After a year of COVID-induced cancellations or a quick switch to “virtual” events, live, in-person art studio tours are back. The tours offer rare glimpses into the lives of people who create things with their own hands. Each tour is an opportunity to purchase fine, decorative and functional works of art directly from their creators, […]
Charlee Glock-Jackson
Freelance writer Charlee Glock-Jackson is the founder of the Olalla Bluegrass & Beyond Festival and the caretaker of an enchanted Olalla forest that's been in her family nearly 70 years.
Posted inFood & Entertainment
Got ‘Cue?
It wasn’t long ago that craving for good barbecue would mean going to Texas, Kansas City, Memphis or North Carolina. There were only one or two places locally that even knew what “real” barbecue was, let alone customers who wanted it. But in the past five or six years, both the number of options and […]
Posted inHome
A Lodge and Treehouse Experience on the Key Pen
It’s one of West Sound’s best-kept secrets — a lovely little gem hidden in a 10-acre woods on the Key Peninsula. Frog Creek Lodge was built as a private residence for a large family in the mid-1970s. The original owner sold it in the 1980s to a couple who turned it into a retreat center. […]
Posted inPeople & Places
Sculptor Turns Stone into Art that Calls to Be Touched
When you first see Sharon Feeney’s stone sculptures, you might think she’s been making art most of her life. But, in fact, she began sculpting in stone a mere 14 years ago. How it all began “is actually sort of a woo-woo story,” Feeney said with a smile. “I was a social worker, working with […]
Posted inHome
Decking the Halls
Christmas starts in October at Ann Ryan’s home on Oyster Bay. That’s when she hauls out the boxes and boxes of holiday decorations she’s collected over the years and starts decking the halls of the 100-year-old home. Ryan’s collection includes Christmas-themed paintings, dozens of carved Santas and little ceramic Dickensian villages set in wintery scenes. […]
Posted inPeople & Places
Wood Sculpture Inspired by Movement and Energy
It starts with a piece of wood — often a very big piece. Big, as in a 10-foot-long log or a huge slab of Western red cedar, Douglas fir, big leaf maple, or perhaps even a large chunk of cherry, black walnut or beech. Then Poulsbo artist James Nybo fires up his chainsaw and starts […]
Posted inPeople & Places
Ken Kieffer — Volunteer Extraordinaire
Ken Kieffer’s world extends far beyond the edges of his mirror. Kieffer, 71, is a longtime Gig Harbor resident, retired attorney and consummate volunteer. He gives his time to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Diabetics Association, Susan G. Komen Puget Sound, Pierce County’s Child Advocate Program, Special Olympics, a children’s hospital in Romania and Make-A-Wish, […]
Posted inPeople & Places
Gig Harbor’s Maritime ‘Library of Things’
Much of Gig Harbor’s history is written in fish. For centuries before white settlers arrived, Native Americans had a village on Gig Harbor Bay, near today’s Austin Estuary and Donkey Creek. They were the sxw babš band (pronounced sk-WHUH-babsh) or “swift water” people of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and they called their village tuwaw […]
Posted inGarden
Glass ‘Flowers’ For Your Garden
Hansville artist Judy Bryant has done a variety of things in her lifetime. For several years, she worked as a draftsperson at Boeing, where she drew the designs of the captains’ panel of the 737 aircraft onto mylar sheets, using special pens. She also worked for Marriott Hotels for 17 years in the accounts payable […]