Editor’s note: This is the first in a series about different aspects of Sequim’s arts community from the painters to musicians to lavender farmers. Look next week, April 15, for Part 2.

Your local arts and entertainment scene is in flux and has been for a while.

From going to see a play to buying a piece of artwork to visiting a lavender farm, your discretionary spending options continue to grow but so is the competition for your dollar.

Sequim may be best known for its summer attractions, specifically lavender, but year-round Sequim’s arts community is in full swing with plays from Olympic Theatre Arts and Readers Theatre Plus, live music at 7 Cedars Casino and small brick-and-mortar stores looking to make a living in the industry.

Shirley Mercer, owner of the Local Artists Resource Center, LARC, made an effort to make a go of it in Sequim, opening her gallery in February 2013 on Bell Street before moving to Washington Street seven months later.

In a Gazette business profile, Mercer said she wanted more traffic coming by and wall space, which increased offerings from 24-27 artists. However, on Facebook she announced the business was closed as of Christmas Day 2014.

Mercer declined to speak with the Gazette about the closure but her message on Facebook reads, “Thanks to everyone for 2 great years of support and encouragement. We accomplished what we set out to do and that was to create another open and inviting space to display local art.”

Eileen Cummings, who helped start the art supply store Colors of Sequim at 139 W. Washington St. more than two years ago, said she hopes to sell her business before retiring by July 1.

If she doesn’t sell, Cummings said she would just close.

“People are hopeful there’ll be somebody to step into this established business,” she said.

However, Cummings said people tend to shop online or have specific immediate needs that she can order right away but doesn’t have in stock.

As her only employee, Cummings said the hardest part is being in the store all the time, everyday except Sundays and Mondays when she closes.

“I think it’s a viable thing for someone who wants to stay busy,” she said.

Cummings hasn’t been twiddling her fingers waiting for business though. She’s reached out to artists, groups, teachers and schools to consider bulk ordering from her and/or sending their class lists so she can stock up for local students. She’s had limited response, Cummings said.

To stay open, she imagines future owners would need to diversify and include framing, an art gallery and/or something else.

“Look in Downtown Sequim, two businesses for example do two things with one offering tanning and selling clothes (Solar City’s Tesa Boutique & Tanning Retreat) and another selling wine and distributing it (Wind Rose Cellars),” she said.

To speak with Cummings about the sale of Colors of Sequim, call 907-378-1864 or visit the store.

Effort and courage

To Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, coordinator of Sequim’s First Friday Art Walk, she thinks people should celebrate more that they at least tried.

“It takes a lot of courage to be an artist and put things out there,” she said. “It’s the same for a small business to try something new.”

Brock-Richmond initiated the art walk in 2006, she said, by approaching multiple venues to coordinate receptions and some events on the same day.

Since then it’s fluctuated from 20-30 venues as part of a free event to showcase local artists of all types.

Brock-Richmond said hundreds of people continue to attend in any given month. Her color themes for each month, which she said are a “fun way of creating inclusion for the audience,” is being adapted by other art walks, she said.

“For me, I’m very grateful people try all kinds of new things,” she said. “Sequim is all about innovation. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t try to change a desert into a fertile area.”

Gauging success

When comparing arts and entertainment, Brock-Richmond said it’s important to separate for-profit and nonprofit efforts and their successes.

With the art walk, Brock-Richmond, who volunteers her time for it, said one of her many success stories is when people tell her they are considering moving to Sequim and when they saw there is an art walk, that sealed the deal.

“People are looking for a community to find a home, to settle down in and actively participate in it,” she said.

To continue success, she said those who engage their audience and work together do best.

“When people decide to be an island among themselves they are missing out on so many opportunities,” she said. “I think it’s really wonderful when they build a base but also expand that base and be as inclusive as possible.”

Barbara Boerigter, a sculptor and founding member of the Blue Whole Gallery, 129 W. Washington St., said cooperation is what has kept the for-profit gallery going for 18 years this June.

“It’s very unusual for a co-op to last that long,” she said.

In its tenure, the gallery has hosted hundreds of artists and averages up to 30 artists on display per month. Boerigter said they’ve opened for its own first Friday reception every month except once when it was delayed one week due to weather.

“I credit it to that we know that we’re doing things the right way,” she said, which includes making sure visitors’ eyes move from piece to piece.

To do that, the gallery has a hanging committee that places the art according to flow rather than by space per artist.

“It makes a huge difference,” Boerigter said. “The quality keeps getting better, too, and we’re particular about who can join.”

However, the gallery hasn’t been immune to the Sequim economy, she said.

“Purchasing art is always discretionary,” Boerigter said. “We have a very loyal following who comes to see our art but they aren’t necessarily our clientele. That’s always a problem, trying to find new clients … But we have done fine. We’re not in any kind of a threat of not staying open.”

Boerigter said the gallery continues to bring in guest artists, offer lessons and change its monthly artists showcase, too.

Possibilities

At one point, Skye Heatherton, a Sequim area artist, was considering opening an art gallery in Sequim. However, she opted for Port Angeles and opened the Heatherton Gallery in The Landing Mall.

She celebrated one year in February and the gallery has grown to include 60 artists mostly from Sequim with up to seven pieces each or more for jewelers.

“We looked at Sequim but didn’t feel comfortable with it,” she said. “We felt more opportunity in Port Angeles and it’s proven to be the case.”

Heatherton said the international traffic has been big and Sequim’s art preferences don’t necessarily mesh.

“Tractors and barns just don’t go European very easily,” she said. “We’re trying to educate the artists that if they are going to be hobbyists or serious commercial artists, then you are looking at things differently. Paintings of your grandchildren aren’t going to sell.”

Mary Beth Beuke, owner of West Coast Sea Glass, said she considered opening a brick-and-mortar store in Sequim, too, but she’s focused on selling online.

“Our stuff is all over the world,” she said. “We’re in 60 galleries all over the world but being an online business has made that a reality for us. I’ve been proactive about marketing globally. That’s how we survive. This is not our demographic.”

Beuke has made a living as a full-time artist since 1998 with her sea glass business and said she sells mostly to tourist destinations and doesn’t anticipate a possible store having enough traffic in Sequim to stay open.

“Sequim is kind of notorious for things opening and closing because we already had it,” she said. “The art community is dealing with the same thing.”

Nonprofit art

In the nonprofit sector, artists and groups aren’t immune from the flux either.

One of Sequim’s biggest nonprofit efforts is Sequim Arts, which has faced some changes in recent years, too.

After a dispute with the former administration at the Sequim Museum & Arts over not receiving shared earnings from its annual Juried Art Show, the group stopped renting the Exhibit Building on Cedar Street.

Aside from the dispute, the group also stopped its annual Studio Tour last summer because it couldn’t recruit enough volunteers to coordinate it.

Maryann Proctor, current president and a member since 1999, said things for the group have been tough but support is beginning to build up again.

She said in part it was the economic recession and the changes that brought their membership from 150 to around 100.

“We’re building a lot of interest,” she said.

“We’re gaining lots of new people and looking to expand to the whole North Peninsula and we’re starting to do a lot more with Port Angeles.”

Proctor said they still hold the option to do the studio tour but don’t have plans for one this summer during Lavender Weekend.

They’ve also begun partnering with the museum again with an office space at the DeWitt Administration building on Sequim Avenue and the group plans to hold its Juried Art Show & Sale there all of May.

“We’re letting people know we want them and need them,” Proctor said. “We’ve got very interesting things coming up and we’re trying to make this more fun and more upbeat.”

At the group’s core, Proctor said Sequim Arts’ intent is to educate people and help others in the arts such as donating college scholarships and equipment to Sequim High School. Proctor said she sees success for the group when people come and enjoy their events.

“We held our student art show in The Landing and we reached the whole county with it,” she said. “Next year we should be able to reach even more schools.”

Sequim Arts hosts its monthly meeting next at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 23, in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave.

One solution

One effort to bring together artists of all types comes in the City of Sequim’s City Arts Advisory Commission that formed in April 2014.

The eight-member board includes representation from Olympic Theatre Arts, Sequim Arts, Sequim City Band and more with one vacancy.

Cummings, who sits on the board, said its first task was to select the first entries for the city’s rotating art display inside its new Civic Center. She said they had 30 entries for up to 12 spots.

But the group’s main mission is to advise the Sequim City Council on culture and the arts community at-large as it pertains to the city.

Part of their discussions has been whether or not trying to coordinate these different groups, too.

Beuke finds that to be a great option.

“There needs to be an overall parent group that is promoting and offering a place for collaboration and communication for artists,” she said.

“Moving toward an arts commission is the answer and the more diverse (people on it), the merrier.”

Brock-Richmond reiterates working together is key.

“I think we’re in a spot ready for more expansion and support,” she said. “We have a really excellent base and foundation and with all the different organizations I think that it’s a chance for us to celebrate what we have and for us to be a real destination. When we work together we all win. It’s time for us all to support each other.”

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.