Port Station One

Skybound Gallery owner Dave Silwones has signed a five-year lease for Port Station One (Toledo's former Public Safety building) for an arts demonstration and gallery space. He will use much of the building; the remainder will become new offices for the Port. Move-in will occur around January 1.

Port Commissioners authorized the deal at their regular meeting October 19, held in Siletz. Silwones wants an artist-in-residence operation like his Skybound Gallery at 305 N. Main, but with industrial arts like sculpture and glassblowing.

This new development is exciting because Dave Silwones’ plan works well with our own need to move, due to a tenants’ interest in the Port’s current office space on NW 1st.

The city deeded its former public safety building to the Port in 2009 with the understanding it would be developed into incubation space for new business. Silwones' plan is a perfect fit.

As an incubator for artists it would not only bring in new business, but also create a tourist draw. “There are no other demonstration shops on the coast and I don’t know if there are any of that size outside Portland or Seattle. That space has the opportunity to really shine as a destination for people to come to,” he said.

Silwones said Port Station One “has everything I could want

– the space, the art park, plenty of power, lots of parking. It is zoned properly. With that, I would be able to bring both experienced artists – and I have several who have expressed an interest – and new emerging artists into an incubator, so they can learn from experienced people, and also learn the business.”

He sees the gallery/studio drawing from across the Pacific Northwest. “The Northwest has the largest concentration of glass artists in the world. The Tacoma Museum of Glass is an example of that. I would like to tap into that excitement and take advantage of that. Fine arts are very enjoyable and we’re having a good time (at Skybound), this would offer something new that many people may not be familiar with,” he said.