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University and Fremont Bridges to host Artist-in-Residency for Digital Artists

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Residency will take place June through December 2023 

Application deadline April 14, 2023 

Blue marker drawing of a person wearing a face mask inside the bridge tower. They wave to somebody on the sidewalk below with long hair who's wearing a warm hat.
Excerpt from “The Bridge Was Cut” by E.T. Russian, 2021 University Bridge artist-in-residence

This summer, the University and Fremont Bridges will host two artist-in-residence programs. Designed by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), the residency is open to two digital artists/creators working in digital data visualization art for a unique, project-based residency within two of Seattle’s iconic bridges. The northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge and the southeast tower of the University Bridge will be used by the artists as working studio/office space and as inspiration for their work. The application can be found here, the deadline to apply is April 14, 2023. 

Virtual Application Info Session

On March 16, we held a virtual information session to walk you through how to turn in your strongest application. First-time applicants are especially encouraged to watch.

This is one of the most unique artists-in-residence spaces in the city. University and Fremont bridge are key pieces of infrastructure for Seattle, they connect our neighborhoods and hold a special place in our imagination. Giving artists the opportunity to not only work in these spaces but to help SDOT artistically visualize their work is a testament to the integration of art in our everyday lives. 

royal alley-barnes, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Interim Director

This call is open to digital artists living in King, Snohomish, Pierce, or Kitsap counties and are able to travel to Seattle for the residency requirement of this project. This opportunity is for individual artists, artist teams are ineligible to apply. Each artist selected (2) will receive $10,000 inclusive of all residency time, costs, project, presentation, documentation of the work, and applicable taxes.  

Each artist-in-residence will undertake an in-depth exploration of some type of data regarding or stemming from Fremont or University bridge and interpret that information using some form of artistic digital data visualization. A public showcase (held in-person or virtual) of the artwork created as part of the residency is required.  

The University and Fremont Bridge Artist-in-Residence call is a project of ARTS 1% for Public Art Program. Adopted in 1973, the 1% for Public Art program designates 1% of eligible city capital improvement project funds be set aside for the commission, purchase and installation of artworks in a variety of settings. By providing opportunities for individuals to encounter art in parks, libraries, community centers, on roadways, bridges and other public venues, the city creates connections between artists and community.  

Meet the Artists in Residence: Bridge Graphic Novel

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  • Page from Change of Worlds by Roger Fernandes
  • Page from The Canal Was Cut by E.T. Russian

Perched above the road and waterway in the University and Fremont Bridge towers, two artists spent four months thinking about their surroundings and creating graphic novel works inspired by the location and their experiences. The artworks created during this residency are beautiful, meaningful and vibrate with resonance to the iconic and unique Bridge tower locations.   

On April 8, 2021, the artists shared more about their artwork and experiences in a virtual presentation. Opening remarks were given by Jose Alaniz and ARTS staff Maija McKnight. 

Printed copies of each of the graphic novels will be available at a future date, and individuals that registered for this workshop will get first notice of availability.  

Roger Fernandes, the artist in residence at the Fremont Bridge, created the graphic novel Change of Worlds: The Fremont Bridge Cycle. Roger Fernandes is an artist and writer, storyteller and educator. As a member of the Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe of Washington State, he has also been a practicing professional artist for well over 40 years, working in graphic design and the traditional Coast Salish art. Roger was born in the city of Seattle and has a deep sense of the “spirit” of the city and how it has morphed over the past 20 years or so. The Ship Canal, to Roger, has always represented a clear delineation of “white” North Seattle and the much more racially diverse South Seattle. To cross the bridge was oftentimes more challenging than we modern urban folk might recognize. This is a wonderful opportunity to weave all these elements together. 

E.T. Russian, the artist in residence at the University Bridge, created the work The Canal Was Cut a 28-page mini-comic. With 20+ years of experience making comics, while simultaneously exploring the cultural aspects of disability and chronic illness, ET is interested in the intersection of multi-sensory art. In this residency ET explored the elements of air, water, wind and earth, human relationship to spirits, nature and animals, themes of living and dying, colonization and landowning, decompressing from work, and dreams.  

This unique opportunity of providing space in the bridge towers to creatives has been a program since 2016 and has hosted visual artists, poets, musicians, lighting artists, and now comics artists to use the historic bridge locations as inspiration for the creation of new work. This residency ran from September – December 2020.

Funded by SDOT’s 1% for Art Funds and administered by the Office of Arts & Culture.

Two new artists selected for Bridge Artist-in-Residence

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This fall, as drivers cross and boaters pass underneath the University and Fremont Bridges, comics artists will be observing and documenting the rhythm of the city from the bridge towers. In partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation, the Office of Arts & Culture selected E.T. Russian and Roger Fernandes as the two artists that will have a temporary studio in the towers of University and Fremont Bridges. 

Roger Fernandes, 24 page graphic novel “Nettle Girl” created for the U.W. Native Center for Cancer Control in 2015.
This shows images that are part of a fictionalized story of a Native girl who has a special relationship with the stinging nettle plant

This unique opportunity of providing the space to creatives has been a program since 2016 and has hosted visual artists, poets, musicians, lighting artists, and now comics artists to use the historic bridge locations as inspiration for the creation of new work.  The artist-in-residence will run from September – December 2020.

E.T. Russian, Handle With Grace, 2016
Brush pen, paper

E.T. Russian is a multi-sensory artist based in the Pacific Northwest and has been making zines, comics, video and installation art about disability, queerness, and life since the 1990s. As part of the application and interview, E.T. shared ideas about bridges being a location of transition and access (open and closed) and shared their potential ideas about a multi-sensory project as part of the residency for the public to be able to access experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible.

Roger Fernandes, or Kawasa, is a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the S’Klallam Indians from the Port Angeles, Washington. He is a writer, storyteller and educator, and a skilled comic artist. As part of the application and interview, Roger shared his experiences of the Fremont site location both as the Ship Canal serving as racial line growing up in South Seattle, but also from working at a neighborhood service center adjacent to the bridge for many years. Roger’s traditional style and important message of this site will be shared as part of his residency. 

This residency project is funded by SDOT’s 1% for Art Funds and administered by the Office of Arts & Culture.

Music inspired by the [center of the universe] Fremont Bridge

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In two public events Paurl Walsh, the 2018 Fremont Bridge artist-in-residence, will share his artistic vision, inspiration, experience and a taste of the music he created while in the Northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge.

Sunday, May 12, 2019, 2 p.m.
Seattle Public Library, Central Branch, Microsoft Auditorium
1000 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 

Over the Moon, Under the Bridge: Building a Stronger Music Community
Join us for an afternoon of music and guided conversation about the struggles many musicians face such as mental illness, addiction, and poverty, and how our community can be strengthened to better support its members and these issues.

The program includes a public jam session and a panel of musicians and industry experts. This event is created by Paurl Walsh as part of the 2018 Fremont Bridge Composer in Residence in collaboration with Path With Art, Seattle Public Library, Seattle Department of Transportation and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. Light refreshments will be served.

Thursday, May 23, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Town Hall Seattle – Great Hall
1119 8th Ave, Seattle WA 98101

Bascule
The public concert, Bascule, is a culmination of the 2018 Fremont Bridge Artist Residency completed by composer Paurl Walsh.

Paurl Walsh graduated from Cornish College with a degree in Classical Composition and Electro-acoustic music. He is an active composer of electronic music, modern classical chamber music, music for dance and theatre, and experimental rock. Writing and performing throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, he has been a core member of the experimental performance art/music groups Degenerate Art Ensemble, Implied Violence, and St Genet. He founded experimental hardcore band X-Ray Press, electronic pop group Rainbows, electroacoustic duo Medina/Walsh, and solo electronic act Trying. He has scored many stage works for choreographers and theater artists such as Kyle Loven, Ezra Dickinson, Peggy Piacenza, Paige Barnes, Paris Hurley, and PE|Mo. He also runs ExEx Audio, a creative recording studio centered around working collaboratively with artists to help them better express themselves through sound.

The Fremont Bridge residency is administered by the Office of Arts & Culture with SDOT 1% for Art Funds.

Fremont Bridge will be a temporary studio for sound artist Paurl Walsh this summer

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Beginning June 2018, the northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge will be a temporary studio for musician and composer Paurl Walsh. Walsh will be able to use the tower space as a source of inspiration to compose and create a sound-based piece in response to the summer residency. He will also engage in several community outreach events and a public performance will be presented at the close of the residency, in late summer or early fall 2018. The musician-in-residence will run June through August.

Walsh was selected by a panel, facilitated by the Office of Arts & Culture, that included musical artists and community members and advised by the Seattle Department of Transportation. His selection was based on his impressive career and his focus on collaboration with players throughout the region. His proposal included a desire to create a work that investigates the inherent collision between creativity and mental health, which resonated with the selection panel.

Paurl Walsh graduated from Cornish College with a degree in Classical Composition and Electro-acoustic music. He is an active composer of electronic music, modern classical chamber music, music for dance and theatre, and experimental rock. Writing and performing throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, he has been a core member of the experimental performance art/music groups Degenerate Art Ensemble, Implied Violence, and St Genet. He founded experimental hardcore band X-Ray Press, electronic pop group Rainbows, electroacoustic duo Medina/Walsh, and solo electronic act Trying. He has scored many stage works for choreographers and theater artists such as Kyle Loven, Ezra Dickinson, Peggy Piacenza, Paige Barnes, Paris Hurley, and PE|Mo. He also runs ExEx Audio, a creative recording studio centered around working collaboratively with artists to help them better express themselves through sound.

This residency project is funded by SDOT’s 1% for Art Funds and administered by the Office of Arts & Culture.

Wanted: Musician/Composer for Fremont Bridge Residency

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Photo of the Fremont Bridge by Joe Mabel.The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), seeks a practicing composer and/or musician to be an Artist-in Residence in the northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge. The selected composer and/or musician will undertake an in-depth exploration of the historic bridge’s role and meaning for the city of Seattle and create music in response to this residency.

The project budget is $10,000 USD ($5,000 for residency, $5,000 for sound project, presentation, documentation), inclusive of all residency costs, project, presentation, documentation of the work, and applicable taxes. Payment will be made in installments based on benchmarks established by ARTS in consultation with the artist.

Eligibility

The call is open to established professional musicians/composers living in Seattle or within 100 miles of Seattle. The artist selection panel will consider artistic diversity as one factor in the selection process. Artists who are well represented or have received City Artist grants may not be prioritized as highly as those who have not. Students are not eligible to apply.

Deadline

11 p.m., Tuesday, March 20, 2018. (Pacific Standard Time)

Application

Apply on CaFÉ. For assistance with the CaFÉ online application process, contact CaFÉ tech support or call them at (888) 562-7232, Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Info

Please email Kristen Ramirez or call 206.615.1095 with any questions about this project.

Photo by Joe Mabel.

Essay White City by Elissa Washuta is now available

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Fremont Bridge writer-in-residence Elissa Washuta’s essay White City is now available for everyone to read. In addition, a podcast of Washuta reading an excerpt of the essay at the Seattle Public Library‘s Central branch is available here.

Elissa Washuta was commissioned by the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), to be the writer-in-residence in the northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge from June through August 2016. While in the tower, she researched, and wrote, White City a literary work, based on the history of the Puget Sound, including the lives of this region’s first peoples, the “landscape surgery” that defined the creation of Seattle’s waterways for purposes of commerce and industry, and the city of rapid change that we experience today.

Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a writer of personal essays and memoir. She is the author of two books, Starvation Mode and My Body Is a Book of Rules, named a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Her work has appeared in Salon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, BuzzFeed, and elsewhere. Elissa holds an MFA from The University of Washington and currently serves as the undergraduate adviser for the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington and a nonfiction faculty member in the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Elissa has received fellowships and awards from Artist Trust, 4Culture, Potlatch Fund, and Hugo House. Born and raised in New Jersey, she called Seattle home for the last ten years, and will join the faculty at Ohio State University in the Fall of 2017.

University Bridge in a whole new light: artists Ian Campbell and Hayley Buckbee selected for lighting artist residency

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Ian Campbell and Hayley Buckbee, two members of RSVR an art and design studio, have been selected for the University Bridge Lighting artist residency. The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) commissioned Campbell and Buckbee to create a lighting concept and undertake an in-depth exploration of Seattle’s three historic draw bridges: the University, Fremont, and Ballard bridges, which will celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017.

U Bridge_Ian Campbell & Hayley Buckbee_Golden HourThe Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) commissioned Campbell and Buckbee to undertake an in-depth exploration of Seattle’s three historic draw bridges: the University, Fremont, and Ballard bridges, which will celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017, and to create a lighting concept that celebrates these iconic structures.

The University Bridge is a double-leaf draw bridge, known as a bascule bridge, built in 1919 with an opening span of 217 feet. The bridge was remodeled in 1933 and was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. A bridge operator is on site every day in the northwestern tower, the southeastern tower is unoccupied and will be used for the residency. It will be furnished with a desk, chair, overhead lights, and windows.

At RSVR, Campbell and Buckbee focus on merging architecture, art, and industrial design. Their work is informed by the exploration of light, the process of making, and the formation of memories. Campbell has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Arkansas. Buckbee has a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington.

Commissioned with Seattle Department of Transportation 1 % for Art funds.

Image courtesy of Ian Campbell and Hayley Buckbee

Meet the newest artist to grace Fremont’s eclectic universe: Elissa Washuta

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Elissa Washuta has one of the most unique writing studios this summer. She was selected by the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to be the writer-in-residence in the northwest tower of the Fremont Bridge from June through August 2016.

Elissa Washuta headshotWashuta’s project will include an in-depth exploration of the historic bridge and will culminate in a unique literary work and public presentation this fall. In addition, she will engage the public through social media and community events.

Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a writer of personal essays and memoir. She is the author of two books, Starvation Mode and My Body Is a Book of Rules, named a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Her work has appeared in Salon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and BuzzFeed. Elissa holds an MFA from the University of Washington and currently serves as the undergraduate adviser for the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington and a nonfiction faculty member in the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is a faculty advisor for Mud City Journal and Saturday editor for The Rumpus. Washuta has received fellowships and awards from Artist Trust, 4Culture, Potlatch Fund, and Hugo House. Born and raised in New Jersey, she now lives in Seattle.

Photo credit: Andrew J.S.

 

Fremont Bridge to ‘talk back,’ hear it on KPLU

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front-POSTCARDSeattle artist Kristen Ramirez will wrap up her summer artist residency at the Fremont Bridge with a temporary audio installation, Bridge Talks Back. A short version will be broadcast from the bridge’s speakers during daytime bridge openings through April. To hear the full sound composition, including clips of people’s bridge stories, call 1-800-761-9941.

Ramirez talked to KPLU about her time in one of the bridge towers and the sound composition that emerged from her residency there.

The installation opens Saturday, Sept. 26 with a celebratory performance at the bridge from 1 to 4 p.m.

Image: Kristen Ramirez, Bridge Talks Back postcard, 2009. Illustration by Jacques Moitoret.