Schubert Sonata - Seattle, WA - Kinetic Sculpture and Art on Waymarking.com

Located along Elliott Bay Trail and within the Olympic Sculpture Park is a tall, steel sculpture that acts as a wind vane and if a strong breeze blows through at just the right time, the sculpture rotates gently in the wind. This sculpture was originally located at the Benaroya Music Hall not far from this sculpture park. The 22-foot high, 9,900-pound steel sculpture was relocated to the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park in summer 2006.

The museum's website contains a page devoted to this sculpture and it reads:

The raw metal surface of Mark di Suvero's Schubert Sonata possesses a heroic scale, and a distinctively urban and industrial flavor, offset by the delicately balanced circular structure, which opens to the sky. This ribbon of metal delineated by organic and geometric forms stands poised on a single point, and spins—a reflection of the artist's longstanding interest in the possibilities for motion in sculpture. This work is part of a series dedicated to composers, and on its initial acquisition it was on view at Benaroya Hall, home of the city's symphony orchestra, across the street from the downtown Seattle Art Museum.

Painted and unpainted steel, 22 ft. H; diameter of top element: 10 ft.; base: 6 ft. H , Gift of Jon and Mary Shirley, The Virginia Wright Fund, and Bagley Wright, 95.81, © Mark di Suvero

There is also a metal plaque located next to the sculpture that reads:

"There's nothing more intense than the light of an arc welder. That is the sculpture's light, and when he's finished with the piece, that light is gone. Absolutely. You just hope you've gotten some of that energy, that spirit, in the piece. Without it, sculpture is just metal. The piece has to have some life in order to connect with the spirit of the place where you install it. That's the main problem a large sculpture has to solve--how to make contact with surroundings."
--Mark di Suvero

Unfortunately, there was no breeze to make the sculpture rotate and I wasn't able to find any video of its motion on the internet.

Title of Piece: Schubert Sonata Artist: Mark di Suvero Material/Media: Painted and unpainted steel Date of Creation or Placement: 1992 Location (specific park, transit center, library, etc.): SAM Olympic Sculpture Park Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link] Web link(s) to YouTube or other video: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   06/11/2022 wildernessmama visited it