Visit  Lake Union Park and see the new artwork Blanche, a floating sound sculpture by San Francisco artists Peter Richards and Sue Richards. The artwork is located near the South Lake Union Historic Ships Wharf.

Peter and Sue were inspired by Seattle’s boating history and our city’s relationship to the Puget Sound and surrounding waterways. They created Blanche to bring Seattleites close to the water and evoke the feeling of being in a boat.  The sound sculpture sits on a floating platform and creates music generated by the lake’s waves. The lake’s sounds travel up through a series of pipes into a sound chamber constructed from an upturned Blanchard Junior Knockabout boat. The Blanchard Boat Company operated on the shore of Lake Union from 1900 to 1963.  The Center for Wooden Boats donated and worked with the artists to restore this boat for the artwork.

The artwork will be formally dedicated at the completion of phase two of the Lake Union Park project in September 2010. The project was commissioned with Seattle Parks and Recreation 2000 Pro Parks Levy 1% for Art funds. Special thanks to The Center for Wooden Boats.