Artist Susan Robb has been commissioned by the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to research, develop, and create a Public Art Plan for downtown Seattle. Robb will guide and influence the development of a public art plan that creates a robust, cohesive, and long-range vision for SDOT’s 1% for Art programming and art enhancements in Seattle’s downtown core. The residency will last approximately six months, beginning in May and running through October 2016.
Robb will work with SDOT staff, project design team consultants, and project stakeholders to examine downtown Seattle’s capital projects and engage community members and organizations such as Lake2Bay and Downtown Seattle Association/Municipal Improvement District. Her work will inform a public art master plan that brings cohesion to the various capital projects slated for downtown Seattle.
Robb’s proposed approach to working with Seattle’s downtown core reflects her ongoing, process-driven, investigation of people and place. Her work varies from sculpture, photography, and video, to temporary, site responsive, and socially engaged projects. She has been awarded commissions from 4Culture, King County Parks, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and grants from Creative Capital, Artist Trust, 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Other awards include a Pollack Krasner Fellowship, a Stranger Genius Award, and support by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Robb has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues like Berkeley Art Museum; Palm Springs Art Museum; Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA; Weisman Art Museum, MN; Family Business, NYC; Discovery Greens, Houston TX; Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center, Maui HI; Tacoma Art Museum; Lawrimore Project; The Henry Gallery; Swing Space, NYC; and Blindside Gallery, Melbourne Australia. Robb’s work has been included in public, private, and civic collections worldwide.
Photo credit: Andrew Pogue.