Sue Seeger, an artist from Elk River near the Twin Cities, created this entry into Art Alley. She tells the story of the big, beautiful fish she created that was subsequently named Rusty in a naming contest.

The Battle Lake Art Advisory Committee requested proposals for an arch leading into an alley that had been closed during a street reconstruction project. I was thinking about responding but whenever I contemplate public art commissions, I want to know the reason behind the project—what is the organization trying to accomplish? A little research told me the art installation needed to make a big visual impact on people traveling through town at 30-miles-per-hour and encourage people to stop and check out the art and local businesses.

I felt a large colorful fish would be visible, even at-a-glance, and better than an arch. I could design it to arch partially over the alley, creating a similar effect. I knew the fish needed to be as large as possible; I also knew the committee wanted an art piece not an anatomically accurate model of a fish like anything seen in other communities.

I submitted a design for what I envisioned and received the commission!

My first challenge was size: the fish was to be a little over 15-foot tall, and my shop is the size of a single car garage, the ceiling about 9-ft tall. I had to create the fish in sections inside and assemble him outside at a temporary installation site I erected right outside my shop doors. I had to match each section to the one before and after, carrying everything in and out over and over until each section mated to the adjacent sections perfectly!

On installation day, my husband Dan helped me load all the fish pieces, scaffolding, and tools into the pickup and off we went to Battle Lake, my dad Jack with us.

On Saturday, we reassembled the fish piece by piece using scaffolding and ladders. When we’d finished, this big beautiful mixed-media mosaic fish—made of Patinaed steel and covered with copper and glass— was shining in the sun!

My dad was in the very early stages of dementia and having him and my husband help me turned out to be very meaningful for me.