Wondering what happened to the large, wooden Dragon and Sasquatch sculptures that stood outside of the North Bend Visitors Center/Mountain View Art Gallery and welcomed tourists (and locals) to town?
Well, they didn’t go far – just headed home with local artist, Bob Antoine. The North Bend Visitors Center management says they will have some new exciting creatures out soon, but in the meantime the small gallery has welcomed a new creature (sea creature to be more specific) inside the building located at 250 Bendigo Blvd (right by Bartell’s).
Come Meet Sylvester and all his Tentacles
For the next six weeks, if you venture inside, you can meet Sylvester, the newest creature calling the North Bend Visitors Center/Mountain View Art Gallery home.
Sylvester was created by Calico Studio in Redmond and the piece is titled, Tangled Tentacles. NB Visitors Center manager, Pamela Wickard, explained Sylvester was the inspiration of Calico Studio in Redmond.
Owners Heather Washburn and Erin Bartlett were inspired after they “completely geeked out” watching the live dissection of a colossal squid found off the coast of New Zealand.
The idea for the sculpture began from the parts that captured their imagination, with the tentacles and the huge eyes becoming the major components of Sylvester’s body.
Recycle, Reuse, Inspire
Sylvester was created with unraveled, retired crab rope from Dungeness Gear Works and up-cycled white vinyl from Royal Dental Manufacturing’s scrap pile. The bright colors on the tips of the tentacles were created from retired climbing ropes donated by Vertical World in Redmond.
Sylvester was completed the help of Heather and Erin’s fearless assistant, Katie, and many volunteers who helped unravel rope and do lots of weaving.
So stop by and say hello to the newest creature calling the North Bend Visitors Center and Mountain View Art Gallery home – Sylvester and all of his “Tangled Tentacles.”
Tangled Tentacles, AKA Sylvester, will be on display until June 5th.
You can see photos as Sylvester came to life on the Calico Studio Facebook page.
