The artist who created an iconic West Seattle sculpture is asking for support in his quest to save it from being demolished instead of replaced.
(Photo courtesy Don Fels)
That’s the Paragon, installed more than 20 years ago at what’s now known as həʔapus Village Park and Shoreline Habitat (formerly T-107 Park) along West Marginal Way near the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse. We heard from artist Don Fels over the weekend – he explains that this dates back to when he was the lead artist on the West Seattle Cultural Trail on Alki 25+ years ago – and continued it down West Marginal Way. He picks up the story from there, in the email he sent us explaining why he’s asking for community words of support:
I created three sculptures there, including the Geo-Slice, which tells the geomorphic history of the site, and the Paragon, which features a scaled-down wooden framework of a halibut schooner designed and built in Seattle in 1923. The sculpture is now in mortal danger!
The sculpture was a broad ranging collaboration between me, the Port of Seattle, the City of Seattle, the Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle City Light and people from the Croatian community of West Seattle. I obtained the plans for the original Paragon, which is still fishing up in Alaska, and then Michael Vlahovich, a third-generation boat builder, whose grandmother lived on the site, built the wooden ‘boat’ with his boat-building students at Bates Technical College.
Under the boat are several panels giving the history of the site- telling how the Native people who lived and fished there were forced out by destruction of the habitat, how immigrants from (the then) Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy moved in, often squatting, to live and build boats. The Port bulldozed down their settlement, which even though the Port arranged to have the sculpture created on the site, they let me acknowledge in the text I produced for the sculpture.
Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture was charged with maintaining the wood boat structure, which they failed to do. There is now considerable rot and it is infested with carpenter ants. Suddenly, their solution to years of their neglect: tear it down. To counter that very real threat, I am organizing a rebuild of the wooden boat (the steel and concrete structure is sound). In very short order I have garnered support from the Center for Wooden Boats, the Burke Museum, the Port of Seattle, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, Allied Arts, and thanks to the great help from Ken (Workman), the Duwamish Tribe. I continue to reach out to other potential partners, and am certain there will be many others.
At present we are planning for a community rebuilding of the boat next year. I would WELCOME volunteers, donations of materials, etc etc. But for now I’m looking to get letters from the community sent to the Office of Arts and Culture from people who want the sculpture to remain and be fixed up. They can be directed to the Deputy Director, Kelly Davidson. Her email is Kelly.Davidson@seattle.gov.
Fels is meeting with her on Tuesday morning and adds, “If anyone feels compelled to write her, it would be wonderfully helpful if they did so before then, so that she sees there is real support to save the sculpture. I want them to take ‘deaccessioning’ (i.e. destroying it) off their agenda. This is very important ASAP, because once they officially stamp it ‘deaccessioned,’ the sculpture goes from being an artwork to a corpse.” If you can spare a moment to email Kelly Davidson, Don adds, please cc him, at donatofels@gmail.com.
ADDED TUESDAY MIDDAY: Here’s the statement we received from the Office of Arts and Culture:
The Office of Arts & Culture envisions a city driven by creativity that provides the opportunity for everyone to engage in diverse arts and cultural experiences. Deaccessioning artworks is always a last resort. The first priority of any public artwork commission is to ensure that there is no risk to the public if the structure were to break apart or collapse.
Don Fels’ Paragon has stood at həʔapus Village Park & Shoreline Habitat since 2001, honoring its surrounding communities. It is one of 400 art works in the Seattle Civic Art Collection, each of which requires maintenance. The Office of Arts and Culture has maintained the structure over the years, however, Seattle’s rainy climate, the passage of time (23 years) and the original materials used in Paragon have resulted in this very natural outcome. We look forward to meeting with Mr. Fels this week to discuss the options for potentially saving the current structure. (Indeed, we will be meeting with Mr. Fels later this morning). That said, the structure is currently a significant safety hazard that must be addressed as soon as possible.
Anytime people are moved by art, we consider our mission successful.That you all feel passionate about this artwork to write to us and save it makes us proud.
Gülgün Kayim
Director, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
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