Reneé Mizar
Communications Director, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley
With some help from the Sequim Valley Car Club, the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley’s 1907 REO Runabout rolled into the MAC Exhibit Center last week as one of several new and refreshed history displays.
The fully restored vintage automobile, reportedly the first in the Dungeness Valley, is now a focal point inside the MAC Exhibit Center, 175 W. Cedar St. in Sequim, which recently reopened after a month-long maintenance closure. Among the other new exhibits are displays of Northwest Native basketry, vintage hats and accessories, sailing ship models and maritime-related instruments and tools.
The Manis Mastodon exhibit also received a makeover, including the addition of an eight-foot wall built by MAC volunteer Rocky Fankhouser to increase exhibit capabilities, and a new display of mastodon and mammoth teeth.
In time for Valentine’s Day, a “Valentine Sweethearts” exhibit of vintage dolls courtesy of the Olympic Peninsula Doll Club also is on display through March 22, after which it will be replaced with springtime and Easter-themed dolls.
“We are all so excited to have revitalized and upgraded the exhibit center with our new exhibits and by adding some color,” said MAC History Exhibits coordinator Lyn Fiveash, referring to some now-vibrantly colored exhibit backdrops.
“We’ve also been listening to what our patrons want to see and our basketry and REO exhibits are a direct result of their input.”
Fiveash also noted several of the new exhibits, as well as some currently in the works, are cooperative endeavors between the MAC and local groups.
In addition to working with the Sequim Valley Car Club, whose members continue to advise on proper car care, the MAC is continuing its year-long collaboration with the Olympic Peninsula Doll Club to present rotating displays of vintage dolls.
Fiveash said history exhibits being planned for the spring include a new archaeological exhibit about Washington Harbor and the U.S. Highway 101 bypass being developed in collaboration with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and a Sequim Irrigation Festival display highlighting past royalty that will coincide with the annual May festival.
Also currently showing is “History & Art Connects,” an art exhibition featuring 40 pieces of original artwork from the MAC Collection depicting local historical scenes and created by 21 artists active in the area arts scene largely from the 1960s-1980s. Featured artists include Judy Priest, Esther Webster, Dorcas Taylor, Joy McCarter, Evelyn “Johnny” Whatton, Lynne Proudfoot, Gertrude Nelson, and Dick Chapman. The exhibit runs through the end of February.
The MAC Exhibit Center is open 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is free for MAC members, children aged 12 or younger, and youths aged 13-17 with student ID, or $3 for non-member adults.
Visit www.macsequim.org or call 683-8110 for details.
