Offering Cycle is a functioning fish cleaning table as well as an ongoing series of artworks considered "poetic utility." Sited on the historic Railroad Bridge over Ship Creek, this fish-cleaning amenity is constructed of stainless steel and food grade poly. The table serves as both function and metaphor in support of an ecological ethos of 'giving back' to the earth.
The table is located mid-point along the popular pedestrian bridge where visitors and anglers gather to fish Ship Creek. Offering Cycle's unique feature is the stainless steel gargoyle trough, appearing as the silhouette of a flayed salmon, that directs the entrails from the fish cleaning process to the river below as an offering, returning their vital nutrients to the ecosystem. The cleaning of fish becomes a pedagogical public art performance and an act of offering back into the cycle.
The table was blessed by a First Nations elder as a ceremonial first offering on July 15, 2014.
