Port Townsend is opening the month of July with poetry downtown and fiber art uptown.

POETRY

Writer and musician David Romtvedt, the former Wyoming state poet laureate who worked in Centrum’s folk arts program for many years, is returning to Port Townsend this week.

Romtvedt will read from his latest book, “Still on Earth,” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery, at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend.

He might also read from 2021’s “No Way: An American Tao Te Ching,” but either way, this event is free to the public.

“I have a long connection to Port Townsend, and I admire its artistic and literary community,” said Romtvedt, who moved here after working with the Peace Corps and Maison de Quebec in central Africa in the 1970s.

He served as program manager for Centrum’s Fiddle Tunes festival and workshop, and the International Folk Dance and Music Festival.

A poet and button accordion player who plays Creole dance music, Romtvedt has also been a blueberry picker, bookstore clerk, tree planter, truck driver, ranch hand and college professor.

He’s a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a Pushcart Prize and the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award, among other honors.

FIBER ART

“Steampunk in Fiber” remains on display through the month of July at the 24/7 walk-by exhibit at 675 Tyler St. in Uptown Port Townsend, created by nine members of the Peninsula Fiber Artists.

This display of sculptures, art quilts and jewelry showcases gnomes, gears and critters by textile artists from Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

Some works feature found objects, while others were inspired by caches of decades-old watch movements.

Several pieces are available for sale, directly from the artists.

Participating fiber artists include Port Townsend’s Leslie Dickinson, Angie Dideum, Caryl Fallert-Gentry, Pat Herkal, Mary Morrison, Debra E. Olson, Janice Speck and Ellen Thomas, plus Port Angeles’ Merrie Jo Schneider.

This association of textile artists from Jefferson, Kitsap and Clallam counties also will have two late summer exhibits on the Peninsula.

Opening Aug. 1 at the Mead Werks at Wilderbee Farm, located at 223 Cook Ave. in Port Townsend, is “Salish Seasons.”

Opening Aug. 18 at the Field Arts and Event Hall Gallery, at 219 N. Oak St. in Port Angeles, is “Fiber on the Strait.”

The Peninsula Fiber Artists alternate their monthly meetings between the Gardiner Community Center and the Northwind Art space at Fort Worden, and are open to all textile artists at no charge.

At 10 a.m., the group meets at Fort Worden on July 9, and at the Gardiner Community Center on Aug. 13.