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Jill Anholt commissioned to create artwork for Fauntleroy Way SW

The Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), has commissioned artist Jill Anholt to develop site-specific artworks for the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard Project. Anholt will work with SDOT and SDOT consultants from design through construction to develop permanent public artwork for the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard Project. Possible sites include green spaces, median strips, and/or sidewalks, to be determined through collaboration and coordination with the project team. Anholt is beginning her project by investigating the history, multiple uses, and busy right of way along this corridor to design and implement site-responsive artwork.

Anholt is a visual artist based in Vancouver, B.C. who has been creating site specific works in the public realm since 1998. Anholt’s practice ranges from complex integrated works in parks, pedestrian walkways and transit stations, to small scale installations in buildings and public plazas across North America. Her installations explore the relationship between nature and infrastructure, body and place; revealing layers of personal and cultural memory and experience. Environmental sustainability play a generative role in the conceptual development, form, and material expression of many of her works. Along with her art practice, Anholt is an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

SDOT’s Fauntleroy Boulevard Project builds upon previous planning work done by the community. Discussions of improvements to Fauntleroy Way began in 1999, when the West Seattle Junction Hub Neighborhood Plan identified streetscape improvements in this area, and continued through the multi-year West Seattle Triangle planning process. The streetscape plan was formally adopted by SDOT and the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (now Office of Planning and Community Development) in 2012. Through several extensive community processes, the residents and business owners in the area have expressed the need for improvements to make this stretch of Fauntleroy Way SW safer for pedestrians and bikes, and highlight its role as a main entrance to West Seattle.

Anholt was selected by a panel of artists advised by community members and city staff. The project is commissioned with SDOT 1% for Art funds.

Photo: Carlos Amat

Image: Marking, carved wood, Fort Calgary, Calgary Canada, completed 2015