New sculpture graces busy Polson street corner

With a storm blowing in from the north May 23, Cameron Decker unveiled “Still Life,” an outdoor sculpture that graces the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Main Street in Polson.

The sculpture, commissioned by the Polson Community Development Agency for its final beautification project, incorporates a colorful westslope cutthroat trout, stone, a log and an arrowhead. All four elements are meaningful to Decker, the former chair of the art department at Salish Kootenai College, and together, represent “the strength of life and the fragility of life.”

He made the sculpture out of a durable sculpting material called Pal Tiya that’s designed to withstand the elements.

The stone represented in the sculpture, “is sort of everlasting and formed through forces over time,” while the log is more transitory, reflecting the passage of time through a tree’s growth rings. The arrowhead is emblematic of the resourcefulness of tribal people, “the innovation and the ingenuity it takes to create it.”

Finally, he said, “I wanted something else a little more colorful and a little more lively and even artistic. And so I thought of this fish.”

Westslope cutthroat are native to Flathead Lake, and “when it's in the waters, that means that the water is healthy.”

Since the sculpture sits in front of the CSKT Natural Resources Department in Polson, it was important to Decker that it represent the heritage of the Salish and Kootenai Tribes and their deep connection to Flathead Lake.

“I just hope that it's something that people enjoy when they're walking by,” he said. “I hope it makes them happy and brings some color to this place here, this corner.”