Untitled

Rob Blacker

Lake Wilderness Park

Rob Blacker's abstract bronze sculpture Untitled is completely open to interpretation. “It’s kind of a passive form, with smooth flowing lines and both physical and visual balance,” Blacker told the Voice of the Valley newspaper in 1976. “I hope it will reflect whatever people see into it.” Untitled also has no sharp edges because Blacker wanted children to be able to climb on it safely. The work is permanently installed at Lake Wilderness Park in Maple Valley, standing six feet tall and weighing 1,400 pounds.

Blacker developed his concept for this piece over a two-year period, making dozens of models before settling on one he liked best. Then he, his partner Jerry Allen, and some friends built a foundry to fabricate it. They created a full-size plaster prototype, cut it into 12 sections (one for each appendage), cast each section in wax, then finally made the molds and filled them with bronze. Blacker used slip-together, Roman-style joints to connect the sculpture’s sections, then welded the seams, a process he likened to sewing.