An open studio featuring the work of South Korean visual artist Gillchun Koh will be on display at Fort Worden State Park’s Building 205 from 10 am to 4 pm on Wednesday, January 6. A reception open to the public will be held in his honor from 4 pm to 6 pm.

Gillchun will show his etchings that symbolically depict the loss of bird habitat on Jeju Island, his homeland off the coast off the coast of South Korea. He feels a connection between his culture and that of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, he said, evidenced through similarities in many spiritual rituals.

In 2003, Gillchun came to Port Townsend for the first time as a Centrum artist-in-residence. During that time, his imagination was sparked by the small wooden boat—known as the Chetzemoka—lying in Fort Worden’s shoreline grasses. Through the years the strength of that image stayed with him, and now he is back at Centrum to present his newest installation: Flying Chetzemoka. By hanging several large origami representations of the Chetzemoka boat, Gillchun attempts to connect that marine image to the freedom of flying. Lanterns near the boats are beams of light, in contrast to the life-size graphite frottage of the Chetzemoka on display.

The Centrum residency program has since 1980 served artists from all over the world. Each year, several hundred artists, including many Washington state artists, pass through Centrum as a resident, experiencing the time, space, and inspiration to create new works of art at Fort Worden.