The abstract expressionist artist Barnett Newman
made three versions of his large sculpture Broken Obelisk in
the early to mid 1960s. While one now stands prominently in the
newly-reopened Museum of Modern Art in New York, the other two are
in Houston (Rothko Chapel) and Seattle (University of
Washington).
The monumental work consists of an inverted obelisk, the point
of which balances on the apex of a pyramid and threatens to tumble
off at any moment. In order to find this cache, you will have to
confront one version of this abstract sculpture while taking a very
short walk across the University of Washington’s Red Square.
WP#1: N47° 39.383, W122° 18.519
The listed coordinates take you to an information board with a map.
Use it to get the following parts of the final coordinates:
A = Number of “Worlds” in the title of George Tsutakawa’s
work.
BC = The two missing digits from the date of Lorado Taft’s
sculpture of a famous man (“19xx – 9").
DE = The two digits corresponding to the map location of
“Stethos” by Patrick Zentz.
FG = The two digits corresponding to the map location of
Robert Maki’s “(Untitled) Steel Sculpture”.
H = F + G
WP#2: N47° 39.365, W122° 18.541
The second waypoint is the eponymous object of this cache, just a
short distance from the first stop. You might be able to figure
this one out without even plugging these coordinates into your
GPSr. Look for a plaque at the base of the sculpture with the name
of a person whose “Fund” gave the artwork to the university.
I = the number of letters in this person’s first
name.
Final Cache:
N47° 39.ABI
W122° 18.CEH
You will find the cache near one of the university’s newer works
of public art. The cache is not on, under, or behind it, so there
is no reason to search so close. Instead, look for the most obvious
hiding spot nearby.
Bonus: View an up-to-the-minute webcam photo of the obelisk (lower left) and the
largest part of your multi-wandering path. Post a picture of your
search as viewed from this camera if you so desire!