Two decades later, the noodle spins on

Gary Bates, once a farm boy in Amsterdam, Montana and now a well known sculptor, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Wind Arc, more commonly known at MSU as the Noodle on Wednesday, April 13. This sculpture weighs 4,060 pounds, balanced to the nearest ounce, all while spinning two tons of steel. It's located in between the SUB and Barnard Hall. 

The sculpture can run in 100 mile per hour wind, two times a day without any damage. “I put it up so it wouldn't need maintenance for 100 years,” Bates said. All of his sculptures range from 4 inches high to 50 feet, each being “not always bullet proof but lawyer proof,” as Batessaid. Each is also completely different from the last. “I’m not a draftsman or a painter but I can grab some material and put them together and turn them into something.”

A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the two and a half years the Wind Arc took to be built so the public eye could enjoy it cost-free. He makes sure each one is built to individual perfection so they’re noticed in the community. Clearly, the Wind Arc has made a name for itself. “The students named it the Noodle just like Louis Armstrong got nicknamed Satchmo. It shows a certain level of affection for something,” Bates said.

He also recalls a story when a child approached him regarding the appearance of his sculpture. “I was at some sort of an event and this little kid, about five years old, came up to me and said, ‘you must love pasta because you built a monument to the noodle,’” Bates said with a laugh.

 Bates' enjoyment of sculpting comes more from the invention itself rather than that actual installation. “I build sculptures to entertain myself and if they're good enough to entertain me then they're good enough to entertain the world,” he said.

The noodle is just one of Bates' hundreds of exceptional sculptures to admire. With his 76th birthday coming up on Friday, April 22, Bates continues to work on another new creation. His drive to continue to create sculptures for the pleasure of himself and others is perpetual. “I’ve always been a builder of things, three-dimensional things,” Bates said with another laugh.