Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, December 6, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
Crusaders go for title tonight Eastside Catholic takes on Bellevue tonight for the state 3A football title. Turn to Page 13 for a complete preview of the game.
Issaquah City Council seeking applications for vacant seat
Bill Sullivan with several of his animal shaped concretions.
BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
ART FROM NATURE Issaquah artist finds inspiration in fossil-like rocks
BY LINDA BALL
“They kind of bring out themselves.”
LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
B
ill Sullivan hasn’t exactly had an easy life. While he is positive and seems to be happy, he’d prefer not to be homeless. A series of unfortunate events led him to homelessness. In 2010, while bicycling in Issaquah, he was hit by a 17-year-old girl who was texting while driving. A serious shoulder injury sidelined him, so he lived in a Chevy Van until he received a $16,000 settlement. He then bought a 30-foot motor home to live in. The motor home was stripped and left at the side of a road, leaving him with a car that runs sometimes and a tent. Growing up in the area he collected rocks since he was a little kid, but he’d never seen anything like rocks called “concretions” which he discovered about 20 years ago. “I was fascinated by them; I collected as many as I could,” Sullivan said. According to the Royal Museum in British Columbia, concretions look like a fossil, or an animal carving by some ancient culture. To the untrained eye they look as though they may have been made by humans. Concretions originate in soft sediment such as sands, soft sandstone, clays and shales. They are hardened areas, usually of a different color inside another rock. The size of concretions appear to be determined by the permeability of the host rock.
– Artist Bill Sullivan A close-up of the whale concretion by Bill Sullivan. LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
animals, although one he found and polished, brought out a remarkably accurate image of the Seahawks logo. He took it to the Seattle Seahawks training facility in Renton with a letter for coach Pete Carroll and the team, suggesting they auction it off for charity. “I haven’t heard anything from them, but they haven’t lost since I took it to them,” he said. Sullivan said one of his inspirations is the artist Peter Max, best known for his ‘60s and ‘70s pop art. He recently heard Max speaking about his art on a radio show.
Sullivan came across them when he was first homeless and camping in the woods near the Snoqualmie River. “Things were a lot more unpopulated,” he said. “Branching off there, I’d find them in the rivers.” At a job working for a kitchen and bath design company he learned how to polish marble, a skill he put to use after unsuccessfully trying to paint some of the concretions he found. Using different grits of sandpaper and hours of devotion, he found he could SEE SULLIVAN, 5 create a work of art in unison with Mother Nature. He has trained his Best Happy Hour on the Eastside! eye to see the shapes, and then polish and refine them. Enjoy “They kind of bring out them& visit The New Shops At Issaquah Highlands! selves,” he said. Purchase Your Discounted Bring in your For the most part, they look like ® ®
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When Fred Butler becomes mayor of Issaquah at the beginning of 2014, his seat on the council will need to be filled. The process begins now. The council will appoint a person to serve out the remainder of Butler’s term, which expires in Dec. 2015. Qualified candidates must be at least 18-years-old, be a registered voter and a resident of Issaquah at least one year prior to being appointed. The deadline to apply is Jan. 15, 2014. Applications will be on the city’s website next week. Once all the applications are received, applicants will present their responses to a series of questions in public at the Jan. 21 council meeting. The city clerk will randomly draw the order in which each candidate will make their presentation. The council will appoint the individual at its Feb. 3 meeting.
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LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
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