Growth Hormones?

Photo & Text © 2012 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved.

To get a sense of the scale of this much larger than life kinetic sculpture at the corner of Seventh and Union behind the downtown Sheraton Hotel, compare it with the cars across the street. It's ginormous. It's also über bright, whimsical, and full of movement: the 9' wide yellow flower spins, the blue bells open and close, and the watering can really does water the piece then recycles it to water real plants in the nearby planter. The 27 foot tall installation is called The Urban Garden and was dedicated last year. It weighs 9,950 lbs. Remarkable, right? But what's most remarkable about this work is Ginny Ruffner, the artist who designed it. Ms. Ruffner, horribly injured in a car accident, came back from traumatic brain injury against very steep odds. She's primarily known for her fine lampwork glass art. To see the trailer for a film about her, A Not So Still Life, which premiered at SIFF last year, click here.