PORT ANGELES – Progress continues on the mural restoration project in downtown Port Angeles, sponsored and paid for by the Nor’Wester Rotary Club.
Artist Cory Ench has been working diligently, often 7-days-a-week, to bring back the luster of the historical murals. They include the Kalakala and the Ennis Creek panels, which he himself painted in the late 90’s, and the one he’s working on now, known as Sluicing The Hogback, originally painted by the late Hank Krueger.
Taking the lead on the restoration project is retired newsman and Nor’Wester Rotarian John Brewer. We checked in to get an update on Ench’s progress.
“It’s such a big one. He’s gotten about ooooh, you know, roughly halfway through Sluicing right now. He’s repainting a lot of parts of it, brightening up parts, putting more shadows. And he’s very respectful of HanK Krueger, who did most of the work on this. And it’s still the same mural, but it’s just been, you know, it’s been up for more than 20 years, and that’s actually exceeding the normal life of an outdoor mural. If we’d waited another year we probably would have lost the mural. It was in that bad of a shape.”
The project is being paid for by Rotary Club reserve funds and donations, as well as contributions by local businesses.
If you’d like to donate to the effort, contact John Brewer at jcbrewer8@gmail.com, or call (360) 452-4639.
To see photos and learn more about the murals of Port Angeles, click here.
Photos of Cory Ench restoring the mural “Sluicing the Hogback” submitted by John Brewer.