KENNEWICK -- Motorists on Canal Drive near Volland Street in Kennewick soon will be following the flow of 12 silvery chinook salmon to be placed in a landscaping median as early as next week.
The fish sculptures are part of the city's Columbia Overlook Project, a $99,875 beautification effort on Canal Drive that also includes a meandering sidewalk between Neel and Volland streets.
Allstar Inc., a construction company based in Richland, should have the job finished and the dozen stainless steel salmon secured in the median strip within a week, said Martin Nelson, Kennewick's assistant city engineer.
The project is using federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he said.
"Ours is the first project to be awarded in the state using federal stimulus money," he added.
Nelson said Allstar is placing rock, shrubs and trees in the median that will appear to be a stream bed. The fish will be "swimming" upstream in four groups.
The salmon silhouettes are being crafted by Benton City artist Tom McClelland. Each 2-foot-long fish was cut from three-eighths-inch stainless steel and custom bent to depict a salmon in motion.
McClelland added the appearance of scales by grinding the metal and burnishing the surface until he obtained the desired reflection and visual texture.
McClelland, a sculptor who has worked in cast bronze, said he developed the design for Allstar to meet the city's specifications. He chose stainless steel for its durability and light reflection qualities.
"It reflects the colors of the seasons," he said. But he said the metal also is temperamental and can bend and warp unpredictably while being welded.
McClelland said he drew the designs and had Metalfab, a company in West Richland, transfer them to large sheets of stainless steel. Another company in Othello cut out the silhouettes using a computer-assisted-design plasma cutter.
Metalfab then used a large metal press to reshape the flat forms into swimming salmon silhouettes.
Then, metal disk grinder in hand, McClelland began "drawing" on the fish as if he were sketching in their scales with a pencil on paper, working "layer upon layer."
"I want to have movement in every direction as possible," he said.
The final sculpture will consist of the dozen salmon arranged along the rock stream, mounted on stainless steel poles planted in 3-foot-deep concrete bases. The individual fish will be close to the rocks, going no more than 3 feet high.
Martin said the project cost included $10,000 for the sculpture.
McClelland said the federal stimulus money came along at a good time for him. "I was looking for work because when the economy went south last year, I lost some of my collectors," he said.
Fashioning the fish took him about a month from start to finish. Most of the work has been done at his home and studio near Red Mountain in Benton City.