King County Proclaims George Tsutakawa Day

Rededicates Sandworm sculpture as centerpiece of Fifth Avenue plaza
King County Executive Ron Sims has proclaimed Monday, April 6, 1998 as George Tsutakawa Day, celebrating the life and work of the master artist who died last December. In honor of the day, King County will rededicate Tsutakawa's stainless steel sculpture Sandworm as the new centerpiece of the Fifth Avenue plaza of the King County Administration Building during a public ceremony at noon.

The re-dedication ceremony will be held at the Fifth Avenue entry to the Administration Building (Fifth Avenue between James and Jefferson Streets). The artist's son, sculptor Gerard Tsutakawa, who completed the restoration work, will lay a plaque. Mrs. George Tsutakawa and the artist's children will also attend.

Sandworms' new location features a river rock base surrounded by limestone pavers that complement the organic forms of the stainless steel sculpture. Working closely with Gerard Tsutakawa, the plaza work was supervised by the King County Department of Construction and Facility Management. Masonry work was completed by Whitebear Construction

George Tsutakawa's daughter, the writer and curator Mayumi Tsutakawa, will discuss her father's career at a public reception immediately following the ceremony, which will also include music by the artist's son Deems, a noted jazz musician.

George Tsutakawa: His life and career. Tsutakawa, who was one of the region's greatest artists in the 20th century, was born in Seattle in 1910, but grew up in the Okayama area of Japan. He returned to Seattle as a teenager, determined to pursue a career in the arts. Throughout his life, Tsutakawa drew pleasure from the similar features of the Inland Sea of Japan and the Puget Sound, celebrating the water, mountains, and forests of those area.

Tsutakawa studied art at Broadway High School (while working at his uncle's produce market on Rainier Avenue) and later at the University of Washington, where he earned a degree in fine arts in 1936. During World War II, the artist served in the United States Army, and traveled throughout the nation. On a visit to his family at the Tule Lake Relocation Center in Northern California, he met his future wife Ayame Kyotani from Sacramento. They married after the war and moved to Seattle's Central District. Eventually, Tsutakawa received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from UW, and began a distinguished teaching career, first in the Japanese language department, then the School of Architecture and finally the School of Art.

In the 1950s and 1960s, after years of experimenting with abstract forms in oil painting, Tsutakawa began to use wood sculpture to explore the Obos idea, the practice of Himalayan pilgrims piling rocks at auspicious points on mountain passes. Later, he employed the same concepts in bronze.

In 1959, his first fountain sculpture, sited at the downtown Seattle Public Library, echoed the obos concept of piled shapes. Eventually, more than 75 of Tsutakawa's distinctive sculptural fountains would adorn Seattle, King County, and elsewhere in the United States, Canada and Japan.

Tsutakawa began to work on sumi painting in the 1960s, completing countless works depicting the Obos form, purely abstract concepts, Northwest natural sites, plants and sea life. In 1976, at the age of 67, Tsutakawa retired from teaching and trekked in the Himalayan Mountains to encounter the Obos for the first time. The trip was a high point in his life and resulted in many stark sumi drawings of craggy peaks.

Tsutakawa was not only prolific, he was highly honored as well. A retrospective of his art was held at the Bellevue Art Museum in 1990 on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Other awards include decorations from the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, and the Emperor of Japan.

The family of George and Ayame Tsutakawa includes four children who are all artists themselves: son Gerard (a sculptor), daughter Mayumi (a writer and curator), son Deems (a jazz musician) and son Marcus (a conductor). The family members continue to live near the long-time Tsutakawa home in the Mount Baker district of Seattle.

Tsutakawa works in King County: In 1984, the King County Arts Commission presented George Tsutakawa with its Honors Award in recognition of his lifelong accomplishments and his enrichment of the region. As a part of that award, Tsutakawa later presented the county with Sandworm (1987), a stainless steel sculpture now the centerpiece of the King County Administration Building's Fifth Avenue plaza.

A second piece in the King County Art Collection is an untitled drawing located at Harborview Medical Center. In 1990, the artist also worked with King County on the design of the Flaming Geyser Bridge, an award-winning integration of art and engineering. Tsutakawa's impact was truly regional. Among his many public works on display are sculptures and fountains in Bellevue, Renton, Burien, Issaquah, and the International District.