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Olalla sculptor’s outdoor art evokes serenity
A 3-foot piranha steered Troy Pillow’s art career.
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After spending a few weeks experimenting with metal and welding in a rented garage in 1995, he was excited to take the metal sculpture home to his apartment.
Up to that point, Pillow was learning about his new-found passion for art, feeling free to make a mess, he said. But the biggest lesson came when he discovered the piranha wouldn’t fit through his apartment door.
In that moment of frustration, Pillow’s metal sculpture career was born.
He was forced to sell the piranha. A nearby gas station had a Harley Davidson motorcycle sitting in the front with a For Sale sign and Pillow decided maybe he could sell the sculpture there.
It sold in a week.
“I had never explored outdoor sculpture, but I kept putting things there, and people kept buying them,” Pillow said. “That was the beginning of learning about the sculpture world, and different ways to market.”
Troy Pillow has created sculptures for more than 30 years as a career. He has moved from Colorado to California to Seattle, but now works from his studio in Olalla. Photo courtesy of Troy Pillow
Pillow has been a full-time artist since 1998. He now works from a studio space on his Olalla property, bringing his ideas to life with metal, wood and glass. The sweeping lines, mixed media, and simple combinations of his abstract sculptures have provided him with a steady and lucrative business. His work sells for $25,000 and up.
His sculptures can be found in public spaces and on private properties in states across the country. His latest sale was to a large business complex in Livermore, California.
Before he became an artist, Pillow was an architectural engineering student in college in Colorado, but dropped out to start a ski and snowboard clothing company, he said. Creating clothing gave him knowledge of how to create 3-D images from flat goods and he easily transferred that skill to metal when he began to explore welding.
Troy Pillow’s smallest sculptures measure 4 feet, and the largest ones are 60 feet. He works with mostly primary colors and uses a variety of natural materials in his work. Photo courtesy of Troy Pillow
Other than his engineering instruction, Pillow is self-taught. His combinations of metal, glass and natural elements have kept him busy. Focusing on smooth lines, mostly primary colors, Pillow said his goal with each piece is to evoke peace and serenity and provide viewers of his work a moment to pause.
“My work appeals to a wide audience because it is simple shapes and I pay a lot of attention to the properties in nature,” Pillow said. “I work with a lot of public art programs, because my work is not political, and it’s peaceful, quiet and contemplative.”
His sculptures are meant to be displayed outdoors, and for that reason he uses the best finishes available to ensure that the art can hold up under the elements, he said.
Working from his studio in Olalla, Troy Pillow creates sculptures using metal, wood and glass that evoke feelings of calm. Photo courtesy of Troy Pillow
In order to transport pieces for installation, he must adhere to the 8-foot restriction for semi-trucks, but he said he creates pieces ranging from 4 feet to 60 feet tall.
Directly supervising the transport and installation is important in order to ensure quality control. Pillow oversees the entire process from start to finish, and drives the pieces to the buyer himself, he said. He rents the equipment and trucks, and once he has delivered and installed the piece, he then flies home.
While a lot of his success is due to his tenacity, and commitment to his art, Pillow credits serendipity with his success. He said the Internet was becoming mainstream when he was starting his career and that allowed him to connect with people, not just in the art world, but with art lovers as well. He began collecting emails, launched a newsletter and has kept in contact with people for decades.
“I still sell to people that I met 20 years ago,” he said.
Troy Pillow creates sculptures with metal, wood and other materials in his home studio in Olalla. Photo courtesy of Troy Pillow
When he first started out, he said that he was doing fine in Colorado, but decided to challenge himself. Marin County in the San Francisco Bay area of California seemed like a good place to prove to himself that he could branch out, and grow. He found a studio in a small airport there, and made the move in 2002.
“My main goal then was to get gallery representation,” he said. “My prices could increase, because the gallery takes a part of the sale.”
At one point, he was creating 50 sculptures a year. But Pillow was ready for a new challenge, and decided to move again in 2006. He chose Seattle.
“Seattle was great,” he said. “It still had a great aesthetic, with blue collar workers and a lot of skilled, talented people there.”
Upon arrival in Seattle, Pillow set up at a studio right away on Rainier Avenue and the Boren corner, where he said 30,000 people drove by each day. He placed his sculptures out front, and a large percentage of the sales were from people stopping there to buy directly from him at the studio.
During COVID-19, the International District in Seattle suffered. Pillow decided it was time to move once again and he found a property in Olalla in 2023 where he could build a studio. He said that he has slowed down a bit, but still plans to keep bringing his ideas to life.
“Everybody wants to do this when they retire,” he said. “But I’ve made it a career.”
You can see some of Pillow’s work at Woodstock Gallery, 3120 1/2 Harborview Drive, and for more information on Pillow’s designs visit his website pillowstudios.com.