ArtBeat/June 2023
By Ed Goldman
While the word “triptych” is usually a descriptor for paintings, panels or carvings, the luminous, already-iconic sculpture “Tributary” is a triptych.
A Fiberglas, resin and steel piece that stands 14 feet high with a 10×10′ footprint, this “pro-am” artwork—which looks like three dolphins, three teardrops or three symbols denoting the region’s confluence of waterways—greets visitors at Sacramento State’s Welcome Center just as you enter the campus on J Street and veer a little to the left (no politics intended).
It was created over a three-year period by students, then a few former students (they’d graduated to professional-artist status) under the direction of Sac State art Professor Andrew Connelly.
Recently, I sat down with two of the pros who started out as students on the project to create the piece, Zala Mahshour and Andrew Rosas. They’d been brought to my attention by award-winning arts educator, children’s entertainer and Sac State professor Francie Dillon, herself an artist and the mother of one (Lindsey M. Dillon, a ceramist and sculptor). Dillon had met the two young artists at their day job, University Art in midtown Sacramento, and rushed to tell me about them and their work. A journalist ignores an enthusiast like Dillon at his own peril—and, of course, a lifelong FOMO (fear of missing out, for those just joining the 2020s).
“I love doing pieces on a large scale,” says Mahshour, who makes ends meet working for an optometrist as well as the aforementioned University Art. “I started out as a painter but 2-D [two-dimensional] work just didn’t satisfy me.”
Rosas also likes the grandeur of doing larger works but both artists lament that art collectors, at least in this region, are less inclined to buy sculptures than paintings. “Sculptures don’t have to be large,” he says.
Mahshour agrees, adding, “One of the things I like about doing sculpture is that it’s art you can see the back of, not just the front. It’s meant to be enjoyed at all angles.”
The original “Tributary” team included Rosas, Isabella Flanagan and Janelle Marcione on the concept/design team, while Mahshour (and Rosas) were part of the fabricator group, which included April Arnold, Denise Benitez, Julie Crumb and Matthew Pugh.
Both artists, who are in their 20s, say that art is considered “more of a hobby” (Mahshour) than “a real career” (Rosas) by their families, but Rosas says, “This is probably a cultural thing. Nobody has been discouraging.” The eldest of five children, Rosas is a first-generation U.S. citizen, his family hailing from Aguascalientes, which is roughly 300 miles from Mexico City. Mahshour, a native of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, was raised in Seattle. Like Rosas, she has four siblings—but she’s the youngest.
The two artists say they enjoy working together on public art projects. “We know how to do things that are beautiful and stay within a budget,” says Mahshour. Sounds like a good way to sculpt a career.
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In addition to seeing images of the piece with this column, you can go to the Sac State arts website: csus.edu/college/arts-letters/art-collection/public-sculpture/tributary-sculpture.html