Seattle industrial artist Rusty Oliver is the man behind 'Smash Putt'

On 12th Avenue across from Seattle University is Smash Putt, a temporary mini-golf course/ art installation in a warehouse. The 10 holes are slightly more gonzo than traditional putt-putt (one involves an air gun), and bars are positioned at the beginning and the end of the course. Smash Putt is also open early for kids on Saturdays, sans beer/booze.

The main man behind the operation is Rusty Oliver, area metal-works instructor and all-around mechanical maven. He's associated with local happenings like fire festivals and the Seattle Power Tools Races. His 2,200-square-foot South Park studio is where Smash Putt's holes were born.

"I'm an artist," he says. "A mechanical engineer would consult books and always work in a very serious-minded way with the material. I just want to know where the knobs are."

Oliver and his partner, Jeremy Franklin-Ross, came up with the idea for Smash Putt in Amsterdam, where they met a German man who had filled a room with crazy machines he had invented, called it an interactive art experiment and funded it by selling alcohol there.

After Smash Putt's limited Capitol Hill run (ending Nov. 28), Oliver will put the holes in storage. He may bring them out next year in Seattle, and he thinks Smash Putt would go over well in Park City, Utah, too, maybe during the Sundance Film Festival. Oliver estimates 600 people came to Smash Putt in its opening weekend.

"I think people are going in not really knowing what to expect, and they're invariably surprised," he says.

Next up for Oliver: a large sculpture/puzzle he thinks would go over well at Burning Man.

Andrew Matson: 206-464-2153 or amatson@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published Nov. 20, 2009, was corrected the same day. The headline on a previous version of this story incorrectly stated Rusty Oliver's name. The story also misstated Jeremy Franklin-Ross' name.