Outdoor Sculpture Show & Sale at Suttle Lake 2024
NWSSA Staff
August 12, 2024
The NorthWest Stone Sculptors Association (NWSSA) and King County Parks (KCP) have a partnership to place sculpture at Marymoor Park in Redmond to enhance the park experience for visitors and provide visibility for NWSSA stone sculptors. This program was started in 2019 by NWSSA member Ben Mefford and the first two sculptures were placed at the end of 2019.
Seven round concrete plinths were created and six of them are now filled with sculptures from six different artists. The seventh sculpture will be placed in 2026. These sculptures are offered for sale, if you’re interested in purchasing a sculpture contact the artist directly.
Title: In Communion, secular & spiritual thought flourishing
Artist: Carl Nelson with Jeremy Kester
Material: Academy Black Granite on Sierra White Granite
Dimensions: 80” x 36” x 23”
Price: $38,000
Artist Statement – Carl Nelson
Art, literature, and others’ thoughts can connect us and change our perspective on the world. As a sculptor, I aim to create art that fosters connections and personal growth. I strive to create a better version of myself and support others in doing the same. This is part of leaving the world a better place and contributing to a larger purpose.
The sculpture: “In Communion, secular and spiritual thought flourishing” is inspired by concepts presented in Jonathan Rauch’s book “Cross Purposes”.
Secular and spiritual thought are intrinsically interwoven. The two legs of the sculpture, representing secular and religious thought, are not mutually exclusive. Each is dependent on the other for a morally and epistemically comprehensive and coherent understanding of the world. In principle, the structure of the moral and epistemic universes is such that both approaches are incomplete. While they are constantly in tension and occasionally in direct conflict, neither alone can fulfill human aspirations to create a fair and cooperative society. The heart-shaped form symbolizes flourishing, and when a balance is achieved, when they are in concert and commune, flourishing arises.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the piece will go to a non-profit that teaches about measuring social progress.
Title: Squirrely
Artist: Bruce Richardson
Material: Granite
Dimensions: 37” x 20” x 20”
Price: $9,000
I have been carving stone and wood for much of my life. Animals have always been my focus and my passion. Sometimes the shape or color of the stone influences what I carve, other times it is just a matter of size. Carving large pieces out of hard stone gives me the most satisfaction and seeing them in public places is my ultimate reward.
Title: Sun Tracker
Artist: Lloyd Whannell
Material: Texas Limestone on Granite
Price: $12,000
Installed 2024
I create in stone; black Columbia Basin basalt, multi-colored granite, marble, limestone, and glacier boulders of mysterious origin and composition. My work includes figurative and non-figurative sculpture as well as functional flower and garden water basins, fountains, and anything else that can be made in stone. The process of stone choice, design, fabrication, installation, and pushing the boundaries of stone’s place in a home or garden are the exciting elements that keep my creativity alive.
“SunTracker” is the latest in a series of sculptures by Lloyd Whannell. This inspiration comes originally from the idea that how you see the world is directed by the lens that you view it through. Your perspective can change depending on where you are looking from. Some of the earlier pieces in this series called your attention to the view seen through the opening in the sculpture and are created to be at eye height. This new piece reflects the same concept but has the added perspective of watching the shadow cast at different times of the day and year. If oriented due south it allows the viewer to track the sun as it moves throughout the day and year. I used Texas limestone for this because of its slightly golden tone, and the ability to give a contrasting surface between the smooth and rough surfaces.
Title: Vessel Group
Artist: Verena Schwippert
Material: Granite boulders on steel plate
Price: $6,000
Installed 2024
Verena Schwippert graduated from Art School in Hamburg, Germany with a BA degree in 1969. She immigrated to Seattle in 1972 and began sculpting in stone a few years after that. She has worked with WA State Arts Commission and Sound Transit from 1985 until now, developing, carving, and installing megalithic granite sculptures in WA cities including: Everett, Walla Walla, and Gig Harbor. Smaller public works are installed in towns around the State. Verena focuses her work on locally originating Cascade Granite. She tongue-in-cheek guarantees her work for 20,000 years.
This sculpture serves as an indicator of the incredible forces within the Granite. The character, the spirit, the physical adhesion, are meant to be expressed and shown. Containers of the huge power and age is what they are.
The Vessel Group is one of a variety of explorations on this theme. The largest one, weighing 4.5 tons, is installed permanently in Bellevue Park
Her sculptures are generally designed with the thought in mind that when put back to their point of origin or elsewhere in nature, they would blend seamlessly into their environment.
Title: Three Faces
Artist: Sue Taves
Material: Red Granite Glacial Erratic
Price: $16,000
Installed in 2019
Sue has been creating stone sculptures 30 year, she enjoys working with a variety of styles and types of stone. In 2006 she began working on larger scale stone sculptures and harder materials like granite and basalt. Sue often creates work in series, using sculpture to explore repeated themes, her lifelong love of nature provides a constant source of inspiration. She is originally from Wisconsin but for the past 20 years has lived on Whidbey Island, WA where she is part of a community of artists at the Freeland Art Studios.
“Three Faces” is a sculpture that contrasts the rough, worn exterior of a granite glacial erratic boulder with its smooth, polished faces. Each face interacts uniquely with the rough outer surface and with one another, symbolizing the complexity of our inner and outer selves. The piece invites viewers to reflect on the multifaceted nature of individual perspectives and relationships.
Title: Seedling
Artist: Kirk Mclean
Material: Basalt column on steel plate
Price: $12,000
Installed 2019
After brief career as a developmental biologist Kirk switched to art in his thirties, earning a BFA in sculpture from the University of Washington in 1983. For eighteen years he created human-scale abstract work in granite and basalt. In 2001 he became focused on the metaphor of the rock becoming the tree. To try to unravel its meaning for himself he made work in a variety of stones and sizes. Beginning in 2009 he set aside sculpture to be the caregiver for his wife who had Alzheimer’s Disease. A year after her death he was able to return to art, this time focusing on the theme of love and loss. Since competing that series he has worked on a variety of themes and in different materials including wood, scrap metal and marble rolling pins as well as hard stone.
Kirk says, “On a trip to a basalt quarry near Yakima I found a unique curvaceous column that I had to have. It lay near my studio for some time before I saw how I could carve it into a sinuous form rising from the earth. I employed a variety of techniques including bushing, sanding, polishing, and flaming to create textures that play off the contrast between the weathered rind and the dark black of the interior.”
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