Artwork copyright Robert Maki. Photo courtesy of Washington State University Museum of Art.

Artwork copyright Robert Maki. Photo courtesy of WSU Photo Services, by Bob Hubner.

Palouse Columns, 2003

Robert Maki
American (born 1938)

Location: Washington State University, Pullman

About the Artwork

Artist Robert Maki created the sculpture Palouse Columns to reflect the rolling landscape of the Palouse region of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. A native to Southeastern Washington, Maki notes, "This project links my earliest work in art to the region that shaped my ideas and images, and it is an opportunity for me to site a sculpture in an environment that has played a critical role in shaping my art."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Washington State University.

About the Artist

Northwest artist Robert Maki creates abstract sculptures that explore geometry and carefully consider the viewer's experience. As a student, he studied industrial design, engineering, and drafting which led to his interest in lines, angles, and planes. His sculptures explore the many ways that an object can be seen differently. The direction of the sun, time of day, and weather conditions are often important factors in Maki's sculptures, because they affect how the viewer sees the artworks.
Born in Walla Walla, Southeastern Washington, Maki earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University in Bellingham and a Master of Fine Arts degree (1966) from the University of Washington in Seattle. He was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award in 2012. His artworks are part of many collections, including Seattle Art Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. He has long been based in Kingston, on the Kitsap Peninsula, southern Puget Sound, Western Washington.