City to Consider Costas Varotsos Sculpture Donation
The Tacoma City Council this evening will consider Resolution No. 37358, authorizing the execution of an agreement with the Hotel Murano for the potential donation to the City of a sculpture by Costas Varotsos for a “donation fee” of $110,000. The hotel estimates it will spend $700,000 to construct the piece with an appraised value of $1 million.
Check out the size of that thing! 104’ tall. 28’ wide. The sculpture will be named “OPIZON” which means Horizon. It will be made of steel and stacked plates of glass that resemble “a cup of brimming water” and will be nestled in the corner of the currently-being-remodeled Hotel Murano.
At the City Council study session today, councilmembers immediately jumped on the cost of maintenance. Sure, the city will get a $1 million sculpture for a $110,000 donation, but it will also have to pick up unknown maintenance costs. They cited the Bridge of Glass and Ben Tré’s Water Forest as specific examples. Councilman Evans noted that he called another city with a Varotsos piece and they said that maintenance was minimal. In spite of Mayor Baarsma nearly using the word “spire” in a sentence, we sensed a general optimism toward the project.
The agreement does not actually obligate the hotel to donate the sculpture, nor do it require any payment from the City until it’s actually been donated. So, should the hotel decide to not donate the piece, it simply sits on our sidewalk and remains the property of the hotel. If they do decide to donate it, there’s an agreement in place to accept it. The deadline for the hotel to make a donation decision is December 31, 2010.
This could be a rather nice piece for our city’s art collection.
A few more photos of this project and the artist’s work can be found here.
UPDATE 2/11/08
Installation Photos
Filed under: Arts, tacoma-business
8 comments
J jamie from thriceallamerican December 19, 2007
Maybe if I saw it from another angle, I’d feel differently, but I still think this thing looks like a safety pin.
But it’s good to have public art you can make fun of. “Meet me by the diaper pin.” How awesome is that?
E Erik B. December 19, 2007
I like it. It’s bold. It has glass in it which is a great theme (brand?) for Tacoma and the hotel.
The Sheraton used to have another (boring) art piece there.
The Murano is doing what the Art Museum has not done yet: have a large signature art piece in front.
R rich December 19, 2007
though, it’s unique and keeps the whole glass thing going….and might add some tourist activity…….I dont’ know……could be a good idea…….ok, of course the council would rather increase their health bens then provide something for Tacoma to perhaps help it’s development so it’s probably a moot point anyways…….though, it could be really interesting…..
M morgan December 19, 2007
Tacoma needs more public art and this looks very cool to me.
It would be nice if it were located in a more public setting though, Tollefson Plaza for example.
I am a little curious to see how the hotel came up with a construction estimate of $700,000. That’s a lot of glass!
M mardod December 19, 2007
Didn’t they describe it as a 10 story ladle? Still , it looks pretty cool.
C Crenshaw Sepulveda December 19, 2007
Maybe the Mercato can “donate” their sculpture to the city for a modest fee as well.
J jamie from thriceallamerican December 19, 2007
Crenshaw @7:
You mean the Giant Tarp?
C Crenshaw Sepulveda December 21, 2007
jamie,that or the Giant Toilet Bowl Brush they have hanging from the ceiling of their lobby.