Café Luna’s December art exhibit, “The Imaginary Tourist,” will offer Island lore and a dash of Chamber of Commerce-esque marketing when local artist and geologist Greg Wessel presents a series of faux travel posters hyping the charms of Vashon.

The show opens with an artist’s reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5.

Taking a holiday break from his curatorial duties at Two Wall Gallery, Wessel will exhibit a collection of linocut prints that he said highlights some of the “lesser known, imaginary and we-wish-they-were-imaginary tourist attractions on Vashon and Maury Islands.”

He has been working on this series for several years. This is the first time all the prints have been exhibited together.

For this series, only five to eight copies have been made of each poster, and only one of each is offered for sale. He also has one complete set of the entire collection that will be available as a set.

No other originals are planned to be sold from this series.

Wessel said “The Imaginary Tourist” was inspired by the “unique funkiness” of Vashon.

As a geologist working for King County’s Department of Development and Environmental Services, Wessel has been to just about every part of Vashon and Maury, stumbling upon what he called “little-known attractions, mystical places, bizarre rituals and legendary lost mines.”

Some of these, he said, show up in the prints.

Wessel said the exhibit celebrates “some of the magic, industry and minor attractions we call home.”

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