Monday, August 20, 2012

What Public Art Should Express - Holly Gittlein's "Reflection" Over Cottonwood Creek in Wasilla

There isn't a lot of public art in Wasilla.  The last time I can remember a piece of public art here making the headlines was with the controversy over the sculpture The Warrior Within at Wasilla High School.  It seemed to bring the juvenile out in some.  Others looked at the art with more appreciation.

There shouldn't be any controversy, though, over sculptor Holy Gittlein's new baroque adornment, titled Reflection, to a pedestrian bridge over Cottonwood Creek, as the creek passes through central Wasilla.  If you go down there right now, you should be able to watch Coho and Sockeye salmon passing underneath the bridge, on their way up the creek to spawn in Wasilla, Cottonwood, Neklason or Cornelius Lakes.

Compare the image of the new bridge and bright sculpture:

To what the creek at that same area looked like, in this Youtube video I made in April, 2011:

Congratulations, Ms. Gittlein.

I understand the bridge was commissioned by a new organization in the Mat-Su Valley, Envision Mat-Su.

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