The Oregon coast, once home to the beloved sea otter, has been without this playful
marine mammal for over 100 years due to their near-extinction during the maritime fur trade. Today, Oregonians can only see sea otters at the Oregon Zoo and Oregon Coast Aquarium. The Elakha Alliance, an Oregon-based nonprofit led by tribal and conservation leaders, is dedicated to changing that and bringing sea otters back to their natural habitat on the Oregon coast.
On Saturday, September 28th from 4:30pm-6:30pm,, twenty-four artists from Oregon and beyond, in addition to twenty high school art students from North Bend High School, will present their sea otter-inspired creations at the “Seas the Night” silent art auction and cocktail party. This special event will be held at the Yaquina Bay Yacht Club in Newport, with proceeds supporting the Elakha Alliance’s mission of sea otter reintroduction. The evening will be catered by Local Ocean Seafoods with handcrafted cocktails by Straightaway Cocktails, beer from Pelican Brewing Company, wine donated by Erath Winery, and live music by Lucky Gap Trio. Tickets for the “Seas the Night” event are available at
The “Seas the Night” event will cap off a weeklong online silent art auction, running from September 22nd to September 28th, which is open to the general public for online bidding in celebration of Sea Otter Awareness Week. The online art auction website can be found here https://bit.ly/SeaOtterArt. Participating artists “Envisioned a Future with Sea Otters on the Oregon Coast,” and donated a dazzling array of art, everything from classic representative oil paintings to mosaic, fiber, and ceramics.
Yvana Iovino, a volunteer with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program and a Tide Pool Ambassador with NCLC, donated original hand-carved linoleum cuttings printed using water-based inks onto Japanese Kitakata paper. Iovino commented, “I’ve come to learn the importance of relationships between species
that live in our oceans. Combining my love of art with my love of the ocean, I hope that my contribution could further the goal of the Elakha Alliance to return the native sea otter to our oceans and thereby help to return the balance of nature.”
Christina Harkness, a conservation artist from Corvallis, donated a mixed media fiber piece valued at $2000, which was previously displayed at the North Coast Kelp Fest in Mendocino, CA. Harkness wrote, “My fiber art concentrates on marine conservation and preservation, and I have been working with coral reefs for quite a few years. My attention was turned to kelp forests and their restoration through the art of Josie Iselin and I was especially interested in the role of Sea Otters and their history and reintroduction along the Oregon Coast. I hope that my art can convey how important every plant and animal is in the balance of our ocean ecosystem.”
Lee Kersh of Eugene donated a soprano ukulele he hand-built using fallen Oregon trees, including the mature fruit tree he climbed as a child. It is finished with a vintage-style french rub to show off the wood grain and enhance the tonal quality. The instrument includes a custom-made carrying case, featuring the Elakha Alliance logo hand-painted by Robert Bailey, Board President of The Elakha Alliance. Other pieces up for auction include two otter and kelp stoneware pitchers by Newport potter Liz Fox, a round copper-foil style stained glass panel depicting a future sea otter population in Oregon by Florida artist Cory Janiak, modernist acrylic paintings of sea otters by diver and Salem artist Rachel Wood, and a
hand-woven tapestry using plant pigments (previously displayed by the Cannon Beach Arts Association) depicting floating bull kelp by Wheeler artist and conservationist Kyla Sjogren.
The Elakha Alliance would like to thank all participating artists and their commitment to sea otter conservation: Suzan C Poisner, Anisa Noorassa, Catherine Orr, Marina Larson, Yvana Iovino, Madeline Strawberry, Kellan Oleander, Lee Kersh, Bob Bailey, Mark Boehly, Megan Pros, Jacqui Ver Loren van Themaat, Kris Buenger, Christina Harkness, Winky Wheeler, Bashi Ratterree, Alane Jennings, Gretchen Gingerich, Liz Fox, Kyla Sjogren, Thom Cheney, Sara Newport, Rachel Wood, and Cory Janiak, as well as Becky Eddy’s students from North Bend High School.
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