Outdoor Sculpture in Arlington Nov/Dec 2007

Scientists have told us for a while now that there is no center of the universe. This disturbing lack has been astutely and courageously remedied by one of our own fellow artists, Kirk McLean. As luck might have it, his center is where we live, where we are, in Arlington, WA and it happens to be part of his “You are here” series.

This center of the universe is not an abstract spot of some geographic measurement lines crossing each other or some perceived point in a time-space loop. On the contrary, it is touchable, it is real and it is hewn out of and into stone.

Kirk enhanced a beautiful seven sided Basalt column with the topography of north west Snohomish County, slightly exaggerated  scale, simplified and polished (mostly by hand, bless him ) to an ultra high shine.

The shine looks good but the polish isn’t only for aesthetic reasons, no; it too is a gift to us all. We bend over the sculpture, we look at it closely and voila! There is our reflection and there we are in and of The Center Of The Universe. It was a who-would-have-known experience for me.

On September the 27th, a Thursday, about 40 people gathered in the new and beautiful Council Chambers of Arlington to celebrate and honor Kirk McLean and another local artist for their contribution to the cultural wellbeing of our little town. In attendance was the Mayor, Margaret Larsen, a great supporter of the arts (halleluiah) – and the City Council members. Also present were the Arlington Arts Council, by who’s diligent and careful efforts the contributions to the public art collection of our town have been made possible.

The elegant sculpture, TCOTU, is 38″ high and 30″ across and well worth a pilgrimage. Congratulations and thank you, Kirk McLean, for helping us to be centered.