Salmon Sculpture Garden a Year-Round Experience

The opening reception of the second annual Salmon Sculpture Competition took place Friday evening. 

Local artists, as well as sculptors from as far as Egypt and Israel participated in the competition. First prize went to Ben Woitena’s steel piece entitled Windswept. 

The sculptures included in the Salmon Exhibit are made from a variety of mediums durable for the outdoors. The art is placed at the Sunken Garden Park and will remain there until next year’s competition. 

Jennifer, the daughter of the competition’s namesake Richard Salmon, said “I love that the community gets to see very different types of sculptures from various artists because it just gives them greater exposure.”

She said, “My dad got in to it [art] late in his career. He had a business that worked with metal so he started to make metal sculptures. He welded and painted and used different patinas...that’s kind of what sparked his love for art.” 

As an outdoor exhibit, the sculptures in the Salmon Competition are both public, and unlike most art, touchable. Viewers are welcome to walk around the pieces, take pictures, and get to know the textures of the art through touch.

“I think more people can come and look at the exhibit. They are exposed to something they may otherwise not be,” Katheryn Louie said of the public art. 

John Osterhout said the area becomes “a sculpture garden.”

He said, “The garden gives people a place to be aside from the usual buildings and cars.”

Peggy Tharp, a local resident, said about the Salmon Sculpture, “It really is something special.”

Tharp explained how she has observed the art community grow, especially with the past five years.

“There are people here that would not go to an indoor gallery,” she said. “Because it is here year round, you see people visiting all year.”

Tharp said that creating a public art gallery outdoors welcomes families.

“I think they feel comfortable because they are outside, and they can’t break it if they touch it,” she added. 

The art submitted to the Salmon Sculpture Competition can be viewed at any time. The current exhibit will be here until August of 2014. The art is located at the Sunken Gardens at the corner of the 700 block S. Abe St. and West Avenue D.