Friends of the Library Projects

**Library** **Artwork**
When metal sculpture Michelle Van Slyke saw the library's concrete columns, she knew she wanted to use raw materials. The library staff wanted something colorful. And that's what we have: colorfully painted aluminum. As one goes from the library's main doors to the children's section and on to the magazine section, the colors and scenes move from the waterfront, upstream along the rivers and valleys and then into the Olympic Mountains becoming more abstract along the say. She chose colors found in the library run and main area.	"People respond positively to something that's not complicated, so I didn't want it to get too busy," Van Slyke says. "And I wanted some of the raw material -- the concrete -- showing." This project, she says is unlike any other work that she's done. A metal sculptor for the past 25 years, Van Slyke designed art for all Nordstrom's children's departments along the West coast. She's also had other projects in Japan and France, where she grew up.