Neototems
Artist
Gloria Bornstein
MediumCast bronze, concrete, bronze lettering
Dimensions5'x25'x8' (LARGE WHALE); 4'x15'x4' (SMALL WHALE)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineSeattle Center Levy 1% for Art and construction funds
Description: Neototems: Bornstein has created a pair of abstract, cast bronze whales, a mother and a baby, which seem to be swimming through the lawn on the southwest side of the International Fountain. The two whales interpret an Native American myth, indigenous to the area, which is written with inlaid bronze letters on the cast-concrete tail of the mother whale.
Artist Statement: The title Neototems honors Native American belief and gives symbolic form to western culture’s renewed sense of humankind’s connection to animals and the natural environment. The work captures the Native American myth that whales used to pass beneath the area now call Seattle Center through an underground spring from Elliot Bay to Lake Union.
Watch: Seattle Channel Profile of Artist Gloria Bornstein (2007)
Location: Seattle Center, Southwest of the International Fountain
Watch: Seattle Channel Profile of Artist Gloria Bornstein (2007)
Location: Seattle Center, Southwest of the International Fountain
