Elakha Alliance’s art auction raises funds to bring sea otters back to Oregon Coast

Online bidding starts Monday for work by two dozen artists, including a Lee Kersh ukulele, culminating in a Sept. 28 event in Newport.
Conservation artist Jacqui Ver Loren van Themaat of Las Vegas says that sea otters are one of her favorite animals. Her donation to the Seas the Night auction, "Sea Otter - enhydra lutris" (framed linoprint, 12.5 by 10.5 inches), has a starting bid of $75.
Conservation artist Jacqui Ver Loren van Themaat of Las Vegas says that sea otters are one of her favorite animals. Her donation to the Seas the Night auction, “Sea Otter – enhydra lutris” (framed lino print, 12.5 by 10.5 inches), has a starting bid of $75.

Here’s a bit of unpleasant trivia: “Oregon is currently the only Pacific Coastal state without a sea otter population.” That sad fact comes from Elakha Alliance, the people working to bring sea otters back to our coast. The last sea otter pelt known to be traded in Oregon was in 1910, and while there have been a handful of sightings here and there in recent years, if you’re looking for sea otters on the Oregon Coast, you’d best head to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

In the meantime, you have a chance to help bring them back and maybe grab a piece of original art in the process. On Sept. 28, the Elahka (“sea otter” in the Chinook language) Alliance is hosting the “Seas the Night” silent art auction and cocktail party at the Yaquina Bay Yacht Club in Newport. Twenty-four artists “from Oregon and beyond,” plus 20 students from North Bend High School, have contributed sea-otter inspired creations for the fundraiser.

Of course, you could come to the coast for a cocktail and see the art in person, but you could also just stay put and shop from wherever you are. The 46 pieces of art will be up for bidding in an online art auction that opens Sunday, Sept. 22, and ends with the Sept. 28 event in Newport. The lowest bid on pieces by professional artists starts at $50; the highest, $500. Student artwork starts at $20.

But before we start bidding, let’s give the Elakha Alliance some space to talk about why it matters:

As a keystone species, sea otters are critical to maintaining the productivity and diversity of kelp forests. Without these marine mammals actively keeping the urchin population in check, kelp forests could turn into barren marine deserts, leading to a significant drop in biodiversity, harming the overall marine ecosystem. The return of these magnificent aquatic creatures represents a massive stride not just for Oregon but the entire ecosystem.

Both California and Washington have sea otter populations. The California marine mammals survived slaughter by fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries only because small pockets, including about 50 in Big Sur, managed to evade hunters.

“Every sea otter in California stems from the 50 surviving the fur trade,” said Chanel Hason, director of Outreach and Community Relations for Elahka, adding that population is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The group has hit a plateau in terms of increasing population size, she said, largely due to white sharks in Northern California blocking their expansion up the coast. “The Washington population was reintroduced in the 1970s and they are doing great,” she added, with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 off the Olympic Peninsula.

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There have been several confirmed sightings in Oregon in recent years, including one in Depoe Bay in 2009, another below the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in 2021, and in June, Hason spotted and photographed two off Ecola Point in Cannon Beach.

Hopefully, thanks to the Elakha Alliance, the day will come when we can all look out to sea and expect to see the critters at play. Remember, the bidding opens Monday and you don’t have to come to the coast to bid or to pick up.   

I don’t play the ukulele, but if I did, I’d be bidding on the soprano ukulele handmade by Lee Kersh of eLAKha Ukuleles. Seriously. Bidding starts at $500 and I have a suspicion it’s going to climb way above that. Not only is it a beautiful piece, but you literally cannot buy a handmade uke from Kersh. Even the case is custom, with an Elakha Alliance logo handpainted by Robert Bailey, board president of the Alliance. I caught up with Kersh long distance as he traveled to Scotland and asked him to tell me about the uke, here’s what he wrote:

“It is a sweet little soprano made of Oregon harvested myrtlewood. The neck is cherry … I climbed on the very tree when young. The black walnut bridge was harvested by my father, as was the cherry. It is about the spirit of the ‘āina, or land, a beautiful Hawaiian concept. And about the similar Oregon roots steeped in the Native American culture as well…  

“I feel that the Elakha cause is at the heart of Oregon coming back into itself; a restoration of pure and preciously balanced ecosystems.… My ukuleles are not for sale, it is just something I can do to help with the big picture around us.” 

Bidding also starts at $500 for Little Otter, a fiber art piece by Christina Harkness, artist and a partner in the PNW Community Coral Reef Project. The piece, which features a kelp forest with sea otter and nudibranch, took Harkness about 6 months to create.

The art comes from all over the country, including Vero Beach, Fla., where Cory Janiak created the stained glass Return of the Sea Otters, and yes, that is a nod to Star Wars. Janiak grew up in Southern California but spent summers vacationing on the Oregon Coast.  She follows the Elahka Alliance on Instagram and seeing the call for submissions, “I instantly thought of sea otters,” she said. “I studied marine biology and natural resources and so that is dear to my heart. I am super dorky about seaweed and the communities around them and sea otters are closely related to kelp.”

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"Their Future Depends on You," by Kris Buenger of Depoe Bay (acrylic, 16 by 20 inches), opening bid $200
Their Future Depends on You,” by Kris Buenger of Depoe Bay (acrylic, 16 by 20 inches), has an opening bid of $200.

And right here on the Oregon Coast in her studio overlooking Depoe Bay, artist Kris Buenger created the acrylic painting, Their Future Depends on You. Buenger recently retired from her job as a graphic designer in California, where she was accustomed to seeing sea otters at play.  

“They’re so darned cute and fascinating to watch,” Buenger said. “What struck me moving to Oregon is that we don’t have them here. I was horrified. So many people come to the Oregon Coast to see the sea life and to not be able to see sea otters … a lot of people are shocked by that. That’s why I wanted to be part of this Alliance and get this project going.”

Lori Tobias is a journalist of many years, and was a staff writer for The Oregonian for more than a decade, and a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. Her memoir “Storm Beat – A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast” was published in 2020 by Oregon State University press. She is also the author of the novel Wander, winner of the 2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award for literary fiction and a finalist for the 2017 International Book Awards for new fiction. She lives on the Oregon Coast with her husband Chan and Rescue pups Gus and Lily.

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