Retired art instructor Russell Day donates sculpture to Everett Community College
Press Release
Release Date: June 1, 2016
Retired art instructor Russell Day donates sculpture to Everett Community College
Photo: Former Everett Community College art instructor Russell Day (center) talks with glass artist Dale Chihuly (right) and retired art instructor Lowell Hanson (left), on Friday about his untitled 238-pound Blenko glass and concrete sculpture permanently installed in EvCC's Whitehorse Hall.
EVERETT, Wash. – A sculpture Russell Day once kept on his back deck now has a place of honor in Everett Community College’s Whitehorse Hall.
Day, a 103-year-old former Everett Community College art instructor, joined more than 75 people May 27 in Whitehorse Hall to celebrate the installation of his untitled 238-pound Blenko glass and concrete sculpture.
The sculpture, created by Day in 1955 and donated to the college in 2015, was painstakingly restored by retired EvCC art instructor Lowell Hanson and installed with the assistance of retired photography instructor Lloyd Weller, 3D design instructor Julie Berger and studio arts technician Miles Labitzke.
Day said he was inspired to create the piece after seeing thick, heavy glass used in Europe in 1954. He purchased some of the glass after returning to the United States.
“I couldn't do anything with it,” Day said. “I couldn't cut it. I had to take the broken pieces and put them together, and this was the result.”
Day founded the arts program at Everett Junior College. He worked at the college from 1949 to 1976, and is best known for his pioneering work with silver and glass.
“When I was a student and I was working with glass, there wasn't anyone else who knew anything about glass other than Russell,” said internationally known glass artist Dale Chihuly, who attended Friday’s dedication.
Chihuly said Day was a mentor to him in his early days as an artist.
“It's great to see him at 103,” said Chihuly, who joined Day and noted photorealist painter Chuck Close, another of Day’s students, at a lunch after the installation.
In 2008, EvCC renamed its art gallery in honor of Day. He and his wife Marjorie, who taught English at EvCC, created an annual scholarship for a student pursuing an associate of fine arts degree.
This year, the scholarship went to ceramic artist Beth Ha of Lake Stevens.
“It’s a great honor to receive the scholarship,” Ha said. “I appreciate Russell Day’s contribution to the school and to the world of art.”