Teen helps Fife community embrace art

When Danielle Twichel turns in homework assignments at Fife High School, they don’t just include answers to math problems or history questions.

They also frequently feature sketches – animals, people, whatever the 15-year-old sees or imagines.

“My teachers have had to get used to me drawing on any assignment I’ve ever had,” Danielle said with a laugh.

The Fife sophomore has expressed herself through art since she was a little girl. She takes classes, participates in her school’s art club and has a website on which she displays and sells her creations.

Danielle also is helping shape her community’s artistic landscape. She’s the only student member of the new Fife Public Arts Commission, a group that recently selected five pieces for the city’s first-ever installation of public art.

The creations – from sculptures to a series of photographs – will go on display around the city for six months to a year starting in March. Some may become part of a permanent city art collection, while others are resold to support the public art program.

The Fife City Council established the commission last year. The group put out a call to artists and received proposals from two dozen people from the South Sound and beyond. The commission had up to $5,000 in city funds to purchase the art pieces.

One of Danielle’s colleagues on the commission said the teen has more than held her own in the group of adults.

“She’s very mature,” said Anette (Lusher) Cree, a professional artist. “We discussed the pieces, and I was really amazed by the depth of the thought she put into it.”

She also praised Danielle’s artistic ability.

Danielle draws, paints and shapes delicate figurines from colorful polymer clay. She designed and helped paint a mural on the bottom of the wading pool at the Fife Swim Center – a project of the arts commission and the Fife High art club.

When she’s not sketching or sculpting clay, Danielle is often found on the basketball court; she plays for the Trojans team at school. She’s also an avid skier and spoke about her arts commission work by phone after a day on the slopes with her family in Montana.

Danielle’s parents are Dennis and Cathy Twichel; she also has a younger brother.

She said she enjoys filling a spot on the Fife commission and hopes art will be “something big in my future.”

Perhaps, in a way, that’s coming full-circle.

“I think (the new public art) is going to make my town a lot more beautiful,” Danielle said, adding that one day she’d like to add a creation of her own.

Sara Schilling: 253-552-7058 sara.schilling@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/street

See her art online

Danielle Twichel’s website: www.orangedragonarts.com. public art in fife

The City of Fife has set aside up to $5,000 for its first public art pieces. None has been installed yet.

 • “The Throne” by Nicky Falkenhayn of Portland. The weathering steel and recycled glass structure will “celebrate the meeting point of water, sky and earth.” Location: Fountain Memorial Park.

 • “Whispering Bird” by Marion-Lea Jamieson of Vancouver, BC. The steel sculpture is part of a series that explores the “significance of archetypal images of part human/part animal figures.” Location: to be determined.

 • “Flour Bed” by Sara Ybarra Lopez of Port Townsend. The wall piece is part of a series “celebrating and exploring themes on the bed with both personal and collective symbology.” Location: Brookville Gardens, 2013.

 • “Dream Followers” by Julie Watts of Auburn. A series of photographs showing Fife community members who are pursuing dreams. Location: City Hall.

 • “Valley Roundelay” by Lisa Kinoshita of Tacoma. A sculpture that reflects life in Fife and the city’s agriculture roots. Location: Dacca Park.

Source: City of Fife and artist descriptions.