Port Angeles Fine Arts Center

About

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center
And Webster's Woods Art Park

Story

The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center opened to the public in 1986 as an arts exhibition and education facility. A gift to the community by the late Ester Barrows Webster, the PAFAC is administered by a board of trustees designated by the donor. The PAFAC is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to preserving and promoting our cultural arts history in the Olympic northwest. The facility consists of Mrs. Webster’s former home designed by Paul Hayden Kirk, a five-acre art park named Webster’s Woods featuring over 100 sculptures, and site works seamlessly integrated into unique woodlands in the middle of an urban setting. The Center’s gallery and Webster’s Woods are both open and free to the public year-round.

Since the opening of the PAFAC over 30 years ago the gallery has hosted more than 150 exhibitions by nearly 500 artists, principally from the Northwest. As a major attraction in the Port Angeles area it is estimated about 20,000 people tour our center and park every year.

The first sculptures were installed in Webster’s Woods in 2000 and every year new pieces are presented through the Center’s Art Outside program. Visitors can explore the site independently by using the park trails and discover artworks hanging in trees, burrowing in the ground, or camouflage by the natural beauty of the foliage. In 1990 Art Paths was created to be PAFAC’s core education program and has serviced students from pre-school through college and provides interactions with master artists such as George Tsutakawa and Dale Chihuly. Last year our educational programs serviced over 4,000 students in Olympic Peninsula area.

Additionally, PAFAC provides opportunities for the public to attend special workshops/lectures by visiting artists; listen to book and poetry reads; hear a variety of musical performances; and on occasions theatrical performances. PAFAC welcomes all, providing programs, exhibitions and experiences that honor individual creativity, develop artistic practices and build community.