Maritime City rings in new artwork downtown

Sculpture unveiled at Donkey Creek

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

In the middle of a northwest downpour, Gig Harbor Mayor Chuck Hunter — with a little bit of help — unveiled the latest sculpture to grace the Maritime City’s waterfront area.

The piece, purchased by the Gig Harbor Arts Commission, was created by artists Tom Torrens and Ben Isitt. It depicts a salmon atop a pyramid with a bell attached.

The artwork sits at the corner of Donkey Creek Park on North Harborview Drive.

Torrens said he created the metal work and fashioned the bell out of a recycled oxygen cylinder. Isitt made the fiberglass salmon.

“It evolved two years ago from a fundraising program called SalmonChanted (Harbor),” he said. “It’s called ‘Ring in the Salmon.’ The piece is tied into the Donkey Creek Park because it is a salmon estuary.”

Torrens, whose sculptures are on display throughout Gig Harbor, said he also had a personal tie to Donkey Creek Park.

“It was George Borgen’s lumberyard, and I knew George pretty well,” he said. “This sculpture is right where he used to stand and wave to people.”