While The Lodge at St. Edward Park still has a few days to go before it opens to the public, all the art pieces are in the process of getting installed. These include the three part wall sculpture I was commissioned to make for the hotel reception area. This is a small room, made smaller by the large reception cabinetry that occupies the center of it.

The arrangement of the three tree trunks that comprise the piece have to take into account the door on the left and the fact that sight lines are unusually constrained for a piece this size. There are three openings from the hall that allow for peekaboo glimpses but you can’t take in the whole thing until you’ve stepped inside the room itself.

Coloration of the piece is both midtone and dark muted neutrals - grays, earthy browns, and some bits of green and mossy gold, colors of the Pacific Northwest forest. Yet the walls in the hotel are so uniformly light that in this small room the strong physical texture of the pieces lends a visual warmth to the space.

The historic brick complex that houses the lodge has been completely restored and transformed by Kevin Daniels of Daniels Real Estate and when it opens on May 7, ‘21 will house 84 hotel rooms and multiple meeting spaces, restaurant, a spa, several bars, and lounges within what was built as a Catholic Seminary in 1930. All surrounded by more than 300 acres of forested park land on the shore of Lake Washington. Catalyst Fine Arts will operate as a fine arts gallery within the venue, with rotating quarterly exhibits.