Air Vent by Esmeralda Vasquez Quarterly updates from our Public Art division. Find the other posts in this series here.
Most of us take time in December to reflect and look back at the last year and seek some form of closure. The Public Art Division may look back and reflect on how our year went, but our projects don’t follow a fiscal year or Gregorian calendar. They move in their own timeline, ranging from a couple of months to many years, or even decades.
In this latest Public Art Quarterly, we celebrate projects such as the Air Vent Murals and Symphony Block Bike Corrals that were developed and completed within a year to the Central Waterfront projects where our office was involved in creating a new waterfront experience for over the past 15 years. In addition to commissioning new artworks for the Civic Art Collection, we also maintain over 400 works of art that are spread throughout the city. Our Collections Management team works tirelessly to make sure that our collection is looking its best and is able to be on display for years to come.
In this edition:
- Art on the Waterfront
- Conservation Spotlight
- What’s New in Public Art
- Civic Art Collection
- City Gallery Highlights
Art on the Waterfront
Publicly-sited artwork projects anchor the new Waterfront Park along Seattle’s central waterfront. As 2025 draws to a close, a visitor to Seattle’s transformed waterfront can view 9 site-specific artwork projects and two fountain re-installations that illustrate the City’s commitment to including art throughout the new park, and the connections leading to it from downtown neighborhoods.
Conservation Spotlight
Just in time for “The Big Dark”, the term used to describe the rapidly diminishing daylight that occurs between fall and winter, the Pergola at People Waiting for the Interurban is once again illuminating the right-of-way at the corner of Fremont Ave N. and N. 34th Street. Created by artist Peter Larsen in 1979, the artwork has been successfully repowered with assistance from our partners at the Seattle Department of Transportation.
As a small team, interdepartmental assistance is vital to the success of many of our larger projects, and we rely on the expertise and commitment of our partners to assist with the preservation of our public art collection which is sited in libraries, fire stations, community centers, and parks throughout the city. Seattle Parks & Recreation (SPR) teams play an especially important role for art in parks. In one of the largest projects in recent years, SPR metal fabricators worked exhaustively to repair broken and bent bronze to reconstruct the monumental 1974 Waterfront Fountain by James Fitzgerald and Margaret Thompkins after Pier 58 collapsed into Elliot Bay in September 2020. We are grateful for the ongoing support from, and collaboration with, our partners.
In the months leading up to winter, staff are busy performing preventive conservation treatments for many of the publicly-sited artworks in the Collection that require unconventional care. Black Sun, created by artist Isamu Noguchi in 1969, receives annual treatments to prevent water from permeating naturally occurring fractures in the Brazilian black granite, where it can freeze and expand during cold temperatures causing further damage.
What’s New in Public Art
Welcoming New Staff
Introducing Robert Rutherford, New Public Art Project Manager
Robert Rutherford is an artist and cultural producer whose work moves between storytelling, music, poetry, and craft. His path has carried him through museums and community spaces—from working as an educator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and producing storytelling shows in Denver and San Diego to overseeing film festivals, exhibition programming and youth artist development programs at the Museum of Pop Culture and Summer at SAM programs at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park—each a setting for connection between people, art, and curiosity. A musician, poet, and woodworker, Robert’s practice is rooted in care and exploration, in supporting and contributing to the collective work of building spaces where creative expression feels both personal and shared, both grounded and alive.
Recent Artist Selections
- Public Artist Roster – Midterm selections: We maintain the City of Seattle’s Public Artist Roster to select and commission artists for new, original, and site-responsive public artwork. Artists across the country were invited to apply to the 2025 Midterm Call from Aug. 1 – Oct. 10 (6 weeks), especially those who were either ineligible, unsuccessful, or unaware of the roster call in 2024. The response was amazing and our thanks to everyone who submitted an application. After a diligent panel review, we’re pleased to accept 180 new artists to the Roster, increasing the total Roster count to 583 artists across various disciplines, cultures, and experience levels. Artists will be notified by the end of November.
- Artist and animator Sashko Danylenko was selected by a community panel to create a fictionalized, illustrated narrative in a digital format that will make SPU’s invisible work visible to the public. The timeline for this project is for completion by early May 2026 for distribution during the FIFA World Cup in June 2026 to emphasize and advocate for Community Centered, One Water, Zero Waste in Seattle.
- Seattle City Light, the Office of Arts & Culture, and Chief Seattle Club are teaming up with the Raven Village community to reimagine a City Light substation in Ballard. Leading the vision is Tulalip artist, Ty Juvinel, whose work shines with themes of culture, connection, and community. What was once a set of blank walls and fencing along Leary Way will soon become a vibrant canvas—a living story of resilience and belonging. More than a mural, this project celebrates Indigenous voices, histories, and futures, transforming public space into a powerful expression of identity and hope in Seattle.
Recent Project Completion
- FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal – Something new is making waves in Ballard. Along Shilshole Ave near NW Market Street, bold, aquatic shapes now sweep across the cityscape — a temporary public art installation by Seattle artist Glynn Rosenberg. Low Tide expands on Rosenberg’s 2024 exhibition of the same name, exploring the fragile harmony of tide pool ecosystems and the ways people shape them. Installed outdoors, the piece now lives in the environment it reflects — the intertidal zones that define our local shores. Low Tide was commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.
- Fire Station – This fall, Seattle artist Damon Brown completed the installation of his new artwork, A Better 31s, at the future Fire Station 31. Created in glass tile mosaic, Brown’s large artwork mural measures over 96’ long and 13’ in height. Brown developed the artwork after meeting with firefighters from Fire Station 31 and the Northgate community. The mosaic features firefighting equipment and urban features from the community to honor the relationship between the firefighters and the community that they protect and serve. A Better 31s was commissioned with Finance and Administrative Services 1% for Art funds.
- Air Vent Murals: Seattleites may have recently noticed some large colorful vents curving out of the ground in Fremont, Queen Anne, and East Ballard. Justin Gibben’s artwork titled Release the Kraken is inspired by marine wildlife in the Pacific NW and celebrates the multi-species world we live in. Esmeralda Vasquez’s Meet Me By The Water highlights Washington birds like the great heron that frequently gather around water, and encourages visitors to similarly pause and enjoy the natural environment. Tommy Segundo’s Portage Ways reflects the story of Indigenous people who have historically traveled the waterways of the Salish Sea and highlights our connection to these stewards of the land and water. The large exhaust vents are part of the infrastructure for the Ship Canal Water Quality Project, managed by Seattle Public Utilities. Through this collaboration, the air vents now feature artwork by incredible local artists that reflect the story of water, connection and community. The Air Vent Murals were commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.
- Symphony Block Bike Corrals: New bike corrals were installed around Benaroya Hall in October. Designed by Eroyn (Roy) Franklin, each artwork draws from community feedback that highlighted the need for color, joy, movement, and sounds from nature and music for everyone on the block. The colorful patterns mimic the way sound vibrations generate visual forms in water, and mirror natural repeating structures like waves, flowers, and snowflakes. These new murals are part of an ongoing collaboration with SDOT, Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall and other stakeholders to bring more art and engagement to the Symphony block. Symphony Block Bike Corrals were commissioned with Downtown Activation Plan funds.
- Black Lives Matter Mural: The Capitol Hill mural was refreshed and celebrated by the Vivid Matter Collective artists in September 2025. Unfortunately, our office and Department of Transportation were notified of vandalism damage affecting multiple letters in the artwork shortly after. The City of Seattle is coordinating with the artists on repairs and long-term solutions. The defacing of the Black Lives Matter mural is disturbing and deeply disrespectful to our Black community, to the artists who created it, and to the message it represents. The mural is more than paint on pavement, it is a statement of pride, resilience, and belonging. The City remains firmly committed to protecting and uplifting this mural, as well as other public art across Seattle. The Black Lives Matter Mural was commissioned with Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Art funds.
- AIDS Memorial Pathway Accessible Signage: The AMP uses public art to create a physical place for remembrance and reflection to the crisis, utilizes technology to share stories about the epidemic and the diverse community responses to the crisis, and provides a call to action to end HIV/AIDS, stigma, and discrimination. The new signage, installed in October 2025, was designed in close coordination with accessibility consultants and AMP stakeholders. The new signage adds wayfinding along the pathway and features raised lettering, braille, and a QR code to access The AMP-hosted storytelling feature.
Civic Art Collection
Too wet to go outside during “The Big Dark?” Experience newly added media to the Civic Art Collection from any device.
Watch
- Solar Utopias Short Films: This project was initiated during the COVID-19 Pandemic and takes into consideration the limitations set by the “Stay home, stay safe” order. These works were created on a small scale, with available gear and resources, and will include a variety of live-action and animation methods. Each brought their unique perspective in answering “What is a Solar Utopia?”
- Artist Video Profiles: Get to know some of the artists in the Civic Collection. Watch these Seattle Channel video profiles of artists in the collection and view their artworks.
Artists included: Ben Beres, Gloria Bornstein, Dan Corson, Marita Dingus, Jennifer Dixon, Monad Elohim Graves, Perri Howard, C. Davida Ingram, Fay Jones, Robert Jones, Kay Kirkpatrick, Michael Maine, Mary Ann Peters, Vicki Scuri, Preston Singletary, Paul Sorey, Michael Spafford, Barbara Earl Thomas, Cappy Thompson, Kristin Tollefson, Patti Warashina, Robert Yoder
Listen
- Hear artist Roger Fernandez tell the story of Moon the Transformer.
Explore
City Gallery Highlights
Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery
Kay’s Muse Collection
On view Oct. 23, 2025 – Jan. 13, 2026
700 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 (5th & Columbia)
Third Floor, Seattle Municipal Tower, Arcade Level
Kay Burnett is a visual artist and storyteller whose work celebrates the beauty, complexity and power of Black women. Through her signature Muse Collection, she transforms personal narrative into visual poetry – blending vibrant color, emotion and symbolism to honor stories often left untold. Her paintings move beyond portraiture; they are conversations about identity, healing and becoming. Each muse reflects a different facet of womanhood – layered, luminous and alive.
Guided by intention and rooted in storytelling, Kay’s art invites viewers to see themselves reflected in her work – not just as observers but as muses of their own unfolding. Every canvas she creates is an act of remembrance and reclamation – a declaration that the muse is not a myth or mystery, but a mirror. And through her art, Kay reminds us: the muse is you.
Seattle Municipal Gallery
Subtle Boldness: Selections from the City of Seattle Art Collection
On view Oct. 1, 2025 – Jan. 31, 2026
700 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 (5th & Columbia)
Third Floor, Seattle Municipal Tower, Arcade Level
Subtle Boldness, contradictory by definition yet symbiotic in nature. Reduced to the simplest idea that less is more, but to say more with less is anything but a simple feat. Featuring the works of Lynda Rockwood, Robert Maki, Mark Calderon, and Peter Millet, Subtle Boldness demonstrates the gravity of measured gestures to resounding affect.
Rockwood’s 12 Hydrostone Panels were designed as an extension of the concepts and imagery found in the artist’s Vitrification Kit: referencing the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the environmental dilemma of the Cold War legacy. In general, the Panels incorporate images and symbols significant to the past, present, and future in relation to the contents of the Vitrification Kit.
The work of Robert Maki is often incorrectly classified as minimalist works. Maki would counter this sentiment stating, “my sculpture has involved illusionary structures and situations lending to perceptual ambiguity.” (Robert Maki) As seen in his piece, Double Concave Pentagon, drawing upon his combined interests in technical drawing, perceptual psychology, and hidden image phenomena. Much like the work of Maki, Peter Millet’s piece Shiva is more accurately viewed through a modern lens, distilling the essence of the themes of his work. In harmony with the nature of the exhibition Calderon’s Stemma, transcends the cracked earthen relief. Seemingly part altar, part portal. To a land not yet discovered or a time that has come and gone.
