Aluminum sculpture, not controversial beaver statue, is top recommendation for Riverfront Park art

Spokane Park Board members are expected to make a final decision Thursday on new artwork in Riverfront Park with a recommendation not to approve a controversial beaver statue and to opt for a nature-themed aluminum installation instead.

The panel has received a recommendation to approve Coeur d’Alene artist Sarah Thompson Moore’s “The Seeking Place,” a winding sculpture of custom aluminum intended to resemble the basalt bluffs found throughout the region.

A subset of board members overseeing the renovation of Riverfront Park preferred Moore’s work to a piece proposed by Seattle’s Saya Moriyasu, who had designed a statue with built-in seating of a mystical beaver to honor the animal active in the downtown park.

Moore’s piece, if approved by the full Spokane Park Board on Thursday, would be the artist’s second local public installation in Spokane. A steel structure in People’s Park honoring local native tribes’ fishing grounds, known as “Convergence,” will be installed this fall near the Sandifur Bridge.

“I’m always looking to just try and create more of a different kind of experience, that is not just only visual,” Moore said. “That’s what I was hoping to do.”

The Seeking Place would use aluminum that can reflect the light already present in the park, including the light show in the netting above the remade U.S. Pavilion, Moore said. She hoped to locate the piece near the pavilion and in areas where families could gather and eat their lunch or watch the changing reflections and shadows. The piece would include two wheelchair-accessible entrances and plenty of seating, Moore said.

Spokane Park Board President Jennifer Ogden said members were supportive of Moore’s use of geological imagery, which meshes well with the themes of the park’s regional playground and historic rock outcroppings.

“This just looks like it fits in Spokane,” Ogden said.

A motion to approve the beaver statue for construction failed to attract a majority at a meeting earlier this week, prior to the full Park Board’s consideration. Ogden said members heard concerns raised by the Spokane Tribe of Indians about a proposed Salish name for the beaver statue that was suggested without tribal input, and that weighed on the decision to move forward with Moore’s work.

“The tribe is an important partner, and we want them to feel valued,” Ogden said.

A committee of local artists had initially heard Moriyasu’s proposal in April and selected it as their favorite, though they urged the artist to speak with the local tribe quickly in order to determine an appropriate name. Moriyasu, who is of Japanese ancestry, also suggested a Japanese name for the statue, which would have swiveled and looked out onto the Spokane River.

Moriyasu, in an email, declined to comment for this story.

The Park Board, hearing concern from the community after the conceptual design was shared publicly in the spring, reached out to the public online for input on the four finalists to join J. Meejin Yoon’s “Stepwell” as a permanent art installation in the remade park. The Parks Department received 348 responses, showing reaction to the beaver statue was mixed, according to data provided by staff. It had the largest number of first-place votes among those weighing in, but had an almost equal number of people voting for any piece but the beaver statue.

Moore said the selection process put her in a position, as an artist, that she’d never been in.

“As an artist myself, it’s both a very exciting opportunity for me and my work, but I do feel for the original artist who was selected as well,” Moore said. “It’s a unique position for me to be in.”

Submissions for the artwork were collected by Spokane Arts, a local nonprofit supporting public art in the region. Funding for the construction of Yoon’s piece and the second piece of art comes from the 1% set aside in the $64 million redevelopment project’s budget for public art, as required by a city ordinance passed in 1981.

Spokane Arts Executive Director Melissa Huggins said public art is often scrutinized in its conceptual stage before an artist gets the full chance to provide a vision and explanation for their work.

“That’s no one’s fault; it’s just a natural hazard of those renderings being out there,” Huggins said.

Ogden said park officials could do a better job conveying the entire idea behind a piece of public art in its initial presentation to the public.

“I think it does a disservice to the artist when certain information isn’t released,” she said.

The Park Board is scheduled to vote to approve the design at a virtual meeting at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The Seeking Place’s estimated construction cost is $85,000. Officials said they anticipated it would be installed sometime next year.