Slide Show/Book Signing Friday the 13th

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center

For immediate release

Enter Stage Left series runs 4 Friday nights beginning April 13

On April 13 the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center begins its fourth annual Enter Stage Left series, which every spring accompanies the annual Strait Art exhibition of north Peninsula artists. Set against the backdrop of this lively and diverse exhibition of 29 visual artists the series presents programs of readings, lectures, music and theater also from local talent.

All programs begin at 7 pm. Admission is by donation at the door and benefits the programs of the Fine Arts Center.

April 13 • Program 1 vYvonne Wakefield: Suitcase Filled with Nails

Port Townsend artist and arts educator Yvonne Wakefield presents a slide lecture and reading from Suitcase Filled with Nails, the recently published book chronicling her experiences in Kuwait. Leaving a secure career and home life in the Pacific Northwest Wakefield immersed herself in the climate, landscape and culture of this small desert state.

For six years she taught art to university aged Muslim women, and learned to “negotiate tribal and misogynistic land mines set by detractors who are threatened by anyone, especially a spirited American woman, who encourages freedom of expression.”

Suitcase Filled with Nails transcends prevalent Middle East stereotypes and is filled with insights on working, living, and coping in a culture that is in many ways the total opposite of what she had known before.

Four of Wakefield’s paintings drawn from that experience are included in Strait Art. Wakefield holds a doctorate in Human Organizational Systems and has been widely recognized for her art education methodology. She has taught art on three continents to a wide range of ages and abilities. Her own art and articles on art have been exhibited and published internationally.  She divides her time between Port Townsend and the Tieton arts community in Eastern Washington.