Seventy-six year-old Guemes Island sculptor Philip McCracken, the subject of a career retrospective at the Museum of Northwest Art and a University of Washington Press monograph by Deloris Tarzan Ament, is the latest (and probably among the last) artists to have the title of ‘Northwest Master’ conferred upon him.

Taken as a whole, this exhibit is an odd collection of McCracken’s figurative wildlife sculpture, carved in stone or cast in bronze, and his more abstract, three dimensional pieces in wood heavily lacquered with stains and epoxy. There are a lifetime of other curious experiments thrown in the mix, but the standouts are these vulnerable, moonlit owls and starry, dramatic depictions of the night sky.

It is hard to say whether McCracken’s sculpture will endure the test of time, but his best work will continue to embody the mystery and allure of the curious darkness that surrounds us here in the Pacific Northwest.