After years of enjoyment by children from far and wide, the iconic salmon slide in the Carkeek Park playground is showing wear and tear and will undergo repairs from Monday, June 21 through Tuesday, June 29, 2010. 

The slide is useable but the inside is pitted and bumpy, and the outside is faded in many places. Tom Jay, the sculptor who installed the functional art piece almost 12 years ago, will be in the park to repair the inside of the slide to uniform smoothness, and the outside to its original Chum salmon colors. Cold or stormy weather may cause delays. Workers will install a fence to protect the restoration work while it is in progress. 

This work is made possible thanks to a generous private donor and the assistance of the Carkeek Park Advisory Council, and the Associated Recreation Council. 

Tom Jay has been an active member of the Northwest Art Community since 1966, when he built the first bronze casting facility for Seattle University. He went on to supervise and construct casting facilities at the University of Washington. Upon completion of an MFA from the University of Washington in 1969, he established Riverdog Fine Arts Foundry which cast, in addition to his own work, sculpture for such notable Northwest sculptors as Tony Angell, Hilda Morris, Phil Levine, Richard Kirsten, Louise McDowell, George Tsutakawa, Everett DuPen, Ann Morris, John Hoover, Marvin Oliver, Larry Anderson, Gizel Berman, Doug Granum, Barry Herem, Clayton James, Jeff Day, and others. 

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