Artwork copyright Richard C. Elliott. Photo courtesy of Toppenish Middle School.

Chain of Life, Date unknown

Richard C. Elliott
(American, born 1945, died 2008)

Location: Toppenish Middle School, Toppenish

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Dick Elliott described the rectangular motif of Chain of Life as speaking "to a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all things". Composed of 1,336 industrial highway reflectors, Elliott fabricated this artwork in collaboration with the Department of Correction's vocational carpentry shop in Shelton, Washington. Part of a series of multiples based on the same design, each artwork has a unique color combination, interacting with changing light conditions in a constant state of flux.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Toppenish School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Richard C. "Dick" Elliott (1945-2008) is known for his large installations created with industrial highway reflectors. His art uses light, color, and radiant geometric patterns to explore the variations of light and interactions between colors. He called it "painting with light" and described how "I was driving the county highways and noticing that these little specks of light would come up out of nowhere, they would get really intense, and then disappear... And I discovered that they were reflectors!" Most of Elliott's work and life was based in Ellensburg, Central Washington, and he was an important contributor to its visual arts community.

Born in Portland, Oregon, Dick Elliott earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Washington University in Ellensburg in 1971. He joined the AmeriCorps VISTA program and served in an Alaska Native community (1966-67), and with the Makah Tribe in Neah Bay, Washington (1968-69) -- these years were very important to him. In the 1980s, he began to explore primary colors and light-active materials. By 1987, he decided to focus on the reflector as his medium of choice. During the 1990s and 2000s, Elliott received over twenty public art commissions, including at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, and in Times Square, New York City. During the last year of his life while he was physically limited by pancreatic cancer, he created computer-generated prints using thousands of colors and geometric designs. In 2007, Elliott was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award and the national "Recognition for Innovation in Public Art" award from Americans for the Arts.