The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), has selected seven emerging public artists to create temporary art installations in the Licton Springs Greenway. These works will be part of Art Interruptions, a project connecting neighborhoods through art. Working with SDOT and ARTS, selected artists designed and developed a series of small-scale temporary artworks to be installed on city-owned infrastructure (e.g., signal boxes, utility poles, railings, street trees, etc., or private property) from August 2020 through August 2021.
Licton Springs Neighborhood Greenway Self-Guided Tour
Use this map to see the route and where each artist’s piece is located.
About the artists and artworks
Arboreal
Eva Funderburgh
Eva Funderburgh created a series of mysterious beasts hidden among the trees and utility poles of the North Seattle Greenway. The beasts are sculpted in red, orange, and yellow vinyl coated wire mesh to create a fox-like creature with a large tail that take on different poses based on their environment. Can you spot them all?”
The Five Creations
Hinojos & Jimenez Art, LLC
Hinojos & Jimenez Art, LLC tells the story of the Five Creations according to traditional Aztec beliefs in the form of three sculptures. It is a story of birth, destruction, hope, and resilience even in the most difficult times. Our hope is to create bright spot along the roadway, and to tell a story of endurance that will resonate now while we are in a time of crisis and uncertainty.
New Wave- Target @ Aurora Highway
Naoko Morisawa
Naoko Morisawa created an image for the traffic box on Aurora highway that people would want to see and turn around to see again. The texture of the handmade and uneven 2D mosaic work [Target] would be more interesting by increasing the size of the image and digitally printed on a vinyl wrap to fit around the utility box. My hope is people who see the artwork will gain energy and be energized. I also wanted the streets of the Aurora Highway to be brighter and more fun.
Know Where No Limit
Shawn Parks
Shawn Parks was obsessed with SDOT’s sign shop and making work using the same materials as legal city signs. First was to call attention to the neighborhood’s name. Giving a sense of place and hopefully pride. The No Limit signs are on the backs of Speed Limit signs. What has no limit? For me, Love, Action and Ideas have No Limit.
Interpreters
Forrest Perrine
Forrest Perrine created a series of interpretive plaques designed to look like those of historical sites and public land markers. The landmarks the artist creates through his installation of plaques honor the places that are largely invisible to us. He created custom plaques of acrylic, marble, brass, granite, bronze, stainless steel, and copper to honor each of his landmarks.
No Time Like the Present II
Nichole Rathburn
Nichole Rathburn created foam petals that grow out of the sidewalk and crawl up a chain-link fence near a busy thoroughfare. Her installation brings a pop of color to an otherwise industrial materials of the site. My hope is the fake flowers will spark real joy.
One Time One Meeting: A Community Shine
Erin Shigaki
Erin Shigaki reclaims cultural practices of her ancestors with red knotted rope that refers to garments that incarcerated Japanese American women stitched for men fighting in segregated units during WWII, and invokes the lifeblood that connects us all. The wooden placards—reminiscent of those at Shinto shrines—bear words of hope and contemplation by and for the community during the global pandemic and uprising for Black lives.
Photo Credit: Eugene Tagawa