Olympic Sculpture Park is... Nice.

"Neukom Vivarium" by Mark Dion is part of the permanent collection at SAM's Olympic Sculpture Park. Go see it!

As an individual with a degree in Art History, and semi-irregular volunteer for the Seattle Art Museum, I am embarrassed to admit that I had yet to visit the Olympic Sculpture Park until yesterday. The park has been open since 2007 (I just got even more embarrassed that I still hadn’t seen it after writing that), so there has been plenty of time for this thing to be either built up or torn down by others who haven’t been as lazy as me. Of the people I’ve talked to though, no one has much to say about it. It seems to be generally agreed that the park is neither an eyesore, nor a flash of inspiration. The park is “nice.”

After my visit, I agree that the park is nice. It is a pleasant space to walk around and, of course, some of the works are really great. Mark Dion’s Neukom Vivarium, (basically a giant nurse log full of lush ferns and other plants), is a definite standout as well as Carolina Silva’s temporary work, Air Below Ground.

The main problem that I encountered is the park is just too well laid out. The paths are very direct and with the exception of a few pieces, all of the works have a very clearly designated viewing area, even the works that are “hidden” amongst trees or bushes. Maybe I’m a sucker for the land art generation but , if art is going to be outdoors, I want to really be outdoors. At the sculpture park, it appears that several pieces were placed in a way striving to invoke the feeling that you were discovering something out in the middle of nowhere. A feeling equivalent to finding Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty in the Salt Lakes, a work so inlayed in the land it’s sometimes impossible to find. But you’re not wandering through Great Salt Lake. Instead, you are walking down a gravel path where each work is neatly framed by native plants. Where’s the adventure in that? Perhaps I was expecting or looking for something that wasn’t meant to be there in the first place. It is a sculpture park in the middle of a busy city after all.

My trip to the sculpture park has led me to several conclusions. First, I need to go on an adventure and see Spiral Jetty. Second, while a bit boring at times, the sculpture park is worth a visit. Side note, the SAM is also hosting a bunch of great summer events at the park, which you can read about here.

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By Cory Budden in Arts & Events on August 7, 2011 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Rob Ketcherside

It's "nice", but that's not good enough.

They destroyed our waterfront streetcar for this, so there is a burden of social good to overcome. I think the sculpture park fails on that level alone.

Worse, it's better as a "park" than as a "sculpture park". There are large areas where I thought "wow, why is there no sculpture here?" After walking from top to bottom I was inspired - inspired to drive up to Bellingham and see if WWU's outdoor sculptures are as good and plentiful as I remember. Because there just wasn't that much art.

Coincidentally I was in DC shortly after my first visit to OSP, and discovered that the rollerblade art piece is mass produced. There's one right in the National Mall, in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Just like Hammering Man, SAM continues to showcase cookie-cutter art?

The National Gallery has a sculpture garden that works, by the way. It's a nice place to take a break or swing through. That's not true of Olympic Sculpture Park at all. No one is walking between destinations through the park.

I'm extremely pleased that we held onto the property as a park and not a condo tower. But I think SAM needs to reassess and take another try.

Cory Budden

I agree the Olympic Sculpture Park has a lot of "plop" art - not site specific, not well thought out. As a Western grad, I might be biased in saying that WWU's collection far exceeds on every level. Something like 98 percent of the sculptures are site-specific, the works are well integrated with the land and their surroundings and all the pieces are exciting in different ways.

And you bring up an excellent point about what was destroyed for the park to exist. Anything is better than another condo tower, but yeah, more planning on SAM's part would not have hurt anything.