Groundwork laid for ML sculpture project

Sculptures without Walls officially kicks off Aug. 13.

MOSES LAKE — The pedestals are made, and now organizers are getting ready for a sculpture garden stretching the length of downtown Moses Lake.

The Sculpture without Walls program will bring 14 sculptures to various downtown locations next month, and organizers hope they will create a discussion of art on Moses Lake city streets.

While the program won't actually begin until Aug. 13, the preparation and work has gone on for much of the last year. It all started when a few local residents saw other towns creating similar sculpture gardens within their city limits, and thought the idea would be a good one to transplant.

Moses Lake Museum and Art Center Director Terry Mulkey had seen the sculptures gracing pedestals back in his hometown in South Dakota.

"I thought, you know maybe we could do this in Moses Lake on a smaller scale," he said.

At about the same time Carolann Swartz recalls speaking to a friend about seeing the sculptures in towns like Wenatchee and Puyallup. Swartz is now the chair of the Sculpture Without Walls committee.

"It's weird," she said, "because the whole thing sort of gelled."

The many volunteers have since chiseled away at the idea, and found artists willing and ready to show their work in downtown over the next year. Officials hope to bring new sculptures to the city each year, and add to the program's current compliment of 14. The art highlights the work of sculpture artists from around the northwest, and Swartz said they will include everything from mosaics to bronzes in places like downtown's Sinkiuse Square and Neppel Park.

"I think it will be a little bit of everything," Swartz said.

The project has had an interest for citizens from the beginning, with sponsor plates that will soon adorn each sculpture selling out in just a few days, and sculpture artists themselves also showing an interest in the project, Mulkey said. Now those sculptures are ready to be placed, and the MAC will soon print a map available to direct art lovers to the sculptures various locations around the city.

The concrete pedestals for many of the sculptures were made earlier this week by Columbia Basin Job Corps masonry students, who did the work as part of their training in cement engineering. Roy Brown is the cement instructor at Columbia Basin Job Corps, and said the plates will get a sandblasted finish in the next few weeks.

Brown said his students normally do work like this out in the community. They are working toward their high school diploma, and Brown is training them for a future construction job once they are finished with the year-long program.

Dennis Parr has been in charge of engineering for the sculptures, and feels the Sculpture without Walls project is one the people of Moses Lake will jump on.

"We're very lucky because these are not amateurs," Parr said. "These sculptures are something."

Parr said there has been a challenge to make the slabs that will act as pedestals pleasing, but also construct them to be secure in the city. Those slabs will also be placed over rubber pads, to help protect the concrete on which they sit. Parr can't help but show his enthusiasm for the sculptures and the program, and the many who have worked to make that city-wide sculpture garden a reality.

"My personal opinion is that these are outstanding," Parr said of the sculptures. "You can tell when you look at these that these are not amateurs. I think the public is absolutely going to love them."

Parr and Roger Glaese will each head a crew the week before the Sculpture Without Walls unveiling to place the pedestals and slabs in their spots. When the project officially kicks off Aug. 13, crews will gather in the wee hours of the morning to begin placement of the sculptures, with the following of an event opening reception at 6 p.m. that evening at the MAC for both artists and the public to discuss the different sculptures.

As the projects adorn downtown streets, the people will get to pick their favorite piece for the people's choice award. And while many of the art pieces will be rotated out next spring to make way for new sculptures, Swartz said the city will purchase one piece to add to their permanent collection.

"I just hope the talk about them," Mulkey said of the project, saying he hopes it creates a communication among people and artists.

Swartz said everyone will have a different opinion on each piece, and some may like or dislike a particular sculpture. But she said she hopes it just creates a discussion about art in Moses Lake, and the addition of art into the city.

"We just want people to become exposed to these kinds of pieces," Swartz said, "and, if anything, get a conversation going."