Tail Slap

Tail Slap by Pat McVay
Sitka Spruce
7’ x 3’ x 3’

Outside Des Moines City Hall, Tail Slap by local artist Pat McVay depicts an Orca in the throes of hunting. The wood sculpture was inspired by the artist's experiences visiting Alaska on a fishing boat, when he'd see the Orcas slap the surface of the water with their tails to stun the fish, then swim through the schools and eat them. It is part of a series of pieces McVay has created urging the preservation of salmon, orcas, and the environment.

The idea took hold during a sculpture competition that McVay competed in at Westport on the Washington Coast. The Weyerhaeuser Company had donated blocks of wood left over from the shipments it sent to Japan, and McVay chose a 5’x7’ block of Sitka Spruce. The theme was nautical, so he drew inspiration from whale sightings. Though he didn’t get the piece finished in time to submit it, he brought it home to his studio on Whidbey Island and worked on it for another month.

The difference in size between the little fish and the large whale provides a dynamic contrast, while the curvature of the sculpture creates a frame.

“I’ve always enjoyed sculptures where you could see through them as a frame for the horizon," said McVay.

About the Artist:
Pat McVay began his career in Paris repairing and making furniture, then later worked in porcelain tile. After moving to the Olympic Peninsula, his attraction to the natural forms of the forest led him to wood carving. Currently, most of his work is large-scale carvings from downed trees. His work, which includes Raven Discovers Spaceship, is often imbued with a sense of comedy and whimsy.

McVay is a founding member of the Northwest Stone Sculptors Association and the Cascade Wood Sculptors Guild. He has worked in wood, stone, clay, cast metal, concrete, snow, ice, and welded steel.