PULLMAN, Wash. — Palouse Columns, a commissioned sculpture by acclaimed Seattle artist Robert Maki, will be dedicated Sept. 29 on the Washington State University campus.
The public event will begin at noon and be held at the sculpture, on the lawn near the northwest side of historic Thompson Hall. Maki’s sculpture joins 10 outdoor artworks on campus.
Palouse Columns is a tight grouping of six painted steel columns reflecting the rolling topography of the Palouse region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
The Seattle Times calls Maki, “one of the region’s most critically acclaimed sculptors.”
A Walla Walla native, Maki said this project links his earliest work in art to the region that shaped his ideas and images. He grew up in Camas in southwestern Washington after living in other cities in the state along the Columbia River.
He has been awarded national fellowships and grants since he earned a master’s degree in 1966 from the University of Washington, where he taught for two years. Maki has had sculpture shows in museums and galleries from San Francisco to Paris, and his abstract sculpture has been widely honored.
Maki has worked on 30 public and private commissions and installations in the Puget Sound area and in many national and international collections.
