The City of Auburn's 2022-2023 Downtown Sculpture Gallery showcases eleven outdoor sculptures of various sizes, types and mediums. Primarily located along Main Street, the sculpture gallery changes annually providing different artwork for Auburn residents to experience and enjoy. Watch for new sculptures arriving annually in September.
The Downtown Sculpture Gallery was partially funded through Local Revitalization Financing funding received from the State of Washington and 4Culture King County Lodging Tax.
Voting is now open for the 2022-23 Downtown Sculpture Gallery People's Choice Award, so join in the fun and vote here for your favorite sculpture!
Check out the 2022-2023 sculptures:
Artist: Matt Babcock
Title: Blue Spoonbill
Medium: Powder-coated aluminum
Location: B Street SW & Main (#1)
Statement: This sculpture was based on photos of a roseate spoonbill preening its tailfeathers. It's blue because it makes me think of the kind of abstract art that was used for jazz album covers in the 1960s. I've come to see the piece as a self-portrait (Elegant bird about to take flight? Mysterious balance? Awkward pose.)
Artist: Lloyd Whannell
Title: Silent Words
Medium: Basalt body with limited edition bronze head and steel base
Location: A Street SW & Main (#2)
Statement:
Silent Words / spoken to the night sky / reflected by the stars / and heard in the hearts / of those with silent minds
Artist:
Don Anderson
Title: Burning Tree
Medium: Stainless and painted steel
Location: 1st Street NW & N Division (#3)
Statement: The abstract imagery I work with is nature-based, from observation of recurring Fractal energy themes, and their effect on the physical world we inhabit. Burning Tree is symbolic of our conflicted relationship with nature and industry, in our collective desire to seek quality of life.
Artist:
Gerry Newcombe
Title: Blue Spire
Medium: Cast glass, steel
Location: 10 E Main Street (#4)
Statement: I work to visualize the idea of water, wave. flow, elements contained in the water, in a fantastical way. Blue is a seminal color to see in the natural world and is dramatic with light coming through the glass.
Artists: Shon Forsyth,
Jennifer Kuhns, and
Carrie Ziegler
Title: Growing Love
Medium: Ferrocement and Mosaic
Location: 10 E Main Street (#5)
Statement: The sculpture’s shape suggests two abstracted figures embracing and merging: a glass mosaic that begins as roots, intertwines into flowering vines, and finally transforms into flames. The artwork represents surrender to love and communion, and its potential for growth and enlightenment.
Artist: Jenny Ellsworth
Title: Tough Puff
Medium: Powder-coated steel
Location: E Main Street & A Street SE (#6)
Statement: Tough Puff reminds us to watch for silver linings; even a rainy day provides the gift of an impromptu bath for a delighted bird.
Artist:
Ken Turner
Title: Cipher
Medium: Stainless steel, paint
Location: 123 E Main Street (#7)
Statement: Time will tell if secrets are hidden or revealed.
Artist:
Ed McCarthy
Title: Harp Unstrung
Medium: Powder-coated steel
Location: B Street NE & B Street Parking Lot (#8)
Statement: The sculpture’s title is a reference to “Ripple” a song by the Grateful Dead. If a sculpture could represent lyrics to a song, then this would be my interpretation.
Artist: Jan Hoy
Title: Geo Cubes
Medium: Bronze, Corten steel
Location: Auburn Way S & Main (#9)
Statement: "Geo Cubes" is a bronze sculpture that sits atop a Corten steel base. The 5 cubes fan out in both directions from the center. Each cube becomes smaller as they move outward. I found joy in turning and overlapping the cubes to where they each show different sides and angles with unique highlights hitting each facet.
Artists: Jill Drllevich and Craig Breitbach
Title: Breathe Deep: Raven Moon
Medium: Reclaimed nuclear cooling tower blade
Location: D Street NE & E Main Street (#10)
Statement: Breathe Deep, an artistic collaboration between Jill Drllevich and Craig Breitbach, speaks to the beauty and purpose of our forests, the lungs of the planet. Both Drllevich and Breitbach grew up with a deep appreciation and affection for nature as is evident in all their artwork.
Artist: Steve Tyree
Title: Ram
Medium: Fabricated Bronze
Location: R St. SE & 29th St. SE (#11)
Statement: I would like my work to encourage interest and love of nature through the grace, strength, and beauty of the wildlife I see. I wanted to achieve a natural look to the ram by hammering and welding from sheets of bronze, then finished with a natural copper patina.