Statue model donation honors Erhart

Sculptor Richard Beyer created what might be Seattle's most iconic public artwork, "Waiting for the Interurban" in the Fremont neighborhood. The five life-size adults, a baby in arms and a dog are depicted waiting for the electric trolley that used to run between Seattle and Everett, and passerbys bedeck the figures with clothing and signs.

Between 1968 and 2006, Beyer created more than 90 large sculptures for public places, including the "Kissing Couple" on the harbor boardwalk in downtown Olympia. His works also stand outside libraries, including a part man/part coyote figure in Ellensburg, a carousel in Kirkland, and a man holding a boy on his shoulders, both looking skyward, in front of the Shelton Timberland Library.

Shelton resident Andrea Buser persuaded Beyer to create the Shelton sculpture. Last week, she donated the late artist's model of the work to the Mason County Historical Society Museum in the name of the late Shirley Erhart.

The reason? Erhart, who died in July at age 92, was a galvanizing force at both the library and the museum for decades.

"I just love Shirley," Buser said. "We need to memorialize her in some say." She added, "Shirley has been an institution in Shelton."

Before she joined the Mason County Historical Museum staff as a researcher in 1999, Erhart spent two decades pointing the way to knowledge and checking out books at the Shelton library, before and after it joined the Timberland Library System.

The Union native created a system called "the ready reference file," and provided visitors with information about their ancestors and their homes. She had 10 drawers of files on Mason County people.

"For those of us who have been here for forty-plus years, Shirley was it when it came to getting information, finding stuff," Buser said.

During her global travels, Buser shot photographs of public sculptures and produced a slideshow.

"If it's good enough for London, if it's good enough for Paris, it's good for Shelton," she said. "We need a statue at the library."

A mutual friend connected Buser with the artist. She told Beyer the new library needed a sculpture, and showed him around the community. A month later, the model for the sculpture arrived in her mail.

The model for years has been displayed in Buser's home and at her Healthcare Center at West Railroad Avenue and Eighth Street where she is a family medicine physician assistant. Now it can be viewed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays at the museum at 427 W. Railroad Ave.