History of Quimper Arts
Sometime in the 1980s, a group of artists met for the purpose of camaraderie and teaching. The original concept was to bring art education to Port Townsend WA.
Port Townsend is a preserved Victorian seaport that blossomed in the late 1800’s with speculation that it was to become the major port of the Pacific Northwest. When the railroad building ended at Tacoma so ended the vision of “City of Dreams” becoming the major port of the northwest. Port Townsend stayed somewhat of a ghost town until it was rediscovered by artists and bohemians during the 1970s cultural renaissance. At the point that the Straits of Juan De Fuca becomes Puget Sound, Port Townsend is on a naturally beautiful peninsula. Surrounded on three sides by water, most of the streets have views of water, islands and the Cascade mountains beyond. To the south the views of the Olympic Mountains rise up for pristine views on streets viewing south. This natural beauty has made the place attractive to all kinds of creative people – visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers. In this ripe environment the Port Townsend Life Drawing group was born from Mary Johnson’s summer School of the Arts. Mary is the person most often credited with bringing arts and historical restoration to Port Townsend. All of this activity was happening on at the second floor of Fort Worden’s old School house.
With a shared passion for supporting the arts, in 1991 the group of 70 participants formed a new group and named themselves Quimper Arts. Their intention was to sharpen their skills through weekly drawing sessions. They talked shop during the breaks, but the general atmosphere was one of individual concentration. According to Miriam Lansdon, one of the original members, they had group shows twice annually.
Later, the Fairgrounds and Quimper Arts partnered up and purchased a building that the airport wanted moved. With $20 and a lot of volunteer effort, they moved and rebuilt it. At the first QA show, the members presented Bates, Bill Wise and Ray Mosher a plaque to thank them for putting the building together. It was reported that the QA sale grossed $3,000. Several of the members built 25 benches with money they received from the Port Townsend association for the Arts (AFTA). In 2013, the Port Townsend Leader featured and article on Quimper Arts’ life drawing program.
Much as the group loved having such a large space, it proved difficult to light and nearly impossible to heat in winter. In order to operate year round, in 2015 Quimper Arts signed a lease with the Masonic Lodge in uptown. The space has proved comfortable and convenient.Quimper Arts has had many good times drawing, painting and eating together, as potlucks and in local pubs and restaurants. Through the years Quimper Arts has sponsored many group shows for the purpose of bringing art and art demonstrations to the public. Many times the Quimper Arts shows shared income to benefit the local libraries. In addition to our own biannual shows, from 2009 until 2019 we participated in the Art Port Townsend studio tours.
Past Events:
As of 2025, we are still going strong. The following are a few of our past special events in reverse chronological order.
June 2025: Members group show at Elevated Ice Cream
August 2024: Members group show for the revival of Artists Open Studios; free life drawing at the Masonic Lodge.
January-February 2024: Members show at Grover Gallery; free life drawing session at the gallery.
September 2023: Luke Tornatzky taught a portrait drawing in charcoal workshop at the Masonic Lodge.
Spring through Fall 2023: monthly free plein air sessions met on Sunday afternoons in Port Townsend and other locations on the Quimper Peninsula, and 3 “nude in the landscape” sessions met in Quilcene.
Spring-Summer 2023: Four Quimper members volunteered at Northwind’s free teen art program, The Bunker, to host 2 life drawing sessions.
Spring 2023: First life sculpting sessions, let by Wayne Brown, started in Quilcene.
May 2023: Sawyer taught a color theory workshop, primarily in gouache, at the Masonic Lodge.
October 2022: Open house art show with drawing free to the public, clothed model and art supplies provided.
Spring through Fall 2022: Monthly free plein air painting resumed after a pandemic-driven break. We met on Wednesday mornings, in Port Townsend and beyond.
October 2021: Open House art show with drawing free to the public, clothed model and art supplies provided.
June 2021: Members show at Elevated Ice Cream in Port Townsend.
July 2020: Tracy Grisman taught a portrait painting in oil workshop at the Masonic Lodge.
Summer 2019: Plein Air painting group met every second Wednesday at different locations to paint landscapes.
October 2018: Jim Oliver taught a workshop in painting portraits in watercolor, applying multiple layers.
July 2017: Figure Drawing and Painting En Plein Air at Finn River Cidery
May 2017: Dmitry Artamonov taught a figure drawing in charcoal class at the Masonic Lodge.
April 2016: Dmitry Artamonov taught a portrait in charcoal class at the Masonic Lodge, Quimper Arts’s new home.
Quimper Arts 