This is the first of occasional postings by Bob. The text and image are both by him.
This past weekend, the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park welcomed the installation of Richard Serra's Wake, a massive set of 5 pairs of 14-foot tall steel panels that will anchor the northern section of the park. Viewed from our window several hundred feet above the site, we can only imagine the excitement this work will create once the OSP opens later this year.
What may be of equal interest--and already accessible--to visitors to Myrtle Edwards Park (the older city park along the shore of Elliott Bay, just north of the new pocket beach that is being developed as part of the OSP) is an ongoing installation of rock-driftwood sculptures that have appeared along the shore. They sculptures extend for several hundred yards north from the fenced-off beach area. From a distance, they appear to be almost human-like in form, like sentinels keeping a silent watch over the bay. Up close, the separate pieces take on more individual characteristics. They range from modest cairn-size piles to larger piles and more complex structures of driftwood and rock. Individually they are interesting and appealing, fitting together cleanly with here and there evidence of a sensitive touch of a small rugged stone placed just so. Looked at as a whole, the pieces complete an ensemble that is truly impressive--an array of obviously man-made structures, but all natural stone and weathered wood, forming a lower frame to views of Elliott Bay and the Olympics beyond.
When I visited last Friday, the artist was working on what appeared to be a new piece that had one arm of driftwood sticking out over the water. When he paused and looked up, I asked if he had done all of them, and he said he had--every one of them. He came up from where he had been working and took off his baseball cap to wipe his forehead. He turned out to be a young-ish man with red hair and a red Vandyke beard. I asked if he had been required to repair any of them, and he said, "Oh, yes. On a daily basis." It's obviously been a dedicated labor of love.
He said that he had been working on these sculptures since before the 4th of July.
Apparently it's not just wind that requires the re-building of the sculptures, but "they" have torn them down (perhaps more than once). I expressed surprise at this and wondered why anyone would tear them down. He wasn't sure, but he allowed as how some might think that there was a safety issue (hard to imagine why one should be climbing the rugged rocks along the shore where these are installed, however).
"Who is 'they?'" I was curious.
"Who knows--the 'authorities,' I guess." (Or perhaps unappreciative youngsters who find pleasure in knocking them over?)
"I'm Stacker, by the way," he introduced himself. "My friends call me "Stacker" or "Stack."
It's worth going down to see Stacker's installation. It may not be as permanent as the Wake, but it's a nice addition to the waterfront for now, and it demonstrates the creative, free spirit that seems to be embodied in so many of our Seattle residents.
Image: Taken by Bob at Myrtle Edwards Park, July 2006.
After months of watching the new Olympic Sculpture Park take shape we were thrilled today to have an opportunity to visit it ourselves. What an exciting space! It’s already being hailed as an innovative approach to city planning that may become a model for other cities. 
