Orcas Island
— — a horseshoe of green held by the strait.
Not only on a wall.
“Orcas is the largest of the San Juan Islands, shaped roughly like a saddle, its two lobes split by East Sound. Mount Constitution rises in the middle at 2,409 feet, the high point of the whole archipelago, with a stone tower at the summit and a view that takes in Mount Baker and the strait on a clear morning. The ferry from Anacortes takes about an hour. Down at the village of Eastsound the air smells of cedar and salt and slow wood smoke from somebody's kitchen. from the studio
Orcas Island, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands of northwest Washington, covering about 57 square miles in San Juan County. Its shape is a rough horseshoe — two lobes of forested land cradling East Sound, the long fjord-like bay that nearly cuts the island in two. The unincorporated village of Eastsound sits at the head of that bay. Roughly 5,000 people live on the island year-round; the population swells with summer visitors. Access is by Washington State Ferries from Anacortes, about an hour's crossing through the islands, or by small plane to the airstrip just north of Eastsound.
Mount Constitution rises 2,409 feet at the centre of the island, the highest point in the San Juans. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the stone observation tower at the summit in 1936, modelled on the watchtowers of the Caucasus. From the top the view reaches across the strait to Mount Baker, the Cascades, and on the clearest days the volcanic cone of Mount Rainier far to the south. The summit sits inside Moran State Park, the largest in the state's island system at over 5,200 acres, with five lakes and a network of trails that climb out of dense Douglas fir.
The ferry from Anacortes runs several times a day, year-round, and reservations on summer crossings sell out weeks ahead. Most visitors land at the Orcas terminal at the south end and drive the eleven miles north to Eastsound for groceries and lodging. Moran State Park is open year-round; the road up Mount Constitution closes when winter storms ice the switchbacks. Resident orca pods of the Salish Sea pass through Haro and Rosario Straits and are sometimes visible from the western shore. Best light on the summit tower is the hour after dawn, before the marine layer climbs.