Clark sets a scene for Clallam’s landmarks

Published 4:30 am Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Michael Clark is preserving local landmarks for a smaller scale.

The stay-at-home father has taken his love of dioramas to create scenes of local barns, businesses, and cottages using photographs, balsa wood, acrylic paints, and shadow boxes.

“As I’m making all these barns and looking at them I’m also seeing them disappear, and I’m getting a little nervous,” Clark said.

“I’m a barn guy and it’s sad to see the farmlands being sold into so many cookie cutter houses.

“I’m really happy that I can kind of capture these moments before they get torn down or dilapidated from the weather.”

He first started exploring the art form with “Star Wars” and “Gundam” model kits several years ago, and he later found more joy in making originals, such as an outer space scene for a “Wall-E” toy, and a desert scene for a train set’s rail car.

That led to building a replica of his sister Melissa Herbelin’s Old Barn Lavender Farm, where he first lived upon moving to Sequim in 2017 while working at Coastal.

“Initially, I did it for her as a surprise and I liked it so much, I fell in love with it. I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to give it,’” he said.

“So I didn’t, and then when she and her husband Dave came over, I was like, ‘Oh, look what I made,’ and then they were like, ‘That’s cool! You gotta make one for us,’ and I said ‘Okay.’

“So I eventually made them one.”

On a whim, Clark entered the Old Barn Lavender Farm shadow box and his next project, an interpretation of the Knutsen farmhouse on Old Olympic Highway, into the Clallam County Fair last summer where he won for his entries.

“That gave me a little more confidence, so then I started to make more,” Clark said.

Gallery opportunity

That led to several more projects, and his wife Lizzy asked him what he was going to do with them all. At his sister’s recommendation, he approached the Blue Whole Gallery, went through their application process and joined the gallery in December.

As one of 30 artists, he volunteers twice a month to have shifts at the gallery, which is located at 129 W. Washington St. in Sequim.

Some of his scenes in the gallery include the Carlsborg Store, the Big Red Barn and the Knutsen home. Clark has recreated a few of those a few times, including Sequim’s grain elevator, now called The Granary.

So far, he’s recreated about 15 locations between Port Angeles and Sequim now with more planned and commissions possible.

“My idea initially is I want it to be nostalgic, like recognizable,” Clark said. “I want people to see it and be like, ‘I know exactly what that is.’”

For some of the locations, he said it would be ideal to get it in the hands of owners or family members, but he is unsure if they’d come to art galleries, and he’s not the type of person to knock on doors to ask.

He has met some family members of scenes he’s made who have told him they used to live there, such as a large white house on Priest Road.

“It’s always nice to have it come full circle,” Clark said.

Process expanded

Clark, a self-taught artist with help from online YouTube videos, works under the business name Rural Impressions because he feels his work is his interpretation of local scenes, and not an exact replica/scale model.

“I don’t like to measure everything to be precise, like an architect type, so it’s not to scale,” he said. “I want it to be fun, not strict and tight.”

That doesn’t mean his work isn’t a crisp interpretation.

Clark starts with taking photos of the space from the street at different angles. Then he’ll find a shadowbox to create the scene based on the frame’s size.

Most of his scenes are made of balsa wood, and if there are pipes, he’ll use polystyrene, along with acrylic paint to find the right color schemes. His key tool of choice is an X-Acto knife to size wood pieces.

Clark estimates each scene takes him 10-20 hours to create. He charges $200-$400 per piece, depending on its level of detail.

His schedule varies as he cares for his and wife Lizzy’s three kids ages 1, 2, and 5. He and Lizzy met when working together at Coastal. She is now manager of the company’s store in Sequim.

After their first child was born, Clark became a stay-at-home father.

As he’s made more shadowbox scenes, Clark said he feels good with what he’s accomplished so far and seeing his skill set grow.

“I’m proud of my work, for sure,” he said. “And some people really admire it.”

To reach Clark and Rural Impressions, email to Ruralimpressionsart@gmail.com or call 714-931-4264.

Read more about the Blue Whole Gallery at bluewholegallery.com or call 360-681-6033.