In downtown Bellingham, the planets have aligned once again
Nine hand-blown glass marbles, part of a late artist’s science-meets-art display depicting the solar system, are being replaced and will be dedicated in an 11 a.m. Saturday ceremony near the sculpture of the sun at the traffic circle connecting Boulevard with State, Wharf and Forest streets.
Those marbles were stolen in November last year and have never been recovered, said Deborah Todd, whose son Jamus Todd Stone created the marbles as part of an art installation along North State Street.
“We’re going to (replace them) with something not quite so precious and make them more tamper-proof,” Todd said in an interview. “The planets now look like beads” and are closer to their actual size relative to the sun.
Her son’s colorful hand-blown glass spheres — representing the eight planets and the dwarf planet Pluto — were mounted on pedestals along North State Street to approximate their distance from the actual sun and give perspective on the size of our solar system.
Each pedestal has information about the planet.
In addition, benches are being added to the sun display near the State Street roundabout, where the art installation and its purpose is described.
“It’ll be a place for people to relax and appreciate the project,” Todd said.
Bellingham Police said no arrests were ever made in the theft, which devastated Todd because her son died of a suspected overdose shortly after creating the planet series, called “State of the Solar System.”
But Todd said she found duplicates of the original marbles while she was sorting her son’s personal effects. Those are on display at a private location, she said.
