Embedded Files
Independent Record
Independent Record
Helena, Montana
October 25, 2025
High Desert Kelp: A Shore Thing
Sculptor brightens Helena neighborhood with art blending Big Sky Country, Pacific Northwest
by Sonny Tapia
Jon Corson-Rikert, a seasoned sculptor, had his artistic prowess curbed by life after having children and earning money to support a family, but found his passion again by creating High Desert Kelp. "I've done sculpture my whole life," Corson-Rikert said. "... Since I retired, I've started doing sculpture again and the town we live in in Colorado has a program called the heArts of Lyons." The program solicits proposals for sculptures from people around the country and picks the ideas they like, the artist said.
He added that since he was new to Helena, he wanted to do something "big." A couple in Helena at the 400 block of South Beattie Street, Scott Barnhart and Ouri Malliris, took the opportunity. "Coming from the Pacific Northwest, where kelp beds are common, we love how this sculpture captures the essence of those kelp beds. The shape and colors remind us of may of the elements of the high desert here in Big Sky Country," Barnhart said.
"Also, as recent transplants, we have valued how welcoming the Helena community has been and thought that this sculpture might add some joy to the many people passing by on Beattie Street each day. Thank you, Helena."
High Desert Kelp, the artwork, is an aluminum sculpture put together like a puzzle because Corson-Rikert did not have welding equipment suitable for the metal. "Aluminum is quite difficult to weld because it melts at low temperature, so you can really make a mess of it," he said. Slots were cut into the metal pieces to fit together and makde a tower with colors reminiscent of underwater kelp, the artist added.
When asked if the piece could withstand Montana winters, he said the latex paint on the project was warrantied for 10 years by a company out of Oklahoma.
Sonny Tapia photos, Independent Record
Redstone Review
Redstone Review
May 18/June 15 2023
New summer art installations
by Brianna Hoyt
July 19 / August 16, 2023
LAHC: New art in and around town
by Priscilla Cohan
Make sure you visit Jon Corson-Rikert's High Desert Kelp across from Western Stars on Hwy. 66. This is a glimpse of what Corson-Rikert has to say about High Desert Kelp:
"My sculptures and two-dimensional works engage users through blends of organic, geometric, and architectural forms. Positive and negative spaces interact via cutouts, layered curved profiles, projected shadows, and transitions of light and color. My sculptures are approachable at human scale, inviting the viewer to move around the work to explore planes, edges, and volumes accentuated by bold color," he said. He goes on to say that one of his artistic references is Matisse's cutouts. This piece is a beautiful tribute to Matisse.
photo credit: Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission
Lyons Recorder
Lyons Recorder
July 27, 2023
“High Desert Kelp” by local sculptor, Jon Corson-Rikert, Lyons.
Installed on south side of Hwy 36 (Ute Hwy) just east of downtown.
Lyons, Colorado
Lyons, Colorado
Comprehensive Plan
Comprehensive Plan
Public Draft, October 2022, p. 30
Public Draft, October 2022, p. 30
Pictured in upper right: All Together Now installed on Main Street in downtown Lyons
Tucker Group Real Estate, Lyons, Colorado, October 25, 2021
Tucker Group Real Estate, Lyons, Colorado, October 25, 2021
Lyons market watch, by Jonelle Tucker and Tamara Vega
by Brianna Hoyt
Capital Times
Capital Times
Madison, WI
Madison, WI
June 28, 1982
June 28, 1982
photo by A. Craig Benson
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison, WI | July 15, 1981
Madison, WI | July 15, 1981
'Aviary' shows art as architecture
'Aviary' shows art as architecture
"By making it possible for people to walk through the sculpture, the artist said he's encouraging viewers to experience sculpture as architecture. In a larger, more complex version, the sculpture would have space for art or dance performances, but because of its transparency could still be viewed as a sculptural whole."
Pictured with this article is Jon Corson-Rikert's "Shelter Sculpture," designed for installation at Hudson Park.
"I think people can understand sculpture that has an architectural style," says Corson-Rikert. This piece will be an expanded version of the red-orange framework on display at Brittingham Park through most of last year. Corson-Rikert admits to a love of the architecture of residential neighborhoods--"particularly the near east side."
Unlike much large outdoor sculpture, which often radiates a slightly off-putting sense of monument, Corson-Rikert's work manifests friendly human dimensions which invite the viewer closer. In disturbing the visually outlined, but invisible, environment of walls, roofs, and passageways, the view becomes a participant in the art--in the spatial configurations designed by its creator.
Excerpt from a proposal from Madison Art Center director Thomas Garver to the Vice President of Management of CUNA Mutual Insurance, August 21, 1981:
Excerpt from a proposal from Madison Art Center director Thomas Garver to the Vice President of Management of CUNA Mutual Insurance, August 21, 1981:
"Jonathan has been working on a series of "Aviaries," very light but rigorously designed geometric and architectural forms constructed of metal tubing and covered with hardware cloth, which, in turn, is very interestingly painted in a free form way, which tends to offset the geometric structure of the sculpture itself.
He has drawn his sources from the architecture of the past--renaissance to baroque buildings with domes, arches, and vaults. The sculpture, at small scale, is very beautiful, and the Madison Art Center has recently acquired a piece. He has fabricated another piece at half scale, illustrated in the newspaper photograph enclosed.
Corson-Rikert's ambition is to develop some pieces at an even larger scale and have them in an environment that could accommodate them ... The Madison Art Center is interested in an exhibition of Corson-Rikert's work, but would not be able to finance the construction of the sculpture at large scale."
"Gene, in evaluating Corson-Rikert's work, I feel that [emphasis added] as a modernist sculptor he has combined many of the issues of current sculpture with a humanism and downright "pleasantness" that one does not find very often in sculpture. It is strong, but not corny or sweet. I think he could make a suite of sculptures in fairly large scale for your atrium, sculptures which would not take up a huge amount of space, but would make the space more pleasant; people enjoy walking through them and, if large enough, sitting within them."
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