Artwork copyright Paul Buckner. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Sculpin Wind Vane, 2005

Paul Buckner
(American, born 1933, died 2014)

Location: South Seattle College - Georgetown Campus, Seattle

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Sculpin Wind Vane by Paul Buckner overlooks South Seattle College's Georgetown Campus. The sculpin fish sits atop an octopus, hailing the nearby Duwamish River. Buckner noted that “the curves and angles of the architecture were natural sources for those of the sculpture to echo.” He also was pleased that the sculpin’s copper flash can be seen from the East Marginal Way entrance.

Wind vanes traditionally are mounted on a globe that hides the bearing post and allows the wind vane to swing freely. Buckner set his sculpin wind vane on an octopus base because of its globular shape and connection to the nearby waters of the Duwamish and Puget Sound.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with South Seattle Community College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Paul Buckner (1933-2014) is remembered for his work in stone, metal, and wood. He said this about his work, “I have trained my whole life to be able to reach back to the forgotten things we are born knowing. Whether I will, in any measure, ever succeed, I don’t know. I do know that in making things I take great joy.”
Buckner was born and raised in the Ballard and West Seattle neighborhoods of Seattle. He was an influential and well-loved professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene from 1962 to 1995. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1959. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Claremont Graduate School in California in 1961. He also served in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War (1950-53).