ARTS Director Gülgün Kayim, photo by Nadia Ahmed

Thank you for joining us on First Thursday! We were thrilled to bring over 250 community members together to celebrate the 2023 SDOT Bridge Artists In Residence Showcase. Artists Vivian Li and Mariah Vicary shared their data visualization work produced during their unique project-based residencies in the Fremont and University Bridges, respectively.

Beginning in 2009, the SDOT Bridge Artist in Residence program was designed by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). This residency project is funded by SDOT’s 1% for Art Funds and administered by ARTS to activate unused spaces in the Fremont and University Bridge towers.

“We are so happy to work with Seattle Department of Transportation to bring artists into these otherwise unused spaces. Through this partnership, we’re not only able to support artists in their production of new works, but also highlight these incredibly important and often taken-for-granted pieces of our city’s transportation infrastructure.“

Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Director, Gülgün Kayim

Thank you to everyone who made this project possible, including: SDOT Bridge Operations Division, especially Kit Loo, Alyssa Escobedo, Greg Silcox, Mary Brown, and Matthew Donahue; SDOT Public Art Liaison, Joshua Gawne; and ARTS staff who worked on this project: Public Art staff Jeremy Beliveau and Jason Huff, Facilities staff Flossie Pennington, Tesla Kawakami, Lovell Davis, Teisa Fainga, Exhibit staff Blake Haygood and Benjamin Schrek, and Communications staff Nadia Ahmed and Otts Bolisay.

Thank you to artists Vivian Li and Mariah Vicary, Council Member Tanya Woo, SDOT Public Art Liaison Joshua Gawne, and our amazing community for joining us!

Learn more about the 2023 SDOT Bridge Artists in Residence Showcase. See the exhibition in person at ARTS at King Street Station. The show closes on Feb. 10, 2024.

Photos by Nadia Ahmed.