Jackson Artist Commissioned To Create Giant 70-Foot Whale Out Of Tumbleweeds

Central Wyoming College (CWC) is building a new campus in Jackson. When students and visitors step inside the main building, one of the first things they'll see is a 70-foot whale made of Wyoming tumbleweeds floating above them.

The "Tumblewhale" is the brainchild of Jackson artist Ben Roth , who has been commissioned to create the piece through the Wyoming Arts Council's Art in Public Buildings Program.

Roth is actively collecting the 300 pounds of tumbleweeds he intends to sculpt into a life-size, movable whale.

"I plan to make it interactive," Roth told Cowboy State Daily. "A viewer can come up and pull some handles, and when they do, the whale will swim like a giant marionette.

The tumblewhale will be Roth's most ambitious project to date, but he's already excited about br