What again?
Bremerton is getting yet another statue, courtesy of its 1 percent for the arts funding. The city sets aside 1 percent of the funding for capital projects — except for utility, street, or block grant work — for art.
On Wednesday, the Bremerton City Council approved spending $7,100 of the fund for a sculpture by Bob Kimball of Poulsbo. The piece called, “With Attitude,” is expected to be complete by the end of January.
The sculpture resembles a treble clef, and was inspired by a conversation the artist had with his 19-year-old daughter. As the parent of a 20-year-old daughter, I totally get that.
Bremerton pretty much has statues and fountains all over the place. The famous — some say infamous — Fish and Fisherman statues at Fourth and Pacific were paid for with a grant, not the 1 percent program. Selections for pieces paid for by the 1 percent for the arts fund are made by Bremerton’s Arts Commission.
Across Sinclair Inlet, Port Orchard continues to look on with sculpture envy. The city has no arts fund. An earlier attempt to raise private funds for a public sculpture failed. But the city will get a second chance.
Southworth sculptor James Kelsey, who was recently voted Port Orchard Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassador of the Year, is raising funds for a 10-foot-by-10-foot $15,000 sculpture into which he has already sunk $6,000 on the gamble Port Orchard citizens are willing to pay for a distinctive piece of art.
Kelsey in 2009 offered a similar deal, except at that time his plans were a little larger. The total value of the proposed 15-foot-tall sculpture was $66,000. He sought private pledges for the work, but didn’t meet the goal.
If you want to see examples or Kelsey’s work, you could visit his website, or better yet Bremerton (surprise, surprise), where outside the Bremerton Police station stands a piece, “Tides of Justice,” in his signature style with swooping bands and stainless steel balls.
Port Orchard actually already has a piece of Kelsey’s work. “Siren’s Song” sits atop the walkway to the Kitsap Transit foot ferry on the Port Orchard side.
Kelsey’s latest idea, which he proposes for a yet-unidentified public space in Port Orchard, involves a stainless steel ball 4 feet in diameter. He has already had the ball manufactured, hence the $6,000. If Kelsey doesn’t make his goal of $15,000 for the rest of the materials, his time and ancillary costs, he’ll have one heck of a paperweight. Naw, seriously, he’s likely to recycle it into another piece. Kelsey’s art resides in in public spaces in British Columbia, Tacoma, Issaquah and on Kitsap County property, as well as in private collections.
Anyone who wants to pledge to the sculpture — pledges will not be collected unless the goal is met — can log on to www.kickstarter.com and search for “James Kelsey.” The website allows artists of all disciplines to raise the money needed to create a new project.
The end of Kelsey’s pledge drive is Dec. 3.
