Artist Sam Trout has been selected by a panel to create public artworks for the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Shoreline Street Ends program. The program aims to improve Seattle’s shoreline street ends for public access and ecological enhancement. Trout will design art interventions at three to nine sites on Lake Union, Lake Washington, the Duwamish River, Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. Art will be used as a tool for enhancing site identity, creating playful amenities, and to improve the legibility of these sites as public spaces.

Sam Trout is beginning conceptual design to propose functional elements, such as bike racks or benches, in addition to small stand-alone artworks. Trout will also be responsible for a graphic rebrand for Shoreline Street Ends, along with signs for the initial sites. He is interested in showcasing the unusual character of different shorelines and using public art as a tool for way finding.

Sam Trout was raised in Anchorage, Alaska and moved to Seattle in September 2000 to start his art career. He is a designer and illustrator, and co-curated a monthly crafter fair called I Heart Rummage from 2001-03. Additionally, Trout has created a number of artworks on commission and through public art grants. He has previously partnered with the Office of Arts & Culture on ArtSparks and Art Interruptions projects, and was commissioned for a 20- foot mural on Broadway on the Link Light-rail construction fence panel.

Photo credit: Sam Trout, “Welcome…See you later”, 2013. Photo by Juan Hernandez.