HISTORY
Spokane , Washington
THE SCULPTING NUN
SISTER PAULA TURNBULL
THE ARTIST WHO WORE A CROSS AND A WELDER ’ S MASK
BY TOM QUINN
The 1974 World ’ s Fair in Spokane was dedicated to environmentalism . Obviously , it wouldn ’ t do for the fairgrounds to be strewn with litter . There were plenty of trash receptacles , but one of the fair ’ s architects thought at least one of them should provide some fun to children .
He had noticed a goat ’ s head sculpture affixed to a fence , used for waste disposal , and thought of a similar goat for the fair , but one with modern improvements : a recorded voice asking for donations and a vacuum hose to deliver the trash to the steel ruminant ’ s presumably chambered stomach . The goat was commissioned by the Women ’ s Council of Spokane Board of Realtors and designed by the Spokane sculptor Sister Paula Turnbull .
It was an immediate success . Children delighted in it . About the only people who weren ’ t pleased were those who raise goats and protested that it “ perpetuates false stereotypes about the dairy goat .” To placate the protestors , the Expo officials installed a sign that read , “ This docile , loving animal is the world ’ s largest producer of milk , cheese , and dairy products . A most economical , and truly ecological animal ”— not , contrary to popular belief , an undiscriminating garbage disposal .
Sister Paula couldn ’ t understand what the fuss was all about . “ My goat isn ’ t a dairy goat ! It ’ s a Billy goat !” she said . The sculptor is gone , but the sculpture remains , and will undoubtedly be there for many decades to come . It ’ s one of many lasting legacies of one of Spokane ’ s most famous artists .
Margaret Mary Turnbull was born in Seattle in 1921 . Her childhood home was near the beach at Alki Point . As a child , she painted watercolors of the distant Olympic Mountains and walked along the beach , collecting clay . “ I guess that was my first sculpture ,” she said later . After graduating from Holy Names Academy , she entered the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary , took her vows in 1941 , and answered to the name Sister Paula for the rest of her long life .
She soon set out on a serious art education , earning a Master of Fine Arts degree from Siena Heights College in Adrian , Michigan . She didn ’ t stop there . She studied with the great sculptors George Tsutakawa and Sir Anthony Caro and went on to earn degrees from the Parsons School of Design in New York , the University of Washington , and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago . In 1957 , she settled in Spokane , where she became an associate professor at Fort Wright College , and soon chair of its art department .
Early photos show Sister Paula in the conventional black nun ’ s habit required by her order until 1967 , when she could wear a more casual headdress . By the end of the 1960s , she discarded even that , and spent the rest of her life in blue jeans , sweatshirts ( one of which was emblazoned with the name “ Picasso ”) and unbuttoned flannel shirts over t-shirts , like any other hard-working sculptor . Fort Wright
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