This forthcoming artwork for a new building to house the Bellingham Public Works department derives its overall geometry from the evolution of the Nooksack river that gathers up its water like threads from creeks in the North Cascades, winds its way through canyons, floodplain and channels that change over time, to open up in the delta of Bellingham Bay once again dispersing into to small alluvial channels in the Bay. The structure of the artwork echoes this path, transitioning fromdivergent three-dimensional geometry suspended over the lobby to a two-dimensional fan on the wall adjacent to the staircase.

Materials and process are important aspects of this project as they relate to the overall work. Sculpted plaster as well as press molded and 3d printed ceramics have all been considered and prototyped as part of the project’s development.

Renderings by Henry Cowdery