Mustering out for The Long Walk.

Susan Robb in the house along with flags, coolers &tc. Hair marginally on fire here in Public Art. All part of the job, people.

Pantergaffe

We are deep into both the aLIVe project and Brightwater installation (the opening is September 24th). This fabulous alternative ambulation machine debuted in Vancouver, BC. Talk about keeping up with the Jones! Hard to top, but come to Bumbershoot over Labor Day for a taste of aLIVe, with short video documentaries at the film festival, Undriving registration and the ingenious yet practical bicycle constructions of Johnnie Olivan. Sorry, do not believe this contraption is slated to appear. 

claude zervas mocks us up

Claude Zervas recently mocked up his illuminated sculptural work for Brightwater, to be installed in the Environmental Education Center. Having the placement mapped out on the wall will help exhibit designers to design the floor space. When it is installed the programmable lights contained in the elements will make for an understated yet active presence. Claude is such a rock star. 

art appreciation & nyc

Cath Brunner, Fearless Leader here at Public Art 4Culture, just returned from Seattle University where she was speaking to Carol Kelly’s Art Appreciation class. Taught with an experiential approach, students attend plays, visit galleries and explore public art. They will soon be traveling to New York City for a week of adventure and Cath spoke about these resources as useful for planning their itinerary. They might prove useful for you, too.

The Highline               http://www.thehighline.org/

Creative Time                            http://www.creativetime.org/

Times Square Alliance    http://www.timessquarenyc.org/about_us/art_ts.html

The NYC Waterfall Project     http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/

NYC MTA                                             http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/

Public Art Fund                                http://www.publicartfund.org/

Photo courtesy of Times Square Alliance

Our paper on Sheila Klein’s artwork for the Roosevelt-Greenlake Park and Ride will be presented at the 90th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in January. W00T!

gregory schaffer in gallery 4culture

After The Trees Have Grown, photography by Gregory Schaffer, opens in Gallery 4Culture on Thursday. Join us from 6-8 pm for the monthly art walkabout that is First Thursday in Pioneer Square. The photographs, modest in scale and framed in white, create a warm, narrative feel in the gallery, and make accessible the sometimes challenging content, based on the conflicting realities in today’s America, specifically this place. And check out Gregory’s website - it’s lovely. 

jane tsong’s artwork the first to be installed at brightwater

The Brightwater Treatment Facility, slated to open in 2011, is a remarkable piece of infrastructure as well as an impressive architectural presence. Integrated artwork by nine artists has been commissioned for the Plant, Environmental Education and Community Center, and the Conveyance route. Eduardo Calderon has been photographing the site and staff since 2005 and temporary artworks will be commissioned for both the Brightwater facility and its conveyance over the coming years. 

The first artwork element to be installed is by Jane Tsong, who has created a series of works designed to highlight the functions of the plant through calling attention to its products in the realms of earth, air and water. Artwork will be installed in the biosolid hopper (earth), the odor control stacks (air) and the RW and ME weirs (water), where water exits from the membrane filtration process as a waterfall, cleansed and crystal clear.

The artwork is conceived as a series of blessings for the processes of the plant. The name of the artwork (its length earns it a separate post) incorporates the titles of all three elements, the full text of a poem written in collaboration with poet Judith Roche. In the photograph above you see the installation at the weir site. The viewer will read the text, fabricated in stainless steel letters that diminish in size in forced perspective, through the water. That this piece is the first manifestation of the artwork to be installed at Brightwater is a lovely happenstance, for its clarity and poetics embody all the artwork designed for the site. We look forward with much anticipation to the Grand Opening next year, when you will be able to tour the plant and see this and other artworks for yourself.

photo courtesy of Tina Hastings & Tom Chapman, Brightwater staff

A Regional Gathering

Last Thursday, 4Culture hosted a gathering of Northwest Public Art organizations. Added to the regional practice of organizations operating in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, this second meeting of the group (the first was in Olympia at Washington State Arts Commission) was an opportunity to talk about everything from temporary projects to collections care.

Like everyone else, public art folks are being faced with reduced resources, and we hope to learn from one another as we work to create exciting site-based artworks in our communities, serve our partners in business, government and neighborhoods, and support the work of the artists that make our work possible - with less money and without compromising the quality of our work. More on this as we move forward with regional planning that was inspired by Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Network membership.

Enjoy the dog days of summer, all. 

RapidRide mind map

We’ve been working with UW cultural geography honors students since January to build a background resource for three of the upcoming RapidRide bus routes. The mind map above is a little small - but it demonstrates the many branches of inquiry this gifted group of scholars pursued over the months. They presented to the PA advisory committee today and killed. More importantly, they will be giving a presentation at the Simpson Center for the Humanities on the UW campus on Tuesday, June 1, 5:30 - 7:00 and you are invited. Info and RSVP to tina.hoggatt@4culture.org. Join us!

Gene Gentry McMahon, 13 Visionaries

Artwork for Floors 1-7 of the Chinook Building elevator Lobbies. Mixed media and collage on paper, 2010.