Des Moines Library

Public Art

"Turtle Island Puget Sound"

Artist: Mark Twain Stevenson, Port Townsend, WA

Bronze sculpture, 58" x 34"

In Stevenson's words: "For several years I was making sculptures based on geological forces. At the turn of the century I joined these concerns with human myth—specifically the mythology of the Turtle-Who-Carries-the-World, resulting in Turtle Island. The following year I made a similar turtle, this one carrying our specific place, the waters of the Puget Sound surrounded by the Cascade and Olympic ranges, Turtle Island Puget Sound. . . . I believe Turtle Island expresses our need to see the world as a whole living system in a way that is playful and inviting."

The Des Moines Library sculpture is an enlarged copy of Stevenson's first Turtle Island, with a shell 44" x 34", and an overall length with head and tail of 58." Stevenson was commissioned by the King County Library System to create the sculpture after a fundraising campaign that involved everyone from schoolchildren to local businesses which raised $24,000 for the project.

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