Nautical Northwest Magazine
I’m a former contributing arts editor for Nautical Northwest, where I had the delight of highlighting local maritime artists.
Inside the FisherPoets Gathering
In 1998, Jon Broderick, former schoolteacher and longtime commercial fisherman, started the FisherPoets Gathering to get a few fishing friends together for art and story. For one weekend each year since, artists who happen to be fishermen gather in Astoria, OR, to share their art. The meeting now attracts men and women from both coasts. Doreen Broderick, Jay Speakman, and many others stepped in to help as the gathering grew. The event is now supported by Oregon Sea Grant, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Oregon Community Foundation, and a host of other families and businesses. The website warns that FisherPoets is “cobbled together every winter,” but my impression was of a well-oiled production.
Pacific Northwest Sweats and Shivers
I arrived in Seattle with a lot of free time and nowhere to go. Surrounded by water, I started getting in, and getting cold, daily. I warmed up by donning my puffer and blasting the heat in my car. Eventually, I started my sauna journey inside, at the Ladies Room, a silent, partially nude day spa in Greenwood for women, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming folks. Afterward, my body felt amazing. I was warm. I was happy. I was relaxed and I was hooked. All of a sudden, I started noticing saunas everywhere. Of course, saunas are standard in Nordic life, and Nordics are standard in the Pacific Northwest.
New Nordic - Lessons in Food, Art, and Nature
The Pacific Northwest is a Nordic place at its core. Immigrants from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, commonly known as Nordic people, flocked to the region in the early 1900s. Perhaps the place provided a familiar echo of their homelands: enchanting darkness, snowy peaks, and deep green forests. Just as important was the abundance of the sea and the flavors contained within. Cold fjords and oceans with fish and salt kept them nourished and connected. Many of these immigrants settled right in Ballard, where the Nordic Heritage Museum opened in 1980. Then, in 2018, the National Nordic Museum reopened into a beautiful location on Northwest Market Street, two blocks from the Ballard (Hiram M. Chittenden) Locks. I had the pleasure of visiting to investigate an exhibit called New Nordic: Cuisine, Culture, and Place.
Sound-worthy Swimwear from the Talented Lily Smith
Lily Smith sews and designs flattering swimwear and garments under the brand Merrick Maria out of Olympia, Washington. Smith grew up near Squaxin Park in Olympia and remembers, “I was definitely the kid–even if it was November–like-oh my shoes are off. Now my pants are wet. Now I’m all the way in.” She made ferry boats and bridges across the creek in her backyard and has always loved to swim in Puget Sound. She sails with local friends and friends overseas. The ocean made her the artist she is.