Tuesday, March 17, 2020
How it was 3/17/2020 (St. Patrick's Day) during Coronavirus Crisis 2020
Screen grabs of Moscow Pullman Daily News and Lewiston Tribune website on 3/17/2020 (St. Patrick's Day) morning posted/provided for future reference. Look back and remember the way it was during Coronavirus Crisis 2020.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Legacy and good work of Bill Crosetto, Othello rancher and WSU alum, live on
Original headline with this Herald story: Othello rancher’s
legacy and good works live on
By Emry Dinman, Columbia
Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Oct 17, 2019
OTHELLO — As a sophomore
at Bellevue High School in the late ’50s, William “Bill” Crosetto was riding in
a bus during a class field trip when he passed by the small town of Othello.
He said to himself, “If
there really is a God, he’d stick me in a place like Othello.”
As a teenager used to
living in what was even then a relatively lively suburb recently connected to
nearby Seattle, he meant it dismissively at the time, as though only divine
punishment could bring him into that quiet, sagebrush-knotted desert.
The Vietnam War changed
his mind.
Deployed as part of the
Army Reserves, Crosetto watched as his friends, just kids, died around him.
After the chaos of war, he had little interest in returning to Bellevue, where
he would be easily noticed.
His family there, after
all, was highly visible.
Crosetto’s father was a
standout runner for the WSU track team and competed for a spot at the 1932
Olympics in Los Angeles. An uncle, Fred “Hutch” Hutchinson, was a renowned
baseball player for the Detroit Tigers and manager for three teams, including
the 1964 Cincinnati Reds, before he died as a result of lung cancer.
The other, Dr. William
Hutchinson, was a well-known surgeon, cancer researcher and the founder of the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which he named after his brother Fred.
After the war, in a time
with little treatment for PTSD and common criticism for the soldiers who had
come back from the jungle, Crosetto wanted a quieter life. He wanted wide, open
country. He wanted Othello.
Crosetto went to work on
his father’s blueberry farm in 1967 before purchasing a cattle ranch just
outside of town. He would also eventually farm beans, corn and alfalfa, but the
cattle were what got him out of bed every morning.
As a cattle rancher,
Crosetto did quite well for himself, earning an income that was juxtaposed with
a conservative lifestyle in a modest home. In this way, he was able to grow a
sizable estate over decades.
Crosetto never married or
had children and as he got on in years, retiring from ranching after a heart
attack, he began to wonder what could be accomplished with his money.
He turned to
philanthropy. A devout Catholic, one of Crosetto’s first donations was to the
Catholic Charities Spokane House of Charity, an emergency homeless shelter that
is regularly full.
An avid hunter and
conservationist, some of the retired rancher’s greatest passions was protecting
the habitat of wildlife, particularly of upland game birds such as the sage
grouse.
The Chelan-Douglas Land
Trust was able to secure the transfer of land that would become the Spiva Butte
Nature Preserve, which serves as habitat for the threatened bird species, with
a $100,000 contribution from Crosetto. Today, a four-acre body of water in the
middle of the reserve is known as Crosetto Lake.
The PBS Nature channel is
sponsored by Crosetto, and he took delight at turning on the television and
knowing that the show would be supported throughout its lifetime by his gift,
said PJ Watters, director of gift planning with the Innovia Foundation. Watters
had worked with Crosetto to help coordinate his charitable giving and create
endowment funds.
A convert to rural
America, Crosetto’s charitable giving was also centered on the communities he
found such great affinity with. The William A. Crosetto Civic Leadership Fund
was created to provide $70,000 to be used to benefit rural communities.
This year, 10 rural
councils are being formed by the Innovia Foundation to review local community
needs throughout 20 rural counties and award grants to address local needs.
Applications are being accepted now for people interested in serving on those
councils. Applications are available online at Innovia.org.
Influenced by his uncle’s
work in medicine, Crosetto also made major donations to support healthcare in
rural communities.
Washington State
University, where both Crosetto and his father attended school, unveiled a
mobile healthcare unit in mid-October designed to bring physicians directly to
rural communities. A prototype was funded by Crosetto, as well as a $500,000
endowment to help fund operations, and the first unit to hit the streets was
named for the man that helped make the project happen.
Another million dollar
fund, the William A. Crosetto Rural Residency Fund, will help incentivize
graduate medical students to pursue residencies in rural communities, improving
the likelihood that they will consider spending their careers in those places.
Though he often engaged
with the projects he helped to fund, Crosetto won’t get to see that fund make
its first distribution this fall.
At age 75, Crosetto died
Jan. 25, 2018 in hospice care after struggling with several medical
complications related to malignant melanoma. The great irony, said Watters, is
that the skin cancer that killed him, common among farmers, would have been
very treatable if it had been discovered early.
Now that early detection
will be far more likely for future farmers served by the mobile healthcare unit
bearing Crosetto’s name.
Courtesy photos which appeared with this Herald article:
- Othello rancher William ‘Bill’ Crosetto left behind a legacy of love for rural Washington.
- Bill Crosetto at his ranch.
Other photos:
- Bill Crosetto fishing, (KXLY website)
- William A. Crosetto Mobile Health Care Unit (WSU News)
::::
Obituary of
William "Bill" Albert Crosetto
From Stevens Funeral Chapel, Othello
William "Bill"
Crosetto, 75, of Othello, Washington, passed away Jan. 25, 2018. He was born in
Seattle, Washington on Nov.29, 1942. He grew up in Seattle and Bellevue.
When he was a sophomore
at Bellevue High School in the late 1950's he passed through Othello,
Washington during a class field trip thinking "If there really is a God,
He'd stick me in a place like Othello."
Bill graduated from
Bellevue High School, class of 1960. He enrolled in Washington State University
in Pullman, Washington, and excelled in the subject of Agronomy and he was a
standout on the WSU track team!
He bought a farm in
Othello in 1967 and became a cattle rancher. He also grew alfalfa, corn, and
other crops. He was a true outdoor man who taught kids to fish and learn how to
make duck calls.
Bill was a member of the
Catholic Church, the Lion's Club, a proud supporter of 4H and the PBS Nature
channel. He was kind, patient and soft spoken. He will be dearly missed by many
friends and relatives.
Bill was preceded in
death by his parents, Albert and Mary Crosetto.
Viewing will be held from
9:30 am to 10:30 am, Wed. Feb.7, 2018 at Stevens Funeral Chapel in Othello.
Catholic Mass will be held at 11:00 am, Wed., Feb 7, 2018 at the Sacred Heart
Catholic Church also in Othello.
As per his wishes, burial
will follow at Laurel Hill Memorial Cemetery in Cle Elum, Washington at 2:00 pm
on Wed. Feb.7, 2018.
WSU College of
Medicine launches Range Health
From WSU News, Oct 9, 2019
SPOKANE– On Oct. 9, 2019, the Washington State University Elson
S. Floyd College of Medicine announced launch of Range Health, a non-profit
academic health network designed to bring health care to Washington’s rural and
underserved areas.
The College of Medicine also unveiled the William A. Crosetto
Mobile Health Care Unit, the network’s first traveling health clinic.
Named for its intent to deliver care to all of Washington’s 39
counties with a nod to its rural emphasis, Range Health is a separate 501(c)(3)
entity in partnership with WSU and the College of Medicine.
The organization will provide prevention and wellness
strategies, as well as treatment to patients across the state, focusing on
communities where health care is limited. Leveraging its network of doctors,
nurses and pharmacists, Range Health will increase access to health care while
serving as a training ground for future doctors and health care providers.
“From the earliest days of the College of Medicine, we
envisioned a time when we would not only educate medical students to become
doctors in our rural and underserved communities but create new ways of
delivering health care to the people of our state,” said John Tomkowiak,
founding dean of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and chair of the board
and ex officio director of Range Health.
“Range Health fulfills this vision and, while there is a lot of
work ahead to scale up, extend our reach and expand our offerings, we’re
excited to take our first steps toward serving the communities that need us
most.”
Range Health launches with its first mobile medical unit named
for William A. Crosetto, a cattle rancher from Othello who passed away in
January 2018. Known to friends as Bill, he worked with Innovia Foundation to
create the William A. Crosetto Charitable Foundation to support medical
education and rural health among other philanthropic interests.
His legacy lives on in the William A. Crosetto Mobile Health
Care Unit, which will travel to rural and underserved communities to provide
comprehensive primary care, urgent care procedures, and preventive screening
for conditions such as diabetes, cholesterol, pregnancy, STDs, asthma and more.
The unit is slated to begin providing services in January 2020.
As a Washington State College runner who went on to compete in
the Olympics, Bill’s father had a significant impact on his life, but he was
most proud of the legacies established by his uncles, Fred Hutchison, a famous
baseball player and Dr. William Hutchinson, who founded the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center as well as the Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research
Institute.
“Bill was proud of his family’s legacy but often felt he lived
in the shadow of his uncles, and yet his generosity in our region will have
just as deep of an impact,” said Shelly O’Quinn, CEO of Innovia Foundation.
“Bill wanted to ensure rural residents would have access to doctors in their
hometown. His legacy will allow people to age in place in the communities they
love.”
Led by executives from the colleges of Medicine, Nursing and
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Range Health and the William A. Crosetto
Mobile Health Care Unit will initially focus on care from doctors and medical
students with plans to expand across all health sciences disciplines in the
future.
“Humankind is demanding solutions that support modern health
care needs. Health care must be reimagined. With Range Health, we’re signaling
steps taken to our larger vision of WSU Health—our initiative to advance health
care across the Pacific Northwest,” said Daryll DeWald, WSU Health Sciences
vice president and chancellor. “As education becomes more and more a critical component
of health, WSU Health Sciences is uniquely equipped to embrace modern health
care needs.”
True to its emphasis on bringing care to communities, Range
Health will take its mobile unit on tour across the state in October. Sponsored
by Banner Bank, the tour will travel to the college’s clinical campus sites in
Vancouver, Everett and Tri-Cities where third-year medical students are now
based full time for clinical training. All community members are encouraged to
attend the tour events to see the mobile unit, meet locally based WSU students,
and hear from WSU and Banner Bank leadership.
“It is our pleasure to partner with WSU to bring this tour to
each of their clinical campus communities,” said Mark Grescovich, President
& CEO of Banner Bank. “Like WSU, Banner Bank serves communities all across
Washington, including many rural areas that will directly benefit from the
mobile medical care unit. We are excited to help shine a light on the important
work of the medical school and Range Health.”
For more information visit the Range
Health website:
Monday, December 23, 2019
ON DEC. 10, 2019, PULLMAN CHAMBER PRESENTS AWARDS TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Photo: Left
to right, Mike and Sue Hinz, Pullman Chamber 'Member of the Year,' and Rick Wayenberg, a volunteer including
at Pullman Regional Hospital. Wayenberg is brother of Sue. Photo taken 12/22/2019 by Pullman :: Cup of
the Palouse .
PULLMAN C of C PRESENTS AWARDS FOR 102nd YEAR
Dec 19, 2019 Whitman County (Colfax) Gazette
Pullman Chamber of Commerce hosted its 102nd annual awards
luncheon Dec. 10, 2019.
New chamber board president Andrew Flabetich thanked outgoing president Jill Bielenberg for her service to the chamber.
Ginger Flynn, new board member, was introduced and long-term
member Tom Handy received a farewell.
Community awards winners honored were Mike Rydbom (Hall of
Fame Historical) for his longtime Chamber support and committee participation;
Community Band of the Palouse (Hall of Fame Modern) for numerous community
events and Pullman’s Fourth of July Celebrations; Pullman Schools Food Pantry
Program (Civic Improvement) which serves more 200 students weekly in all public
schools; Stephen and Sharon Hall (Marshall A. Neill Community Service Award)
who founded the Palouse Free Clinic and have volunteered numerous hours.
Mike and Sue Hinz received the ‘Member of the Year’ honor
for their multiple service projects and countless hours making cotton candy at
Pullman’s Fourth of July celebration.
:::::::::::::
NEW PRESIDENT INTRODUCED AT PULLMAN CHAMBER MEETING, AWARDS LUNCHEON
Dec 17, 2019 Moscow Pullman Daily News
The Pullman Chamber and Visitor Center hosted its 102nd Annual Meeting and Awards luncheon Dec. 10, 2019, at Courtyard by Marriott in Pullman.
The event focused on Chamber initiatives and accomplishments over the past year, and introduced new Chamber Board President Andrew Flabetich, and new board member, Ginger Flynn.
Meeting attendees thanked Jill Bielenber, outgoing board president, for her services, and bade farewell to departing long-term member Tom Handy.
The organization also honored Mike Rydbom with the Hall of Fame Historical award for his longtime Chamber support and committee participation; Community Band of the Palouse received the Hall of Fame Modern award for numerous community events and Pullman’s Fourth of July Celebrations; Pullman Schools Food Pantry Program, which serves more than 200 students weekly in all public schools was awarded for Civic Improvement; Stephen and Sharon Hall, founders and volunteers at the Palouse Free Clinic, received the Marshall A. Neill Community Service Award; and Mike and Sue Hinz were awarded Chamber Member of the Year for service projects and making cotton candy at Pullman’s Fourth of July Celebration.
Monday, December 2, 2019
ROBERT REDFORD BASEBALL MOVIE 'THE NATURAL' WILL USE PALOUSE SCENES (story from 1983, movie released 1984)
USE PALOUSE SCENES
Saturday, Sept 10, 1983, Lewiston Morning Tribune
PULLMAN (AP) -- A film crew for Robert Redford's new movie spent four days in the Palouse this week gathering footage for "The Natural," in which the veteran actor appears as a baseball player.
However, Redford's fans struck out trying to see him because he did not make the trip.
The movie's location manager, Bruce Lawhead, said the crew filmed scenery to be used as Redford rides a train through Nebraska in the 1920s and 1930s. The Palouse footage will be on a backdrop on a scene filmed on a stage that resembles a 1920s railroad car.
"It's hardly likely anyone will ever notice," said Washington Motion Picture Bureau director Art Kuhlman.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
'PERSONA' wind-activitate sound sculpture at Washington State University
PERSONA
Washington
State University
Pullman
'Persona'
wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally recognized artist Doug
Hollis. At Washington State University in Pullman, it's atop Terrell Library on
the library plaza with a beautiful Palouse view. Created in 1999, the sculpture
was installed in 2000. Photos and video clips from PULLMAN :: Cup of the
Palouse blog on May 8, 2019.
:::
WSU sculpture singing again
September 28, 2009, WSU Today
https://news.wsu.edu/2009/09/28/wsu-sculpture-singing-again
The wind sings
Following is a guest essay by Richard H. Miller,
Center for Distance and Professional Education
The wind sings when I’m trying to work.
It’s given voice by Doug Hollis’ kinetic sculpture “Persona,” four
sound-generating weather vanes that spin outside my window at WSU’s Van Doren
Hall. The vanes are mounted in a circle, held together by a mesh ring showing
the points of the compass.
The sound shifts with the wind. Sometimes it’s a person blowing
into a bottle, or the call of a whale. Sometimes, a man plays a saw. The vanes
move. A ghost moans. I imagine a gauze-clad woman come to avenge her death.
Why “Persona”? Is Hollis saying we’re weather vanes, our beliefs
changing with the wind? Or is the sculpture the persona, inhaling wind and
exhaling sound? Perhaps the sound is the persona, spun into life from metal and
air.
I check out Hollis on the Internet. He has made rain fall through
the center of a building, turned beach chairs into harps, planted 950 wind
vanes at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. He created a foggy beach,
complete with boulders and 486 “fog nozzles” in front of the San Jose Civic
Center. In other words, he turns civic landscapes into works of art that send
people into a reverie. He makes us wonder when we should be working.
“Persona” is mounted on top of Terrell Library. It’s named after
Glenn Terrell, the University president from 1967 to 1985. By all accounts, he
was an excellent president, sometimes called the “Students’ President,” partly
because he stopped to chat with everyone as he walked to work from his home on
the west side of campus to his office on the east side. A scholarship is named
for him, as is the Terrell Friendship Mall. The records from Terrell’s
presidential years take 39 feet of shelf space in the WSU archives, a long
shadow to cast, even if it is made of paper.
My own Van Doren Hall is named after Nancy Van Doren, college librarian
and English professor here from 1892 from 1905. The hall turned 100 last year.
It shares its centennial with the Model T, and the last time that the Chicago
Cubs won the World Series.
A century can seem like forever – especially to Cubs fans – but
it’s a blip in time compared to wind music, which dates to 6 B.C. Back then,
ancient Greeks lay around on the lawn and grooved to the sound of Aeolian wind
harps, much like the WSU students who sometimes loaf in the sun near “Persona.”
Clearly, the wind is to blame for this lassitude. We try to stay
on-task, but the wind shifts, the vanes turn, and the archaic song continues
afresh.
“Persona,” WSU’s metal kinetic wind sculpture, is singing again.
Since its installation on Terrell Library plaza in 2000, the
slightest breeze or the strongest wind has caused the sculpture to “sing” by
capturing wind and sending it through metal tubes.
This summer, however, the sculpture lost its voice. Severe wind
storms in June left two of the sculpture’s metal fins “hanging by a thread and
they were deemed dangerous” to those on the plaza and those on Rogers Field
outside next to the library, said Keith Wells, WSU Museum of Art curator of
exhibitions/collections manager. A fence was put around the sculpture and it
sat silent.
Fabrication Specialties Limited spent about four weeks repairing
the damaged fins in its Seattle shop. On Sept. 9, Trace Taft and Bill Hicks of
the firm reinstalled the fins, said Terry Baxter-Potter, a WSU Capital Planning
& Development project manager.
“Persona” is one of several sculptures on the university’s campus
commissioned by the WSU Campus Arts Committee through the Washington State Arts
Commission’s Art in Public Places program. Funds from the commission paid for
the repairs.
Nationally known sculptor Doug Hollis of the San Francisco Bay
Area created “Persona.” His works include at least three others in the state, A
Sound Garden and Water Works, both in Seattle, and A Tidal Park in Port
Townsend.
Wells and Baxter-Potter say they are happy the sculpture is back
in action.
“Thanks to all who were concerned and told us the sculpture needed
repairs and those who called with concerns as it was being repaired to check on
its progress,” Wells said. “People being attached to the sculpture enough to
get involved, illustrates the importance of campus art.”
Also pleased is Richard H. Miller, WSU Center for Distance and
Professional Education senior marketing communications coordinator. Miller can
see Persona through his Van Doren Hall office window. He can hear it, too. “The
wind sings when I’m trying to work,” said Miller.
Note: The following which accompanied article no longer available
… Photos above: Sunset (Oct. 2002) and blue sky (June 2006) photos by Shelly
Hanks, WSU Photo Services. Fence (Sept. 2009) photo by Tim Marsh, University
Relations. Persona audio (Aug. 2008) recorded by Brian Maki, Center for
Distance and Professional Education.
:::
Rolls of sod ready to brighten roof
August 21, 2008, WSU Today
(Note: Photos which accompanied this story no longer available.)
PULLMAN – After a two-year drought during the renovation of the Compton
Union Building, the Terrell Library Roof will once again be sporting green
grass.
According to James Stone, construction engineer with Capital
Planning and Development, soil preparation began Thursday morning for placing
sod in the area. Large rolls of turf waiting in Terrell Mall will be placed as
soon as an area of soil is workable and compost has been applied.
“Once the sod is placed it will receive a watering schedule that
will hit the area three times a day in order to keep it healthy and encourage
root growth,” said Stone. ” It will take anywhere from one to two weeks for the
sod to be substantially established.”
The sod was purchased and delivered from IDEAL SOD in the
Tri-Cities area and the work is being performed by Clearwater Summit
Landscaping out of Spokane.
The completion date for project is Aug. 24, 2008.
Cutline for no longer available accompanied photos:
--Rolls of sod can wait 4 or 5 days to be planted.
--Construction crew preparing soil for sod.
--North side of Terrell Library roof.
--Sculpture “Persona”
singing in the wind.
--Crew member lifts rolls of sod for placement.
--Crew members roll out sod over soil covered with compost. The
turf is then trimmed to fit the edges – like carpet.
::::
Sounds of the Palouse emanate from 'Persona'
By
Heather Frye,
Moscow Pullman Daily News, April 6, 2000
The wind shifted slightly to the east and
"Persona" began to sing.
The notes emanating from the new wind
sculpture above the Holland Library at Washington State University were gentle,
like the first whispers of a Native American flute melody. Then the wind blew
harder across the organ pipes and the music crescendoed, rising like a wolf
song over the hills.
A crosswind caught the metal flags a moment
later and the music ended until the structure creaked, swayed and found a new
song in the western wind.
"Persona" is the brainchild of
San Francisco artist Doug Hollis. He was commissioned three years ago to create
the kinetic wind organ for WSU by the Washington State Arts Commission. The
project is one of many bringing art to the "Terrell Mall," which is
the route former WSU President Glenn Terrell used to take to work every
morning.
Constructed on the lid of Holland Library,
the structure sits at the crest of a small grassy hill. A low 115-foot ramp
leads out to the 20-foot metal sculpture that overlooks the rolling prairie
north of WSU.
"It's designed to be
processional," said Marcia Garrett, Campus Arts Committee director.
The idea behind the sculpture was to create
a place people could go to feel at peace and in tune with the landscape of the
Palouse. Each of the four wind organs is configured to the four primary compass
points. Metal flags rotate the pipes according to the whims of the wind.
"It's an observatory," Hollis
said. "It lifts you into the air."
The sculpture has been in place since
October, Garrett said, but the grass surrounding the hill needed time to grow.
At 4 p.m. Friday, the fence around the sculpture will be taken away and a
dedication ceremony will take place. The artist will join WSU President Samuel
Smith and his wife at attend the ceremony. An informal reception will follow,
with the artist answering questions from the public.
Hollis was chosen for the project because
of his previous work creating art that incorporates sound and place. Among
other projects, he has created "Sound Garden" for the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Seattle.
At 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Fine Arts
Auditorium, Hollis will give a lecture about his work. The talk is part of the
WSU Museum of Art Spring 2000 lecture series, "Redefining Landscape."
:::
Dedication Ceremony for ‘Persona’ Art Structure
March 27, 2000, WSU Today
PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University President and Mrs.
Samuel H. Smith will host a dedication ceremony for WSU’s newest
sculpture, “Persona,” on the Holland Library Plaza at 4 p.m. April 7, 2000
“Persona” is wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally
recognized artist Doug Hollis of San Francisco.
The sculpture, located on the Holland Library Plaza, encompasses
four kinetic “wind organs” configured to the four primary compass points. The
setting is intended to amplify the sweeping views of the Palouse and heighten
one’s
awareness of the natural world through the creation of sound and
its interaction with the setting.
Hollis’ work has been described as creating an oasis-like quality,
where people can pause to catch their spiritual breath and focus attention on
the world around them.
In addition to the dedication ceremony, Hollis will present an
overview of his past work in a lecture at 7:30 p.m. April 6 in the Fine Arts
Auditorium. The artist will also attend the dedication ceremony.
The lecture is sponsored by the WSU Museum of Art as part of its
spring 2000 “Redefining Landscape” lecture series.
The Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places
Program supports “Persona” as a part of its goal to maintain a state art
collection that represents the work of regional, national and international
artists.
Shcl138-00
:::
Sculptor Doug Hollis to Speak April 6, 2000
March 10, 2000, WSU Today
PULLMAN, Wash. — Nationally known sculptor Doug Hollis will
present an overview of his past work in an April 6 lecture at Washington
State University.
The 7:30 p.m. talk is sponsored by the WSU Museum of Art as part
of its spring 2000 “Redefining Landscape” lecture series. The talk will
be held in the Fine Arts Auditorium.
The free lecture and a dedication ceremony for his sculpture
“Persona” were originally scheduled for March 23. The dedication ceremony has
also been rescheduled, and will take place at 4 p.m. April 7 at the
sculpture site.
Hollis is best known for his wind- and water- activated sound
sculptures.
Many of his pieces have been publicly selected, site-specific
works such as “Persona,” which was commissioned by the WSU Campus Arts Committee through the Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public
Places program. Some of his other recent public artworks include
“Mountain Mirage”
at the Denver airport and “Watersongs,” commissioned for the U.S.
Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.
Hollis was born in Ann Arbor, Mich. He received a bachelor’s
degree in fine arts from the University of Michigan.
He credits his interest in
Native American culture and the time he spent visiting and living with
Native American families in his youth as having a strong influence on his
life and his art.
In the late 1960s, he began working with natural phenomena and
responsive environmental structures. His collaborations with musicians,
dancers, film makers, engineers and physicists resulted in projects such as the performance - installation “Laser, Sound and Air” at the Cranbrook
Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Hollis began his current work with wind- and water- activated
sound in the 1970s. These early works include his development of the first
“Aeolian Harp” for the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1975-76.
In 1983, Hollis worked with four other artists in the creation of
“A Sound Garden,” a 2000-foot shoreline walk commissioned for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. He
frequently
works with other artists, landscape architects and architects on
projects such as “Tidal Park” in Port Townsend and “A Garden of Voices,” a
collaboration with artist Richard Turner, for Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park.
“These and other projects are indicative of my growing involvement
with public art and with making places which have an oasis-like
quality, where people can pause to catch their spiritual breath in the midst of
their everyday
lives,” Hollis said.
The Hollis lecture is the last event of the museum’s spring
lecture series, “Redefining Landscape.”
Funding for museum exhibitions and programs is provided by WSU,
the Friends of the Museum of Art and private donors. A portion of the
museum’s general operating funds for the fiscal year has been provided
through a grant
from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal
agency providing general operating support to the nation’s museums. Additional
support has been provided by the Kenneth and Marleen Alhadeff Foundation; the
Delta
Air Lines Foundation; the Washington State Arts Commission; the
National Endowment for the Arts; the WSU Visual, Performing and Literary
Arts Committee; the Pullman Kiwanis Club; Tri-State Distributors; and
private
donors.
Sh126-00
:::
Visually stark, the Doug Hollis' wind sculpture
"Persona" on the top of the library comes to life when the wind
blows, with marvelous chords sounding out in response. People like to just
lounge around underneath it and listen to the concert that results. Note: This page is part of the Paul Brians
tour of WSU and the Palouse and is no longer being updated.
:::
Persona, 1999
Douglas Hollis
(American, born 1948)
Location: Washington State University, Pullman
http://www.artswa.org/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=3529;type=101
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
Persona is a kinetic sound sculpture by artist Douglas Hollis that
"sings" when wind passes through four spinning weather vanes. Richard
H. Miller, WSU's Director of the Office of Student Media, described the
sculpture's variations of sound in a 2009 essay, noting "sometimes it's a
person blowing into a bottle, or the call of a whale. Sometimes, a man plays a
saw. The vanes move. A ghost moans... Perhaps the sound is the persona, spun
into life from metal and air."
This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in
partnership with Washington State University.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Artist Douglas Hollis creates sound-based sculptures and
installations that are activated by wind and water. He received a Bachelor of
Fine Arts from the University of Michigan.
:::
Wind sculpture "Persona" on the top of Holland Library.
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
:::
WSU's Persona wind sculpture in Pullman, Washington. This photo is
taken on top of the library (which has a lawn and seating, overlooking part of
the north Pullman valley, the football practice facilities, and formerly Martin
Stadium. Late fall harvests (of the Palouse's hundreds of miles of rolling
wheat fields) cause thick dust in the sky, creating some truly breathtaking
sunsets as the sun dips down towards the coast, cascading across eastern
Washington.
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'Persona'
wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally recognized artist Doug
Hollis. At Washington State University in Pullman, it's atop Terrell Library on
the library plaza with a beautiful Palouse view. Created in 1999, the sculpture
was installed in 2000. Photos and video clips from PULLMAN :: Cup of the
Palouse blog on May 8, 2019.
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