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Gnome

Dan Webb

Bellevue Pump Station

A playful figurative sculpture traces the path that water takes from the sky to the land and back again.

Dan Webb. Gnome, 2011. Cast aluminum and painted steel. Bellevue Pump Station, Bellevue, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

In the prominent, highly visible side yard of the Bellevue Pump Station, an aluminum and steel sculpture links the sky with life on the ground.

Dan Webb’s Gnome features a life-size garden gnome standing beneath a cloud and using a small watering can to feed a trio of mushrooms growing out of the end of a pipe. The pipe leads to a network of other pipes, connecting each element of the sculpture and terminating at the exterior wall of the building (designed to look like a suburban home), as if tied to the plumbing inside. The overall effect underlines the interconnectedness of the individual parts.
The plumbing that links my sculptures is very similar to what is being used in the Pump Station itself, extending the connectivity suggested by the piece beyond just the cloud, gnome, and mushroom, to include the architecture as well. – Dan Webb

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Dan Webb. Gnome, 2011. Cast aluminum and painted steel. Bellevue Pump Station, Bellevue, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Dan Webb. Gnome, 2011. Cast aluminum and painted steel. Bellevue Pump Station, Bellevue, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Dan Webb. Gnome (detail), 2011. Cast aluminum and painted steel. Bellevue Pump Station, Bellevue, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com