The City of Auburn's 2025-2026 Downtown Sculpture Gallery showcases outdoor sculptures of various sizes, types and mediums. Primarily located along Main Street, the sculpture gallery changes annually providing different artwork for Auburn residents to experience and enjoy. Newly installed sculptures are now on display.
Visitors and locals alike are invited to vote for their favorite sculpture for the annual People's Choice Award. The recipient of the People’s Choice Award will be announced in August 2026 and the award includes a $500 prize. Voting is open until the end of July 2026.
The Downtown Sculpture Gallery was partially funded through Local Revitalization Financing funding received from the State of Washington and 4Culture King County Lodging Tax.
Check out the 2025-2026 sculptures:
Artist: Dale Compton
Title: Day by Day
Location 1: B Street SW & Main
Statement: This is a piece that seems very symmetrically balanced with equal weight on both sides. Balance is something we look for in our day to day lives. At times we get too caught up in the routine and it may seem repetitive or mundane. We need to look around and see the differences that make each day unique. Sometimes that means looking up and seeing the differences that are right in front of us.
Artist: Nathan Robles
Title: Inside
Location 2: A Street SW & Main
Statement: My artwork is about discovering our place in the universe. “Inside“ explores what it means to be human and a creator.
Artist: Ed McCarthy
Title: Cloud Nine
Location 3: 1st Street NW & N Division
Statement: Cloud Nine is a stream of consciousness. The sculpture portrays blissfulness as represented by projecting oneself onto the highest of clouds – Cloud Nine. When you are there, nothing else matters.
Artist: A. Lee Harris
Title: River's Bounty
Location 4: W Main Street & S Division Street
Statement: “River’s Bounty” is indicative of a synergetic, healthy environment where all species interact in balance.”
Artist: Kevin & Gabrielle Wildheart
Title: Pacific Northwest Honeycomb
Location 5: W Main Street & S Division Street
Statement: Pacific Northwest Honeycomb is a celebration of our region's natural beauty. The corten steel imagery is illuminated at night by solar-powered lighting.
Artist: Jennifer Kapnek
Title: Rise and Fall
Location 6: 10 E Main Street
<Statement: Rise and Fall is a Public Art Sculpture painted on both sides and tells a simple story from two points of view. A 2 foot diameter circle is seated in a natural wood stump and painted in violet-blue gradient. Each side features a stylized tree with gold leaves and a single bird as the observer. On one side, the leaves appear to rise; on the other, they fall—reflecting how a shift in viewpoint can change a story.
Artist: Shelly Durica-Laiche
Title: Columbia Basalt Column
Location 7: 10 E Main Street
Statement: This sculpture is a tribute to the rock formations of the Columbia River Gorge. The vitrigraph glass represents the lava that flowed from Idaho, Oregon and Washington toward the Pacific Ocean while the steel stands for the cooled vertical rock it became.
Artist: Lloyd Whannell
Title: Silent Word series
Location 8: E Main Street & Auburn Ave
Statement: Silent Words is a series in which I combine different stone bodies with either bronze or cast glass heads. They are intended to give off feelings of serenity and an inward silence.
Artist: Tom Gormally with Blades of Change
Title: Metaphorical Portrait of Gerry Garvey
Location 9: B Street Plaza
Statement: This sculpture was created through pairing local public artist, Tom Gormally, with local elder and nuclear physicist, Gerald T. Garvey (1935-2024). Through a series of interviews, the sculpture was created in collaboration with nuclear arts initiative, Blades of Change, to document and celebrate the life story and legacy of Mr. Garvey, a nuclear physicist.
Artist: Shawn Johnson
Title: Mesa Moon
Location 10: B Street Plaza
Statement: 'Mesa Moon' sculpture symbolizes one of the most treasured icons of the Southwest, the Saguaro Cacti. The existence of this dramatic botanical species is under duress due to rapidly changing drought weather conditions. Climate Change is affecting the Saguaro cactus as it is unable to support hydration.
Artist: Ken Turner
Title: Timely Thoughts
Location 11: B Street NE & E Main Street
Statement: Timely Thoughts, each thought bubble represents one of the four ancient elements: fire, water, earth, and air. How do we create our perception of reality?
Artist: Chuck Fitzgerald
Title: Oscillating Flower
Location 12: Auburn Way S & Main
Statement: This piece represents a stylized flower. I enjoy observing nature and this image of a flower surfaced in my mind.
Artist: Dan Brown
Title: Salmon Ladder
Location 12: D Street NE & Main
Statement: The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) has worked to bring the sockeye salmon back from near extinction in the Okanagan Basin. Salmon ladders are just one of the things that allow them to return home from the sea.