P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell

The Haller Fountain in downtown Port Townsend features a cast bronze figure pouring water from an urn. The woman stands on a ornate base with cherubs and dolphins also spouting water. The figure in this bronze fountain has been replaced three times. Time, water and vandals are hard on public art! The original fountain statue was of poor quality metal that did not last well.

The original for this figure, by an unknown artist, was based on the 1490s painting “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli. The artist displayed the statue at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, aka the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois. The Venus statue was shown in the German Pavilion. That statue was sold to J.L. Mott Foundry of New York, and casts could be ordered from their catalog with a choice of various bases.

Theodore Haller purchased the original figure from the Mott Foundry, and gifted the fountain to the City of Port Townsend in 1906 . Although the original statue was intended as a statue of Venus, our fountain figure is often referred to as Galatea. It seems that the donor’s father, Granville Haller, read a poem about the Greek sea nymph at the dedication of the gift to the City. Since then the figure has been known as Galatea. And the whole is also referred to as the Haller Fountain, after the donor. The first repair of the statue modified the original figure. However Port Townsend artists Mark Twain Stevenson and David Eisenhower created a replica of the first statue in 1992 after vandals destroyed the second statue.

In 2014 artist Sara Ybarra Lopez wrote and published a book, “Galatea: Heart of Port Townsend”. Sara included photos, art, and thoughts about the Haller Fountain by local residents. You can read more about the book in a Leader article by Jan Haliday. You may still be able to buy or view her book at the Jefferson Historical Society Museum of Art & History, at 540 Water Street.

I used part of a old photo that I took of the Haller Fountain to create the recent collage displayed on the right. I added “bubbles” cut from some of my own prints. Galatea sometimes takes a bubble bath when pranksters add soap to the fountain water! I took several photos of the fountain in order to contribute art to Sara’s book.

If you read my previous post “Making Old Work New” you will already have the drift. I am studio clearing, finishing, renewing, and discarding. Here I have added color to two older works: a pencil drawing and a photo etching.

I am quite charmed by beetles, but this insect seems to be more of a fantasy fly, enjoying a flower. Once only a delicate pencil drawing, now in watercolor and as digital foiled versions of each.

The print is a variation of my strider/running woman that may represent my own flight from the “big city” and from my 9-5 (well 9-5:30 with a 30 minute lunch…) job at Boeing Computer Services. . We left Seattle for Port Townsend in 1998 and were more or less self employed one way or another for another 10 years before settling into art for me, and real retirement with fruit trees, motorcycles, and old RVs to work on (M)J.

This small print is just black ink and the figure alone. So each print has seen very different additions over time. Here I added a landscape in watercolor with a bit of colored pencil used in the buildings.

So I continue with more old work renewed.

I have not so much new work to show from recent weeks. But I am working! Please note that I will have work on exhibit at the Art Farm Gallery on Saturday 10/12! Every art lover is welcome to this most excellent party event; just come with interest in fine art, stay to visit, to taste a few great snacks, and to enjoy some fine music!

I am slow doing anything these days, and have many things to keep me busy. It took me several days to prepare for this fine art event. In doing so, I started some significant “housekeeping” in my studio. The time has finally come to clean out some detritus, complete unfinished work or destroy it, and gift away anything I no longer use.

So I embellished & enhanced several older incomplete artworks, especially pieces from my printmaking days at Corvidae Press. Some have even been mounted and made ready to hang. Others may be combined to create finished works.

Sometimes bigger changes are needed! My work area was no longer serving me well, with changes in use and changes in my life. So I tackled this by relocating my primary work table, along with carts of tools & materials. Thank goodness for wheeled storage! Another part of the other work is cleaning out some older materials that I don’t seem to use; there is so much great stuff to pass on to others!

I am also trying to shrink my “office” storage that surrounds my computer! Perhaps I can discard bank & card statements that are 10 years old??? Well, my own ambition just amazes me!

Here are some of the newly finished/reworked prints, along with one new piece that I have not posted previously, called “Memories with Fork”:

So not so much new is relative: some things are renewed!

I really worked to get ready, and Studio Tour was lovely. With some 50-55 visitors during the one day event, I stayed busy. And most were enthusiastic and ready to engage with me about my work and my process.

I received many compliments on my studio, which is very much a display space as well as being my working studio. In addition to displaying my own work, I surround myself with favorite found objects. There are arrangements and displays of shells, fine beach pebbles, old souvenirs & jewelry, odd mangled and stained scraps and interesting broken things. I arrange these to amuse myself, and to have them available for use in my artwork someday. Visitors generally enjoy my habit of arranging these into displays… 🙂 Or at least they are amazed by it!

I had a few works in progress during the tour, but no quiet time to work on them. I was busy greeting and talking with visitors. However I have managed to complete three of these over the past week. I even put together some parts already at hand for a small commissioned light fixture. Two works are simple collages of pressed autumn leaves, one is an assemblage in a drawer, and the commissioned lit piece uses translucent beach stones in resin.

Studio tour did not result in any major sales. I did sell a book, a few scarab beetle people, and one or two small works. I failed to prepare a price list for various standalone artworks although I know that many people hesitate to ask the price. Another marketing mistake was no sign-in book. Unfortunately I was to busy to collect the names of a few visitors who expressed an interest in a particular artwork.

Marketing is really NOT my strong suit! And I stayed busy enough to be distracted…

However sales are not my primary motives for making art or opening my studio. I love doing the work, and I love showing my work in my studio. In an open studio I can talk to people face to face, more or less one on one. It was a wonderful day for me: Studio Tour was lovely.

Sometimes life gets in the way of getting art done. Summer, puppies, family, vacation and sheer inertia can deter me from making new art. But Studio Tour approaches, and some new artwork seems desirable, and cleaning up the studio is mandatory. I love to use older images, pieces and parts to create new finished work, or to enhance existing but unsatisfactory works.

At left is “There Were Roses”. For this collage I used a older photo that I added to digitally for the background. It is mounted and has delicate dimensional pieces attached.

On the right, I finally abandoned my earlier fondness for a fairly drab brown print. I added brilliant color and metallic gold paint. It is framed, and now you can actually see it through the glass! I still liked the earlier monochrome print, but it really was dark and almost hidden.