Artwork copyright Victor Moore. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Victor Moore. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017 (detail).

Whirligig, 1986

Victor Moore
American (born 1926, died 2013)

Location: Liberty Middle School, Spanaway

About the Artwork

Artist Victor Moore created this kinetic, wind-powered sculpture for Naches Trail Elementary School. It is one of four whimsical whirligigs inspired by Tacoma's community and history. The figures in each whirligig tell a story using movement. This piece features a chimney sweep on the roof of a house. A dog looks up at the chimney. Even a slight breeze will cause the chimney sweep's broom to move up and down.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Bethel School District.

About the Artist

Eastern Washington artist Victor Moore (1926-2013) created artworks characterized by their resourcefulness, craftsmanship, imagination, and humor. He is most known for his carved-wood whirligigs, as well as for his "Junk Castle" west of Pullman in Eastern Washington. The art of creating whirligigs began for Moore when he was teaching high school art and directed his students to create whirligigs as an assignment. He enjoyed them so much himself that he began seriously creating whirligigs in 1985.
Moore taught art at Pullman High School for over twenty years until 1979, and he also taught at Columbia Basin College in Kennewick, Southeastern Washington, in the late 1990s. He was a veteran of World War II (1939-45) and the Korean War (1950-53). He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Washington University in Ellensburg and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington State University in Pullman.