Author: Joseph

 

Caitlin Feldman
The Times (Pamplin Media)

After months of work, sculptor Joseph Rastovich helped place his “Lazy River” sculpture in Tualatin last week.

Standing 20 feet tall, the winding steel installation sits on the west side of Tualatin Commons Park and is most visible from Martinazzi Avenue between Tualatin-Sherwood Road and Nyberg Street.

True to its name, the sculpture’s distinctive shape was chosen to represent the Tualatin River, an integral part in Tualatin’s very existence. The shape also represents a mastodon tusk, which Rastovich wanted to include as another important part of Tualatin’s history. Covering the sculpture are 32 embossed icons, which further tell the story of Tualatin, past and present.

“The Tualatin Lazy River sculpture very much tells a story with all the icons and the abstract symbolism of the form,” Rastovich said. “Basically, it’s kind of like this static storyteller to tell people the history of Tualatin, where Tualatin is now and about the things that have gone on. It’s nice to be aware of what has happened in your local area.”

This sculpture is one of eight public art pieces that Rastovich has created since his first at age 18. Now 23, the artist has already been sculpting for seven years and doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon. He feels that public art pieces are an essential element of cities and wants to keep contributing his voice.

“Public art is really great because it creates a space,” Rastovich said. “Personally, I believe it increases the quality of life for the people who interact with the sculptures. It just creates monuments that are a break from the linear world of the city … They make people think. They can make people inspired to do different things. And they also, in many ways, help tell a story.”

To see Tualatin’s story as Rastovich sees it, visit his “Lazy River” sculpture at 7880 S.W. Nyberg St.

 

Save

 

Sculptor Joseph Rastovich calls himself a metal wrangler. The work he does can be a little dangerous — sometimes because of the sheer size and weight of his creations.

The 22-year-old Kennewick artist’s latest project includes two 40-foot steel arches that welcome visitors as they enter the grounds to the new Reach center on Columbia Park Trail at the west end of Columbia Park in Richland.

Today is the Reach’s opening day. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The impressive 14,000-pound beacons can be seen by drivers on Highway 240 along Columbia Park as well as boaters on the river.

The arches are made up of 10 steel sections welded together, with the help of Kennewick welder Tim Hammack.

The criss-crossing arches represent the sun and are the focal point of a science-themed project started by a group of middle school students from Three Rivers HomeLink in Richland, said Lisa Toomey, CEO of the Reach center.

“They were working on a solar system project and the sun is the first piece in the project,” she said.

Sculptures representing the other planets in the solar system will be set up along the Columbia River, with Pluto miles away by the boat launch to the Hanford Reach National Monument near Othello.

Rastovich also said the arches act like a sun dial, casting shadows in the center of the sculpture at the summer solstice and equinox.

“I still have to install the sheet metal skin around the arches,” Rastovich said. “We had a little trouble in the beginning that delayed me getting done before the Reach opened. The skin will make the arches more cohesive and I should have that done within the next couple of weeks.”

An engineering error caused the delay. It took a few days to fix it before the arches went up in time for the grand opening this weekend.

Rastovich has a passion for big sculpture for reasons he doesn’t quite know how to explain.

“I started early, at age 14, making big sculptures,” he said. “And I asked my mom once if maybe I should make smaller sculptures, and she just said, ‘Go big. You’re good at it.'”

Both his parents, Michael and LuAnn (Ostergaard) Rastovich, are well-known artists. His dad is a sculptor and his mother a painter.

Joe Rastovich still lives at his parents’ Kennewick home, saving up to buy his own place one day, which he plans to build mostly by himself to make it eco-friendly and to continue his organic gardening.

There is nary a challenge he won’t tackle creatively, he said. When he was 14, he carved out his beloved grandfather’s casket.

He enjoys building, creating, soaking up knowledge and learning new things.

“I love working because life’s too short,” he said. “If I were a dog, I’d be a border collie, and if I was a horse, I’d be a draft horse because both of those animals are driven and love to work too.”

His current project is creating a 20-foot outdoor sculpture for the city of Tualatin.

To date, he has created eight pieces of public art around the Tri-Cities and beyond.

 

 

By Caitlin Feldman
The Times (Pamplin Media)

Joseph Rastovich recently bought a forklift. It’s not the most common tool in an artist’s kit, but it’s just not that easy to move around 20 feet tall steel sculptures by hand.

On occasion, the 22-year-old envies artists with more portable crafts, but he isn’t jealous enough to focus on work with a different medium—you can’t choose what you love.

Last fall, the self-trained sculptor happened to be at a gallery at First Thursday in Portland when he began talking to Diane Kruger with Signature D Art Consulting. She mentioned that Tualatin was accepting applications for a public art piece to celebrate it’s centennial, and that he should apply. With a week left until the deadline, Rastovich whipped together a concept, sent it in and was chosen to create the piece.

“It was really a tight deadline, but I’m used to that,” he said. “People who know me say I’m like the busiest person they’ve ever known, because I’m just always working on something.”

Even with the limited time Rastovich had to create a concept for the piece, which he titled “Lazy River,” as he closes in on its completion, not much has changed from the original blueprint. Standing 20 feet above the ground, the steel sculpture’s bendy shape represents both the Tualatin River and a mastodon tusk, two elements the artist felt were crucial to the city’s history.

The sculpture will be covered in about 32 embossed icons, which Rastovich chose by working closely with the Tualatin Historical Society to discover what makes Tualatin the city it is today. Among the icon representations are local flora and fauna, pioneers, crawfish, hops, railways, Native Americans and agriculture.

“The Tualatin ‘Lazy River’ sculpture very much tells a story with all the icons and the abstract symbolism of the form,” Rastovich said. “Basically, it’s kind of like this static storyteller to tell people the history of Tualatin, where Tualatin is now and about the things that have gone on. It’s nice to be aware of what has happened in your local area.”

This sculpture, along with one more he’s working on, make for a total of eight public art pieces that Rastovich has created since his first at age 18. By that point, he’d already been a professional sculptor for two years. With two professional artists for parents, Rastovich doesn’t really see how he could have gotten involved in anything else.

“It’s kind of hard not to be an artist when you’re immersed in the art world your entire life,” he said. “I just love building things, and I love working with steel because it’s so malleable and so fluid. You can infinitely change it. You can cut it, you can plasma cut it, you can weld it and then you can weld it again … It’s just a beautiful material to work with.”

Rastovich’s first public sculpture measured about 9 feet high, but as his art progresses, the projects get bigger and bigger. Hence the forklift. Most of the pieces are made at his studio in Kennewick, Wash., and then transported to their final destination upon completion. The “Lazy River” sculpture is scheduled to be installed in Tualatin Commons sometime this July. It will rest about 75 feet south of the Martinazzi Avenue/Nyberg Street intersection, just a few steps from the sidewalk.

While the hand-built sculpture is mostly complete, Rastovich is currently in the process of creating the icons, which he will then attach before painting the entire structure. The plan is for the color to be oxidized bronze, which will end up being a kind of muted blue — simultaneously striking and subtle. The ultimate goal with this sculpture as with many of the young artist’s pieces, is to make people stop and think, and to hopefully motivate them to be more creative in their own lives.

“Public art is really great because it creates a space. Personally, I believe it increases the quality of life for the people who interact with the sculptures. It just creates monuments that are a break from the linear world of the city,” Rastovich said. “Without public art, the city is very grey, has very hard concrete and very linear surfaces. But with sculptures, they provide a break for the human mind and the eye and consciousness. They make people think. They can make people inspired to do different things. And they also, in many ways, help tell a story.”