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Public Art Blooms across Seattle this summer 

Temporary and Permanent Arts abound from West Seattle to Lake City  

Photo by Jenny Crooks

The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture is excited to share that, starting in July, temporary and permanent artworks will be installed in Seattle neighborhoods, parks, and right-of-ways. A diverse mix of local artists, genres, and themes will make the summer of 2022 filled with arts experiences for everyone.

This year’s slate of art and artists explore themes of nature, conservancy, history, connections, resilience, and responsibility through both permanent commissions and temporary public artworks that are ephemeral, experiential, and experimental allowing artists to explore current issues.


JULY

Events  

Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition – Lake City 
Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition – Lake City will transform plain concrete into vibrant art that will, beautify the neighborhood, promote public safety, and highlight local businesses and nonprofit organizations. Live music and events reflect Lake City’s cultural diversity. Build Lake City Together also commissioned a new community mural to celebrate the opening of a new community arts and culture space.   

  • Thursday, July 14, 7 – 8 p.m.: Gansango African Music and Dance 
    Lake City Farmer’s Market, 12546 – 28th Ave NE 
  • Friday, July 22, 7 – 8 p.m.: Panama Folklore Seattle 
    Lake City Mini Park, 12359 Lake City Way NE 
  • Thursday, July 28, 7 – 8 p.m.: Trío Guadalevín 
    Lake City Farmer’s Market, 12546 – 28th Ave NE  

Artists at the Center
Artists at the Center will host music, dance, theatre, and multi-disciplinary performances, presented by individual artists and performance groups based in the Puget Sound region. The program is an ongoing partnership with Seattle Center, ARTS, Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown Arts & Culture Coalition, and Seattle Kraken.

Friday, July 29, 6 p.m.: Dance with Dora 
Northwest Courtyard 

Art Installations 

Arts in Parks – Temporary Art Installations and Events  
Four local artists, Ken Roepe, Tory Franklin, and Jean Bradbury will have temporary artwork for 6 weeks in Westcrest Park, Pritchard Island Beach Park, and Cal Anderson Park, respectively. Installations will be on display starting mid-July through the early fall. Arts in Parks, a partnership between Seattle Parks and Recreation and ARTS, is offering a number of free events and temporary art projects that will activate community parks this summer. The Arts in Parks program includes events, series, public art installations, and family-friendly, kid-centered activities in neighborhood parks throughout the northeast, northwest, central, southeast, and southwest regions. 

Art Interruptions at Lake City – Temporary Art Installations 
Enjoy temporary artworks around Lake City by artists Amanda Lee, Baso Fibonacci, Damon BrownKamla Kakaria, Lynn Yarne, Micah Lawton McCarty,  and Sabina Haque. On view for one more month!

Lake City Landbanked Park – Permanent Artwork Installation 
ARTS, in partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, has selected Seattle artist Elizabeth Gahan to create a permanent, site-specific artwork for a new park in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood.  

The new neighborhood park located at 12510 33rd Ave NE previously housed an office building that was purchased in 2010 as part of the Green Spaces Levy and demolished in early 2016. The park will serve Lake City’s growing population with much-needed green space and provide a safe place to play, exercise and enjoy. Seattle Parks and Recreation has worked over the past year to gather community input into the overall design of this ¼-acre park. 

Northgate Bridge Artwork – Permanent Artwork Installation 
ARTS, in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), selected artist Charles Sowers to develop and design artistic elements that will be integrated into the Northgate Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge. 

AUGUST

Events 

Artists at the Center 
Wednesday, August 3, 5:30 p.m.: The Mahagony Project 
Northwest Courtyard 

Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition – Pioneer Square
Saturday, August 6, 1-8 p.m., Nord Alley and Occidental Ave S.  
Styled as MS PAM’S Block Party and curated by Tariqa Waters, it will be an 80s-themed event that will be held in Nord Alley, Occidental Ave S, and surrounding areas. The event will feature DJs, musical acts, interactive art activities, and performances. 

Artists at the Center  
Sunday, August 7, 3 p.m.: Inspired Child 
The Armory  

Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition – Lake City 

  • Friday, August 12, 7 – 8 p.m.: David Arteaga and The Paul Miranda Trio 
    Lake City Mini Park, 12359 Lake City Way NE  
  • Friday, August 26, 7 – 8 p.m.: Indian Classical Dance with Mrs. Ekta Sandbhor Patil
    Lake City Mini Park, 12359 Lake City Way NE

Artists at the Center  
Sunday, August 28, 2 p.m.: Nia Amina Minor 
Northwest Courtyard

Art Installations 

Saltwater Podcast
This podcast is conceived of as a way to engage pedestrians in the area around the Ship Canal Water Quality Project construction sites in Fremont and Ballard, as well as a broader podcast-listening audience. This tour will reveal what’s hidden, go under(water), from the droplets that flow through the Salish Sea’s watershed, to the shallow tidal waters, into the depths of the Sea.

As we move through geography, we’ll also move through time, hearing about some of the environmental and human forces that flow into and through the Ship Canal and the Salish Sea. Given that the Salish Sea Streets’ permanent installations feature Indigenous artists, the audio tour will also center on Indigenous stories and voices with a focus on the peoples of the Salish Sea region. The tour will have a total run time of at least 50 minutes with shorter 1-3-minute short pieces (excerpts). We have consulted with several Coast Salish sources and the Salish Sea Streets artists and conducted additional reading and listening. 

The audio tour will weave together several audio elements:

  • Language recordings of Salish Sea peoples: We hear the human sounds (language) used for thousands of years to describe these waters
  • Underwater recordings: Sound travels faster in water and many water-living creatures use it to communicate
  • Interviews featuring storytellers, Coast Salish language and history experts, scientists, and a Salish Sea Streets artist 

Seattle Center Art Activations – Temporary Art Installations  

Working with Seattle Center and ARTS, up to four selected artists will design and develop small-scale temporary artworks to be installed on City-owned street furniture, infrastructure, or building facades, (e.g., light poles, railings, sidewalks, trees, tree pits, stair risers, etc.). These installations will be on view for a minimum of 12 weeks and up to four months from mid-August 2022 through early-January 2023 on the Seattle Center campus.

FLOW – Temporary Art Installations  
ARTS, in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), will be installing the next round of artists commissioned to develop new temporary art installations for four locations in north Seattle. FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal is a project designed to enliven temporary walls and fences surrounding construction sites that are part of the Ship Canal Water Quality Project.

FLOW features temporary and site-specific artwork in four different locations (Ballard, East Ballard, Fremont, and Wallingford) and changes every six months. New artists will be commissioned over the next few years. You can view the current round of FLOW artworks which will be on view until late August when the new round will be installed. 

Nihonmachi Alley – Permanent Art Installation  
The Nihonmachi Clear Alleys Artwork is a pilot partnership between SDOT, SPU, ARTS, and the community to commission an artwork in Nihonmachi Alley in support of SPU’s Clear Alleys Program

SEPTEMBER

Events

Created Commons – Legendary Children  
Friday, Sept 23: Olympic Sculpture Park  

Art Installations

Art Interruptions West Seattle – Temporary Art Installations 
ARTS and SDOT commissioned four local artists, Clare Johnson, Tommy Segundo, Malayka Gormally, and Toka Valu to create temporary art installations along the Delridge-Highland Park Neighborhood Greenway for Art Interruptions 2022. The artworks will be installed on City-owned infrastructure and offer passers-by a brief interruption in their day through moments of surprise, beauty, contemplation, or humor.