This spring the historic Lincoln Reservoir Gate House at Cal Anderson Park will host Seasons All Around, 14 original temporary artworks created by nine Washington Middle School students. The artworks will grace the windows of the gate house through December 2016 and feature images inspired by the four seasons. On Sunday, May 22 from 11 a.m. to noon the students, teaching artist and City departments will host an opening celebration of the temporary artworks.
The gate house project is a collaboration between the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Out of School Time program at Washington Middle School, Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Historic Preservation Program. Students worked with teaching artist Nate Herth over 15 weeks to design and create 14 original paintings reflecting on the park and the vibrancy of the Seattle. The classes took place at Washington Middle School and the students, representing the many races and ethnicities of Seattle, drew upon their varied prior experience with art, color, and Seattle’s neighborhoods to create this public art installation. The artworks created by the students were photographed and are installed in the gate house windows.
The Lincoln Reservoir in Cal Anderson Park was built after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 and put to use in 1901. In 2000 the reservoir was taken out of service and replaced by underground tanks, but the gate house remains. The park reopened in 2005 with four additional acres of useable open space.
This project was funded by Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds