Shiva

When we first began collecting sculpture, we decided that the collection should showcase the abundance of artistic talent in the Pacific Northwest. We began to create a list of our favorite sculptors who were linked to Oregon. We worked through artists who were born here, artists who lived here, and artists with public works in the state. One name rose to the top of the list: Lee Kelly.

Lee was one of the most revered and prolific sculptors in the history of Oregon. His body of work is astounding. You’ll find it across campuses and museums not only throughout the PNW but across the world.

We were told that he lived in Oregon City on a property called Leland Iron Works, and that the grounds were chock full of his work. A gallery in Portland, Elizabeth Leach, occasionally held exhibitions there. We’ll find a time to go visit Lee, we thought. Sadly, we were a little too slow, he passed away in the spring of ‘22 before we had a chance to visit. However, the property remained in the care of his children and grandchildren. The Leach gallery continued the tradition of exhibitions.

Lee worked primarily with two types of steel: stainless and corten. The mediums are distinct - corten has a signature red rust patina whereas the stainless shines brightly. We knew we wanted to acquire one, but it was hard to decide which direction to go, both were beautiful in their own way. We considered buying a set called Tools of the Butter Trade where he made two identical pieces, one out of each material. But we kept coming back to one piece called Shiva. It was the final work of Kelly’s life. His grandson, Carter, put the final touches on it after Lee’s passing, adding Lee’s birth year to the base, adjacent to the year of fabrication.

We inquired about buying Shiva. Oh, that one is not for sale, we were told. This was understandable, as we expected the family may want to hold on to Lee’s final work. But, we made one gentle appeal, explaining what we were building in Eugene, that we wanted to site it alongside other world-class work, and open to public events. It would be part of the permanent collection, we told them, and it would live on site for years to come. They were convinced, and we acquired Shiva, Lee Kelly’s final creation.

We revisited Leland Iron Works to collect the work in 2024 and Carter accompanied us on the journey back to Eugene to help with unloading and evaluate siting options. The nature of Lee’s techniques on the stainless captures the sun in a way that is hard to describe. We decided that it should ideally be viewed from the South with one’s back to the sun for maximum effect. The front yard was the obvious choice. We knew that we would likely only site one sculpture in front of the house, because the bulk of the collection would allow guests to explore the rest of the property. Is this “the one” for the front yard we asked ourselves? The one that would greet us every time we walked out the front door? Of course it was. Lee Kelly was an Oregon icon and we couldn’t imagine a more appropriate beacon of the collection, front and center.

We hope you have a chance to view it at high noon, with the sun at your back, on a warm summer day.

Further reading: Media retrospectives on Lee’s work at the time of his death