Tile testamentCommunity Spirit Monument taking shape
LOCAL ARTIST Kay Lynn, right, cuts a tile on a wet saw while Lisa Schaus and Helen Pilling work in the background on tiles at Lynn’s studio in Kalispell. Two of the four pillars , seen in the background, will be covered in tiles and used in the Community Spirit Monument. Craig Moore/Daily Inter Lake
By LYNNETTE HINTZE
The Daily Inter Lake
emember that ceramic tile you made two or three years ago with a message of peace and love? It's finally found a home on one of the Community Spirit Monument's pillars.
A public sculpture project that has spanned four years is now in the final phase, and by next summer the completed sculpture will be a new landmark in Kalispell's Woodland Park.
But it's not too late to participate. Kalispell sculptor Kay Lynn, one of the project organizers, will continue to open her studio to the public on Tuesday evenings for area residents who want to make tiles. Lynn also will pack up her clay and take it to outlying groups and organizations interested in creating tiles, and she'll supply clay to area artists who haven't yet had a chance to participate.
Every tile will be used, either on the pillars or benches that will accompany the monument.
"It's been worth the wait," Lynn said, "Especially when they see how well it's turned out. The whole is really much more than the sum of its parts."
Karin Hilding, another organizer, said the project is as much about the process as it is about the finished product.
"It celebrates how special this community is," Hilding said. "It supports people working together and it promotes cooperation in resolving issues."
Messages have been wide-ranging.
One church from Columbia Falls called to have tiles done with the phrase, "Do all that you do in love." An outdoors enthusiast created a tile that says, "When hell freezes over, I'll ski there too."
Logging, water quality, farming, conservation, mountains, music, patriotism and tolerance are other subject matter.
Small pieces of mirror will be incorporated into the design so onlookers can see their own reflections.
"It suggests that this is us," Lynn said.
The four-pillar monument, designed by Lynn, will be constructed to resemble a gazebo and will replace an aging wooden gazebo in the pond area of Woodland Park. Lynn hopes to display one of the complete pillars at Kalispell Center Mall this winter to bolster community awareness about the monument.
It's been a group effort since Day One. Blacksmith Dan' Moore of Coon Hollow Forge is creating extensive decorative iron work for the sculpture and many local businesses and individuals have contributed more than $20,000 in materials and labor. Organizers estimate they'll need another $6,000 in materials or money to complete the project.
People interested in making tiles or helping with the project from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays can call Lynn's business, Stillwater Studios, at 752-2351. A $5 donation covers the costs of the clay, glaze and firing for individuals. There's a $10 charge per tile for nonprofit organizations or anyone who calls in with a tile request; businesses are asked to contribute $50 per tile.
Another opportunity to make tiles will be offered Thursday, Nov. 16, at The Walking Man Frame Shop & Gallery in Whitefish, from 6 to 9 p.m. It coincides with the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce Gone Fishin' social at The Walking Man and a Gallery Night planned that evening in Whitefish.
Cash donations may be mailed to to: Community Spirit Monument project, 258 Riverside Drive, Kalispell, MT 59901.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com