Olympia approves purchase of Percival Plinth People's Choice winner ‘A Song for Nurturing Peace’

The Olympia City Council, on Tuesday, approved the Arts Commission's recommendations to purchase "A Song for Nurturing Peace" by Nancy Thorne-Chambers, which won the 2023 Percival Plinth People's Choice vote.

Each year, the city council approves sculptures recommended by the Arts Commission for the Percival Plinth Project, now in its 13th year.

The selected sculptures are exhibited at Percival Landing. Part of the project is the People's Choice award, where one artwork is selected for purchase by the city based on the public vote.

After a year-long exhibit, all sculptures are returned, and the People's Choice winner is typically displayed at City Hall for a year before being reinstalled at another location.

City's Arts Program Specialist Angel Nava presented the recommendation, saying Thorne-Chambers' art sculpture garnered 65 or 30.7 % of 212 votes. The public voting was held from July 1 through July 31.

The runner-up, "Addiction" by Irene Osborn, received 60 votes, while the honorable mention, "Encircled in Cycles" by Jennifer Kanek, had 25 votes.

Nava shared what voters say about "A Song for Nurturing Peace." Some comments are the following:

• "It brings joy."
• "It's just beautiful. It depicts gentleness, nurturing, love…everything I consider humans could never have too much of."
• "It is an extraordinary work describing the vision of peace in a creative, wholehearted way."
• "The level of detail on both the woman and the dove is just remarkable. It tells a story."

The community may have seen other Thorne-Chambers work, as Nava mentioned that the artist donated her collection of the Story Place series – animals listening to the Story Place –now nestled in the LBA Woods.