Sculptor at work on memorial

Nearly two years after Spokane city employee Mike Cmos Jr. was killed in an accident at Spokane’s wastewater treatment plant, a well-known local artist is sculpting a commemorative statue for the plant’s front entrance.

Sister Paula Mary Turnbull of Spokane’s Convent of the Holy Names has been hired by the city on a $45,000 contract approved by the City Council earlier this month.

Last week, she was working on the sculpture in her studio at the convent in northwest Spokane. Turnbull is employing her signature technique of bending and joining copper pipe into her artwork.

Her style can be seen in a two-piece sculpture installed last year at First and Maple near the new Fire Station No. 4.

In the current piece, Turnbull is depicting Cmos seated next to his daughter, Jennifer, on rocks along a stream with a fishing pole in his hands. The stream will be fashioned with strips of stainless steel at the base of the figures.

Long-range plans include the possibility of installing a small stream in front of the sculpture, which is scheduled to be unveiled in late summer.

“The two most important things to him were fishing and family,” Turnbull said in explaining her idea for the sculpture.

Cmos was killed on May 10, 2004, when one of the plant’s three large sewage digesters overfilled and burst open. Cmos was on the roof of the tank trying to contain sewage sludge when the roof separated from the tank’s walls and fell into the sludge.

The state Department of Labor and Industries uncovered 16 violations of worker safety rules and initially fined the city $66,600 for failures in overall supervision. The fine was later reduced to $22,000.

The city also was fined $6,000 for release of sewage into the river.

A separate mayor’s committee looked at the accident and found that the “ultimate cause has been very difficult to ascertain.”

Nearly 1,000 people attended a memorial service for the popular, longtime maintenance mechanic.

Turnbull promised that the statue will be durable and long-lasting. She plans to fasten it with reinforced steel to a group of large boulders collected from the plant.

“Copper lasts forever,” Turnbull said. “It gets an oxidation or patina on it that protects it, so it is a very long-lasting metal.”

“He’s not going to be movable except with big machines,” she said.

For the past 25 years, Turnbull has produced nearly two dozen major works of art in public places. One of her earliest sculptures is the garbage-eating goat in Riverfront Park.

She sculpted a sasquatch for Spokane Community College and has done numerous religious pieces for churches throughout the country.

Possibly the largest collection of her work can be found at the convent, where Turnbull sculpted pieces for a courtyard pond and garden.

At age 83, Turnbull has no intention of stopping.

“This is what you enjoy if you are an artist,” she said.

Turnbull was selected for the Cmos sculpture through a committee organized by the city Art Department.

“Her work is terrific. She’s amazingly imaginative,” said Karen Mobley, the city’s arts director.

Funding for the sculpture is coming from a city program that requires that 1 percent of the budget for new city buildings be spent on artwork.

Impetus for the statue dates back more than a year, when plant workers started raising money for the statue by selling hats.

Chuck Meyers, a plant employee who spearheaded the fund drive, said about $3,000 was raised for the memorial, but it was far from enough to pay for a full-sized sculpture. He served on the city’s selection committee, which recommended Turnbull.

He said Cmos family members are pleased with Turnbull’s idea, too.

“It’s an awesome project,” Meyers said.