PERSPECTIVE

When our present feels difficult and hopeless, I’ll often find relief by intentionally choosing a new viewpoint and changing my perspective. Sometimes I’ll zoom in and peer at the minutiae, such as a bee cleaning its long tongue. Other times, like with this exhibit, I’ll zoom out and take the long view.

This miniature tableau, which I made of discarded packaging and consumer electronics, is about four inches tall. I built it to represent roughly 200 years of American history. Why 200? Because at that time, we, and the land in the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere), were on the precipice of monumental change. 

In comparison to what was to come, not much was happening yet in the Puget Sound basin. To put it in perspective, in 1805, Lewis and Clark had only just arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

In 1818, the Puget Sound area was claimed by both the United States and Britain. The larger region wouldn’t even become a territory until 1846, much less a state.  In 1851, the place where I now live first took the name “Port Townsend.” In the same place, the Klallam, and the Chimakum and Skokomish tribes, through pressure and manipulation, gave up most of their homelands in the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point.

In 1820, the ancient forests would have been intact. While logging roads were first cut through the area in the 1880s, the old-growth forests were taken in greatest force in the 1940s, not even 100 years ago. Now they are all but gone.

A page from “Patterns for Preservation” by David Tillotson, 1969. I used pages from this fascinating book, collage-like, in the work boots also shown at this exhibition.

The miniature tableaus – four inches tall – are in the gallery at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History in Port Townsend. The historic building built in 1892 has ceilings that are eighteen feet tall. 

If the 4 inch tableaus represent 200 years of history, a quick bit of algebra tells me the 18 foot tall ceilings represent 10,000 years. What was happening 10,000 years ago in the Puget Trough? That’s when the glaciers that covered the region in miles of ice were retreating. As the glaciers retreated, humans followed.  10,000 years ago (give or take a few thousand years) shows the first signs of human habitation.

If you want to see what 200 years looks like in the context of 10,000 years, stop by.  You can also see images of the show here.