At last! Percival Plinth sculpture exhibit offers art you can safely see in person

In a summer when virtually every arts event has been canceled or moved online because of the coronavirus, the Percival Plinth Project – Olympia’s annual waterfront exhibition of public sculpture — is that rare tradition that’s going on more or less as usual.

Last month, 17 sculptures by local and regional artists were installed on platforms (called plinths) along Percival Landing. The art be on view until next summer, but through the end of August, people can vote online for their favorite, and the winning sculpture will become a part of the city’s permanent collection.

“We’ve been hearing from people that they’re really glad we’re doing this,” said Angel Nava of the city’s Parks, Arts & Recreation Department. “It’s one of the few programs that we can continue with in a socially distanced way.

“The ones that are resonating with folks I’ve seen walking on the landing are the ones that have to do with hope,” she told The Olympian. “There are some really powerful pieces out there. These pieces were selected before any of this happened, and it’s interesting to see that a lot of the themes that our artists addressed are so relevant.”

“The Fall and the Climb,” a welded-steel sculpture by Nathan Robles, shows a man leaning down to give another a hand as he climbs a vertical cliff.

“As an artist, I want to show the common experiences that we all go through,” said Robles of Kennewick, who won last year’s competition with “The Giant and I,” on view now outside Olympia City Hall. “There are challenges and obstacles that we all face.

“The structure of the sculpture is a metaphor for life,” he told The Olympian. “It’s not this horizontal easy walk. It’s a perilous journey up a steep vertical cliff.”

He’s fascinated by the journey of life, he said — and by death, which he sees as another leg of that journey. Though sculpting is his main source of income, he’s worked on and off for several years at Hillcrest Funerals and Cremation in Kennewick, beginning when he was in college.

“Death is a side of life that a lot of people in our culture don’t want to think about,” he said. “It was a shocking experience doing body removals and cremations. It was never something I felt comfortable with, and I wanted to explore that.

“The thing that really shocked me was seeing the absence of something — seeing a person who has died and recognizing that there’s a notable absence,” he added. “I want to explore the idea of the human spirit and what happens through our continued journey. I feel that there’s a continuation after life.”

The beginnings of life are the subject of “Growing Love,” a collaboration among Olympia artists Carrie Ziegler, Shon Forsyth and Jennifer Kuhns. The multimedia piece is a silhouette of an embracing couple inlaid with intertwined flowers in stained glass.

Other sculptures depict childhood (“Child With an Egg,” by Joe Batt of Olympia, and “Girl Reading a Story in a Story Place,” by Nancy Thorne-Chambers of Olympia), music (“The Magic of the Melody,” by Gegham Abrahamyan of Lynnwood) and nature (“Hummingbird,” by Charles Fitzgerald of Puyallup, and “Mount Rainier, Glacial,” by Lin McJunkin and Milo White of Sedro-Woolley). “Pollinator,” by MacRae Wyle of Hood River, Oregon, looks abstract but it incorporates bamboo to provide a habitat for carpenter bees.

Two concrete “gnomes” by Matt Cartright of Portland are at once monumental and fanciful.

“La Paloma (The Dove),” by McJunkin and White, is a symbol of peace, and there’s a peaceful air about “Silent Words,” by Lloyd Whannell of Freeland.

The competition also includes work by K.T. Hancock of Seattle, Ed McCarthy of Renton, Roger Squirrell of Lake Forest Park and Ken Turner of Seattle.

Though the sculptures can be seen online, the city encourages those who want to vote to go and see them in three dimensions — while keeping a safe distance from others, of course — before making a choice. “Folks can come and visit the sculptures at their leisure,” Nava said.

While the sculptures were being installed, she said, passersby asked her if they were being taken down out of fear of vandalism.

“It was another sign of the distress and the chaos that we’re living in,” she said. “It was really heartbreaking — and it was really cool to see the shift when we told them, ‘No. It’s just time to put up the new art.’ ”

Percival Landing sculptures

• What: Olympia’s 10th annual Percival Plinth Project public sculpture competition kicks off Friday, July 31.
• When: The sculptures will be up until next summer. Online voting will be open until 5 p.m. Aug. 31.
• Where: Along Percival Landing, Olympia
• More information: http://olympiawa.gov/plinth