The Feet and the Wave
Newport, Rhode Island
Part-time sculptor Katharine "Kay" Worden (1925-2015) enjoyed the kind of privileged life that has produced countless boring one-percenters. So it's to her credit that in 1983 she used her skills to create two quirky artworks for downtown Newport that have stood the goofiness test of time: Hurdy Gurdy Man, and her most well-known work, The Wave. Seven feet wide and eight feet high, The Wave is a blue-tinted bronze sculpture of a breaking ocean wave with a pair of bronze feet sticking out of it. In the summer the feet are burnished by the touches of passing pedestrians; in the winter they're usually outfitted with colorful socks. Worden did not create The Wave as an audience participation artwork, but she did live long enough to appreciate it.