The Lodge at Saint Edwards - Reception Wall Project

In the studio with the backing pieces arranged on the wall and painted black. 3/12/21

North of Kirkland, along the east shore of Lake Washington is a huge thickly wooded tract of land where the Catholic Church built not just one but two seminaries in the last century. One is Saint Thomas, now the Bastyr University and the other is the parks namesake, Saint Edwards. Saint Ed is currently being transformed into a boutique hotel by a private developer and the restoration includes a hotel art collection of pieces made specifically for certain spaces within the complex.

I’ve been asked to do one of my wall sculpture pieces for the hotel reception room, a small but central space located at the top of the entry stairs and adjacent to a long, formal colonnaded hall that has a graceful barrel vault. In other words, these are extraordinary spaces with local history and I was certainly happy to be invited to participate in the project.

The work in progress represents a stand of second growth trees, which includes a rotting stump. Should be installed in about 10 days from now and my phone is off the hood until then.

A pencil sketch of the composition for the wall. Proportions have changed since this was drafted.