Art for Aquatic Centers
The Spokane Arts Commission worked with an Art Selection Committee of Arts Commission and community members to coordinate with six local artists to produce art pieces for each of the City's new aquatic centers. All of the art work is on the buildings or near the buildings in the public space. The pieces of art range from steel and copper sculptures to mosaics to moving wind vanes. Most have a theme of water or water recreation with the goal of creating a more beautiful or playful experience for the pool users and community.
Hillyard Aquatic Center – Sister Paula Mary Turnbull and Betty Gardner
5718 North Haven Street
Sister Paula Mary Turnbull is a sculptor from the Convent of the Holy Names, Spokane, Washington. She has a BA from the Holy Names College of Spokane (1953), a MFA from Siena Heights College, Adrian, Minnesota (1957), and an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Gonzaga University (2006). Turnbull has completed advanced studies in Greece, New York, and Chicago. One of Turnbull’s most famous sculptures is the garbage eating goat in Riverfront Park.
Betty Gardner, also a sculptor, graduated from Whitworth University in Spokane Washington (2008) with a BA and an emphasis in Fine Art.
Turnbull and Gardner have created six custom designed lattice-like panels that cover two large air-vent louvers on the Market Street side of the Hillyard Bathhouse. These panels are made from copper tubing and color-coated copper plates. Each panel depicts a person or people in action, such as playing football, tennis, skateboarding, swimming, etc. The figures are brightly colored to draw attention of passers-by. These figures are attached to the copper tubing grid which creates a patterned background.
Comstock Aquatic Center - Bill and Karma Simmons
601 West 29th Street
Bill Simmons grew up in Europe and was in constant contact with western art. He later studied at Colorado State University and now has 25 years experience of working as a sculptor. His wife Karma is an entirely self-taught designer and artist. She builds outdoor sculptures and exotic stone and tile showers. Together they create and build the artwork for Lloyd Simmons Design. Their works include sculptures done in aluminum and steel, softened by the use of exotic woods and organic shapes.
Bill and Karma's sculpture is called Pool Day. It consists of three abstract human forms, a mother and two children on their way to the pool. The mother and one child hold hands while the other one, wearing a "floaty," lags behind. Each sculptural form was formed using pieces of steel plate welded together. The sculpture was then rusted and has a patina similar to the Runners in Riverfront Park. The work has been placed in the drop off area on Howard Street.
For more information, please visit their website.
Shadle Aquatic Center - Jason and Deborah Sheldon
2111 West Wellesley Avenue
Jason and Deborah Sheldon have separately, and now as a team, pursued their passion for creating - Jason as a sculptor and Deborah as a painter. Jason began sculpting in wood in 1980 and later began cladding them in metal to be able to exhibit them outside. Their collaboration is a natural blending of their ideas and talents. An idea is formed, a design is drawn and a three dimensional form is created.
For the Shadle Aquatic Center, Jason and Deborah created three abstract sculptural forms that have been installed next to the main entrance to the center. The spiral forms are ten feet tall and resemble waves. The artists' concept is for the pieces to encourage interaction with the surface and colors. They have visual references to water and sliding without being literal.
A.M. Cannon Aquatic Center - Tom Askman and Jaque Meng
1511 North Elm Street
Tom Askman currently teaches in the Art Department at Eastern Washington University, Cheney. He has done a number of public art commissions including Rocket Robin city sculpture in the City of Whittier, CA in 2008 and the Spokane City Fire Station 3 art work called Velocity in 1992.
Jaque Meng has a BFA from Eastern Washington University. She was awarded First Place at the 2007 Regional College Student All Media Juried Show and has also completed a number of public art commissions. Both Askman and Meng's interests include working with site/responsive, site determined concepts.
The two benches Askman and Meng have designed are called The Ripple Effect. The benches are covered with mosaic tiles of waves and people playing in water. The mosaic continues onto the ground surrounding the benches. Behind each bench is an eight foot tall sculpture; one is a wave while the other is a child jumping into the water. Each of these is made from layers of aluminum with LED lighting shining through the layers.
For more information, please visit Tom Askman's website.
Liberty Aquatic Center - Roger Ralston
428 South Pittsburg Street
Roger Ralston is a sculptor who currently resides in Spokane Washington. He has a BS of Philosophy from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon (1981) and a MFA in Sculpture from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1989). For his Sculpture Without Walls, a public outdoor installation, he was won Juror's Award: Second Place (2005) and People's Choice & City Purchase Award (2006) at the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center. His art work for the Freya Street Bridge is scheduled to be finished in 2010.
Ralston has produced abstract sculptural wind vanes for Liberty Park. Each wind vane consists of a 15' high support tower made of galvanized steel and a moving top 10' high of aluminum. The tops are cut and painted in bright colors to look like wings that will move in the wind. Each one will have a differently decorated wing. The two vanes are placed one on each side of the entrance gazebo to call attention to the pool.
For more information, please visit Roger Ralston's website.
Witter Aquatic Center - Jan Wilhelmi
1414 East Mission Avenue
Jan Wilhelmi, from Hayden Idaho, has twenty years experience as a painter and mosaic artist. She graduated from Eastern Washington University with a BA in Art Education and a lifetime Washington Teaching Certificate (1973). She completed graduate studies from Washington State University in 1983. Wilhelmi taught high school art, crafts, and photography from 1978 to 1984 in Clarkson, WA. Her public and private works can be seen throughout the Northwest including the Hayden Creek Plaza, the Parkside Tower in Coeur d'Alene, and private residences.
Wilhelmi has created a ten 4' x 4' mosaic sections for the exterior of the bathhouse. These ten sections have a wave pattern made mostly of blue and white tiles with red, orange, purple, and green accents. The waves flow from one section to the next in a continuous pattern. There are mosaic sections on the sidewalk leading up to the bathhouse. There are four 2' x 2' and nine 1' x 1' inlays along the paved path. These inlays are made of brightly colored geometric shapes with each one being unique.
