If the purpose of public art is to inspire conversation in a community, then [Jonah] Trople’s work, or rather its defacement, has succeeded. 

In response, the Creative District Committee and Port Townsend at large has asked, “Who is public art for?” Trople answers this by saying “I built them, in part, as veneration to this very long story of craftspeople, the woodworkers, and all the creative makers here now and historically.” 

Now, the word “veneration” is a weighty word, that should be used carefully. It means “great respect; reverence.”

As one of those Port Townsend creative woodworkers, do I feel that his white chainsaw sculptures revere me or my work? No. Do the shipwrights down at the boatyard, who suffer the bite of wind off the bay through winter’s long dark mornings, feel, when looking up these painted chunks of wood, “great respect” bestowed upon them? I’d guess not.

Adding insult to injury, every creative woodworker in town who saw these sculptures probably had the same thought as me: “I could have made these in a day or two.” And then they did the mental math for the $28,000 price tag, deducting the material and installation costs, then calculating the hourly wage and comparing it against their own. 

Were it a private art sale, I’d jealously applaud Trople’s sleight of hand. But because it was funded, in part, with city tax revenue, “honored” wasn’t exactly the feeling that came to mind. 

But alas, despite our skills as woodworkers and craftspeople, I suppose we’re too busy, or don’t have the poetic words, or that magical wave of our calloused hands to convince the Committee to pay us such a lofty sum to take a chainsaw to a some old timbers, paint them white, and call them art.

Chris Axling
PORT TOWNSEND