's a fixer, he's a welder. He can fix anything. He's fixed this community.”
The Quilleute wrapped Forlines in an honor blanket. That means a lot up here.
Then Forlines presented us with one!
The party went on into the late hours, to the rousing rhythms of bluegrass band Loose Gravel. Sara Grafstrom, Sue's daughter, was crazy dancing!
“It ended up being a girls' party,” said Joan Fabian, who was visiting to show her Roshi healing technique. “Everybody was downstairs playing hide-and-seek in the dark.”
