The rebirth story of Maria Wickwire’s sculpture “Anillos” is well documented by reporter Luisa Loi in The Whidbey News-Times story “Sculpture Forest Welcomes Pieced-Together Work“.  Anillos will soon be prominently displayed for everyone to experience in the Sculpture Forest.  How it got here has many twists and turns, ending with a positive message to be shared.

In 2007, the original large scale ceramic Anillos won the overall People’s Choice Award at the prestigious Lake Oswego sculpture exhibition Gallery Without Walls, located outside of Portland.  The city correspondingly bought the sculpture and it was publicly displayed outdoors until a mentally unstable person smashed it to pieces in 2019.  Maria’s sculpture was literally returned to her in a police evidence box.  It sat there for several years until Maria became determined for Anillos to be reborn.  This time, however, she was going to recreate the sculpture in bronze.  And, to honor its history, Maria retained the cracks to be visible within the solid bronze, highlighted in real gold based on a technique called kintsugi.  Now, in addition to the sculpture’s underlying meaning about people in relation to trees and nature, Maria has a bigger story to share regarding bouncing back from hard times and rebirth.

Maria and the bronze foundry are planning to install Anillos on August 24 and it will become an appreciated member of the park’s permanent collection as Anillos’ new home for the community.  A public unveiling will occur on Saturday April 27 10:00am, kicking off our free annual public tour guided by the park’s founder.