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Arts & Entertainment

Edmonds Sculpture Finally Finds Home

Gerard Tsutakawa's piece, which had been in limbo in the ferry holding area for seven years, now is a part of the new Sound Transit Edmonds Station.

You can’t say that Seattle artist Gerard Tsutakawa doesn’t get prime location for his sculptures in Puget Sound.

On Wednesday, his 15-foot Standing Wave sculpture was lifted by a crane and slowly placed into its new home at the north end of the Sound Transit Edmonds Station. It’s near the railroad tracks at the bottom of Main Street, which ensures it will be one of the first things riders from Kingston see as they make their way off the ferry.

Edmonds residents, not to mention ferry riders, may already be well-acquainted with Tsutakawa’s piece.

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It was back in 2002 that Sound Transit began working with the Edmonds Arts Commission to select an artist to create artwork for the new Sound Transit train platform. Tsutakawa’s Standing Wave, a totem-like piece evoking the movement of water on Puget Sound, was chosen.

The selection committee and the Edmonds Arts Commission reviewed the design and proposed that private fundraising be undertaken to double the budget, making it possible to commission a sculpture.

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Delays in construction of the train platform led to negotiating a temporary site for the sculpture at the state Route 104 Mini Park adjacent to the ferry holding lanes, where it was placed in March 2004.

The sculpture was moved to the Sound Transit site Monday, June 27, and Tsutakawa—whose best-known piece is a 9-foot bronze sculpture titled Mitt outside Safeco Field in Seattle—cleaned up the finish on the bronze prior to installing it in its permanent location.

Representatives from Sound Transit Art Program and the City of Edmonds were on hand as the crane lifted the sculpture and the artist and his crew set it down on the new site. The hollow sculpture is bolted to the concrete and partially filled with sand. 

In addition to Standing Wave, Tsutakawa created four panels for the railing at the south end of the platform.

The sculpture is part of a transit center at the north end of the station for Community Transit bus service. The center includes two passenger shelters and three bus bays.

Standing Wave will be front and center with the public dedication of the Sound Transit platform on July 8 at 10:30 a.m. According to Sound Transit spokesman Roger Iwata, the lot will be open to communters July 11, but Community Transit will not be operating from the site until August.

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The construction is part of a $12.9-million project to improve Edmonds Station.

Standing Wave is the result of a partnership involving Sound Transit’s Start Program, the City of Edmonds Arts Commission, and private donors including the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation, the Hubbard Family Foundation, Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation, Bagley Wright Family Fund, Moccasin Lake Foundation, Doug and Janet True, Henry and Mary Ann James, and Pat and Doug Ikegami.

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