Rain scale inoperable at the moment

 The Rain Scale was constructed in September of 2008 and designed by artist Gary Bates. The sculpture stands a surprisingly 26 feet tall. Green River wanted a piece of art that was both representational and interactive for their students.

The purpose of the Rain Scale is once the halo has collected over 2 cups of water, gravity causes a teeter-totter effect pouring that water out. There is also a crank on the bridge, when turned the rain scale sends filtered water from the pond through the arch and back out the top.

According to a YouTube interview with Gary Bates, he said, “I wanted to do a piece that expressed how much rainfall the Northwest gets.” In all aspects of this his idea is very plausible because it represents the rainfall in Seattle.

While on the other hand it doesn’t really show how much rainfall the Seattle area gets. If this was the case students would benefit more from the Rain Scale by gaining knowledge through a visual aid.

The school used funding from the state’s construction budget to build the Rain Scale. The state gives a budget of approximately $30,000,000 a year. Green River used one percent of this budget, which was about $300,000 to construct the Rain Scale. This is not even including some of the money used from the Technology Center and Science Center.

The sculpture no longer works anymore and has yet to be fixed. If nothing has been done to fix the sculpture then what was the point in using all that money towards making it? Sure, the idea of it was great; but it’s not a necessity for students. These funds could have been used to help student learning, rather than being put towards an art piece.
With the construction that’s going on now, it is going to take some time before the repairs can be done to the Rain Scale. If repairs were to happen now, the funds for it would need to come out of the school’s savings.

This year, Green River has undergone a six percent budget cut, so the school is trying to save on money. In order to save money, Green River will need to cut back on spending costs, such as repairs to the sculpture.

As for now, the Rain Scale sculpture remains only as a visual art piece. Though it has no interaction for the public, it is still a symbol of Green River, and it will eventually be operable again.

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2 comments

Lindsey Williams- managing editor The Currrent

Fri Apr 2 2010 11:26

The fountain is now in working order again, however, the bridge part, how you make it work, is still broken.

E.T.

Tue Feb 23 2010 01:38

I must say that I liked the pond far better before the installation of the "sculpture". The arch that elevates the scale looks like rusted metal, and the tipping effect, even when it worked, was unimpressive. If the school was going to spend $300,000 dollars on a sculpture, I would rather have had something that was 1. visually appealing 2. functioning. What we have appears to be neither.

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