Despite the season, there’s been a lovely flowering of local art lately.
We had the installation of a 2-ton metal sculpture across the street from Esther Short Park on Nov. 6. If you haven’t seen it, get ready for the immense “Heart and Stone.” On the same day, the North Bank Artists Gallery hosted a First Friday Art Walk preview of the following weekend’s Open Studios Tour — which sent folks scurrying to visit 50 working artists all around the county. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Community Library is hosting regular Artists in Action demonstrations, so we can see how creative types do their thing.
Now comes a letter from a Columbian reader named Joe, whose inner art lover was tantalized by our coverage of the above. Joe wonders about lists of public artworks and monuments around here. He’s already checked off all of the murals, he says. Is there anything else out there to look at?
Plenty, Joe.
We recommend that you keep not just your heart and brain engaged but also your legs and lungs as you explore downtown Vancouver and other spots around the county in search of artistic creations:
• Vancouver’s Downtown Association has a handy, printable walking map that features 18 points of interest at http://vdausa.org/wp-content/uploads/vda-walking-map.pdf. The points are not exclusively art objects — depending on your opinion, of course — but they do include some of our most prominent local attention-grabbers.
Maya Lin’s Confluence over state Highway 14, the Clark County Historical Museum, the Academy Building and Esther Short Park’s fountain and clock tower are the biggies on that list. The minis are the sorts of artworks that Joe is probably looking for: the “Flying Umbrellas” at Evergreen Boulevard and Main Street, the kinetic circus down Main at Eighth Street, the “Wendy Rose” and “Ilchee” monuments along the waterfront Renaissance Trail.
• For more detail and some different offerings, visit Vancouver’s public art page at www.cityofvancouver.us/ourcity/page/public-art. This clickable list includes photos and short descriptions of the artworks, such as the sculpture garden at Ninth Street and Broadway and that grinning bronze of “Captain George Vancouver” at Sixth and Esther streets, across the street from Esther Short Park:
“Though the real Captain Vancouver never made it to Vancouver, this 9-foot, 1,500-pound bronze piece, sculpted by self-taught artist Jim Demetro, made a ceremonial trip on the Columbia River in 2000.”
There’s plenty more to discover in downtown Vancouver. Does our resident “glyph singer” sound familiar? How about everybody’s favorite hand-carved redwood “Phrogy”?
• Among the many galleries and studios in downtown Vancouver, it’s too easy to overlook the ones inside our government buildings. The Clark County Public Service Center at 1300 Franklin St. has its Sixth Floor Gallery, and Vancouver City Hall at 415 W. Sixth St. has its wide-open lobby — often the site of great big art installations.
• Outside of downtown, another artsy spot is the campus of Washington State University Vancouver. There’s a list of six outdoor artworks at www.vancouver.wsu.edu/public-art-collection, as well as a link to indoor art on campus. The outdoor collection at WSUV includes metal pillars, decorated volcanic boulders and — hidden away in a secret (easily found) campus location — the most clattering, crashing, crunching clapper you’ve ever heard. It was intended so — because it commemorates species that are disappearing into extinction. It’s 17 feet tall and called the “Wailing Bell.”
• Have you noticed the big, red, metal, abstract thingamajig standing inside the driveway loop at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center? It’s by Oregon City, Ore., sculptor Lee Kelly.
Two good clearinghouses for all things locally artsy are www.artsofclarkcounty.org and www.vancouverartsdistrict.org.
Bits ‘n’ Pieces appears Fridays and Saturdays. If you have a story you’d like to share, email bits@columbian.com.
