FOLLOWUP: City committee votes to take step toward demolishing Paragon sculpture

(WSB photo taken this week)

Following up on our Friday report that artist Don Fels and the city Office of Arts and Culture had come to an impasse about whether the West Marginal Way bones-of-a-boat sculpture Paragon could be saved, the city’s advisory Public Art Advisory Committee just voted to “deaccession” it – which means basically disowning it so it can be removed. The city says it’s a risk of public safety because of deterioration; Fels says the deterioration is because the city neglected to maintain it. He worked for a year to gather volunteer support and donated materials but said the city wanted him to take on a liability level that he could not. Both he and city reps spoke at the committee meeting before the vote; the action still has to be finalized by the Seattle Arts Commission when it meets next month (the May 13 meeting is hybrid, 4 pm, with attendance info here). The committee’s recommendation today comes with a suggestion made by member Caitlin Truong, that Paragon’s legacy be honored, perhaps by documentation for the city’s archives, maybe even an interpretive plaque at the site. We’ll add more details to this report later.

WS98 April 22, 2025 (7:11 pm)

So heartbreaking to lose a beautiful piece of art, I’ll miss seeing it. Wouldn’t it be great if a local business (that could afford it, obviously) could donate funds to rebuild?

WSB April 22, 2025 (8:42 pm)

Don Fels explained (including in our previous story) that money/cost wasn’t the problem (he singled out Nucor in particular for committing to a big donation)- it was the fact that the city wanted to give him all the liability

anonyme April 23, 2025 (1:00 pm)

Why would an artist accept liability for a piece of public art on public land? And now that the piece has been allowed to rot, it will be removed – benefiting no one? What a ridiculous stance. Equally ridiculous is the suggestion that a plaque replace the art. Seriously? The Office of A&C look like fools.

Don Fels April 23, 2025 (9:41 pm)

Thank you so much for covering this. The city not only wished to pass all liability and responsibility to me the artist, it is what they required of me that became the problem. The contract they ‘offered’ put the entire onus of rebuilding the sculpture on my shoulders without absolutely any support from them. I had already said I would donate my labor and that Nucor would commit a great deal of money, expertise, logistics and even space to work on it. But that wasn’t sufficient for them- they required audits (for a zero budget), engineering drawings and reports, inspections, and still they reserved the right to reject the rebuilt sculpture. Instead of COLLABORATING with me to rebuild the sculpture which their neglect had greatly harmed, they seemed to want to punish me for their lack of care. Their Public Art Manager never, not once, reached out to me in a year of ‘discussion’ with ARTS. The Paragon was created through a rich community-based collaboration. To rebuild it could be a wonderful celebratory act- but ARTS hid behind invisible city lawyers. They invoked a circular argument- they had not maintained it because their budget did not allow for that (a couple days work every few years??) and so it wasn’t safe. Since it wasn’t safe, if it were to be rebuilt, they would require a great deal of demands to make sure it was safe, which I would have to meet and they would not aid. I am an artist, not a clean-up contractor. It breaks my heart to write this and I deeply regret I am dealing with an arts agency that no longer values community-based collaborative work. I’ve been making public art for many decades, and it has always grown out of the place where it is sited- that is the magic of the process.

Sorry, comment time is over.