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Office of Arts & Culture news and events

City announces new project with VividMatterCollective to recreate and properly preserve the Capitol Hill Black Lives Matter Street Mural

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Starting Tuesday morning, September 22, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will be collaborating with the original artists from VividMatterCollective to recreate the Black Lives Matter street mural painted during this summer’s protests on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Kyle Kotajarvi

The mural has rapidly deteriorated primarily because of paint applied to an unscored surface covered in slippery aggregate. After discussions between ARTS, SDOT, and the fifteen artists who worked to create the street mural in June, all have agreed to a comprehensive removal, recreation, and reservation plan that kicks off on Tuesday.

Close ups of the damaged street mural

The street mural is located on Pine Street between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue and was a central gathering place during the protests that was then preserved by the City by creating a reconfigured street to limit vehicle access to the mural. The recreation efforts will get underway quickly to avoid the inclement weather – rain and pavement that is too cold for paint to properly cure – that would delay this work until sometime in 2021.

“Vivid Matter Collective along with the City of Seattle is proud to announce the collaborative effort in preserving the beautiful Black Lives Matter monument, making it a permanent landmark celebrating progress and change during this unprecedented time in Seattle’s history.”

Artist Kimisha Turner, a member of the VividMatterCollective

The careful effort by all parties to identify a comprehensive plan to recreate a longer-lasting Black Lives Matter mural in its original location is an acknowledgement of the cultural significance of the site in the Black Lives Matter movement.

The deterioration of the artwork further accelerated when members of the public who were not a part of the collective applied sealant without the original artists’ permission. The sealant damaged the artwork, which is now beginning to separate from the roadway in some areas. The City is committed in time, resources, and values to do better.

The original artists have worked with SDOT to develop a plan to remove the current artwork and prepare the site so that the artwork can be recreated in a more durable fashion to survive the harsh roadway conditions.

SDOT will begin temporarily removing the artwork on Tuesday, September 22 and preparing the site for the artists to repaint the mural on Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27. Repainting of the mural is dependent on weather conditions.

Work will commence by tracing and scoring the existing footprint of the mural to properly prepare the surface for the application of paint. SDOT will provide supplies and installation support to the VividMatterCollective. This will include expert guidance from SDOT’s own Dahvee Encisco, who is
himself an experienced muralist. He will be onsite from beginning to end with the artists to advise on how to install a durable on-street mural with the correct primer, number of paint layers, and adding traction material to each coat of paint that can withstand the roadway conditions in this area.

It is important for all to remember that even when utilizing best practices and materials, on-street murals will continue to deteriorate at a rate much faster than other surfaces. Maintaining the integrity of the recreated Black Lives Matter mural will be an ongoing project for all.

“The Capitol Hill Black Lives Matter street mural is a potent symbol of free speech and civil rights” said SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe. “I am deeply sorry that we fell short in our efforts to prevent damage from occurring to the original mural. SDOT is committed to supporting the original artists to restore their work in a more long-lasting fashion.”

SDOT has been working with the original artists to create a preservation plan for some time. In July, SDOT installed posts to prevent people from driving over the mural and added a new 4-way stop sign at 10th Ave E and E Pine St to help eastbound drivers transition onto the block with the mural at a slower speed. Those protective measures will remain in place.

CHOP art preservation supported by the City

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The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation and Parks and Recreation are working with artists and community members from the CHOP to store, document and preserve artworks that captured the hope, imagination and inspiration for a more racially equitable society. The immediate goal was to get the artwork out of the right of way so businesses can resume their operations and people can move through the area. 

by artist Stephanie Morales

The City is supporting artists and CHOP community leaders by assisting in the safe removal of the artwork, providing safe temporary storage, and working in partnership with CHOP artists and stakeholders to document the preserved artwork and assist the artists in making the work publicly accessible where possible. 

“The CHOP is not just a physical location, it is a movement that is vibrant, passionate, and here to stay. We’re working with the city to preserve and catalog the artwork created in the CHOP and in the area. Our goal, much like the movement is to keep and continue creating and displaying art together. The CHOP Art Council is committed to the best interest of the artists and the movement that these works represent.” If you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter please feel free to contact us at insidechop@gmail.com.

CHOP Art Council
Keep Smiling Seattle by Morgan Zion

Artworks include numerous plywood panels originally used as traffic control barricades. Protesters used these surfaces as canvases for protest art centering a Black Lives Matter message.  

The City has also been striving not to remove artwork which could potentially be permitted under SDOT’s painted street mural program, including the Black Lives Matter street mural on Pine St. SDOT remains committed to the long-term preservation of this piece.  

Graphic of George Floyd

In addition, Seattle Parks and Recreation will be working with a range of stakeholders to memorialize aspects of the community protests at Cal Anderson park, such as a garden, art and/ or speaker’s corner.

Seven Artists Selected for Art Interruptions 2020 along North Seattle Neighborhood Greenway

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2018 Art Interruptions, Black Teen Wearing Hoodie by Jasmine Brown, photo by Minh Carrico

The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has commissioned seven emerging public artists to create temporary art installations along the North Seattle Neighborhood Greenway in Licton Springs for Art Interruptions 2020. The artworks will inhabit city sidewalks and parks and offer passers-by a brief interruption in their day, eliciting a moment of surprise, beauty, contemplation, or humor. The artists selected are:

Eva Funderburgh

Hinojos & Jimenez Art, LLC

Naoko Morisawa

Shawn Parks

Forrest Perrine

Nichole Rathburn

Erin Shigaki

Artists were selected by a panel of artists, community members, and city staff. Art Interruptions is funded by the SDOT 1% for Arts Funds.

Image: 2018 Art Interruptions, Black Teen Wearing Hoodie by Jasmine Brown, photo by Minh Carrico.

New artwork “Alone Together” delights downtown pedestrians

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Friday, August 2, 2019, 2-3 p.m.
Public celebration at Harbor Steps
1221 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Artwork stickers will be available for the first 250 people.

A new artwork, Alone Together, by Juliana Kang Robinson will be interwoven into the infrastructure of the all-walk intersection of University and 1st Avenue near Harbor Steps and the Seattle Art Museum. The artwork includes pictorial street signs in the blocks that surround the main artwork, and a new crosswalk painting on the intersection of University and 1st Avenue. 

One of the panels on the back of a parking sign depicts a baby bear on an ice floe as a narwhal swims underneath.

As you walk toward the intersection – west on University, North on 1st or South on 1st, the series of six separate but thematically connected images will lead up to the all-walk in which the theme of the artwork Alone Together will come into play. Pedestrians begin alone on the four separate corners of the intersection will cross over the artwork coming together for a moment.

A photo from above as pedestrians cross the intersection with the artwork below them.
Pedestrians cross at the intersection where Alone Together is installed

Bears are the main character in this illustrated series of images, in reference to a Korean creation myth and a reminder that people, like animals, share the same needs and strengths. The artist’s intent is to showcase that we all find refuge and strength in togetherness and that all families belong together. The goal of the artwork is to celebrate youth, families and pedestrians in our Downtown core. 

An aerial view of the intersection with a rendering of the artwork in the middle.
A rendering of the artwork at the pedestrian crossig

Inspired by conversations with pedestrian advocates, transportation specialists, neighborhood groups, and youth (special note of thanks to the kindergarten classes at Giddens Elementary and students from Summit High School) some of the overarching desires stated by these community members included the desire for new artwork to use bright colors, reference nature and animals, contain a positive message and put a smile on your face, and be located in a highly accessible location. You can learn more about the artist’s work at julianakangrobinson.com. 

This is part of the Imagine Greater Downtown initiative, designed to improve the pedestrian experience in Downtown Seattle using existing SDOT street infrastructure to create art for pedestrians and cyclists to see in their everyday movements. Commissioned by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Department of Transportation.

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.

Vicki Scuri artist commissioned for SDOT Aurora Ave N Corridor Improvements Project

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The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), has commissioned artist Vicki Scuri for a series of site-specific artworks for the Aurora-Licton Corridor Neighborhood Street Fund Project. Scuri will work with SDOT and SDOT consultants from design through construction developing art installations along Aurora Ave. N. between N. 85 St. and N. 105 St. The artwork is expected to be completed in 2018.

Scuri brings over 30 years of experience to this project. Educated in printmaking and design, Scuri’s primary focus is site responsive, collaborative design and public art, with emphasis on community identity through awareness of place, history and culture. Scuri sees infrastructure, best symbolized as the backbone of urban design, as the system upon which society builds its core values, creating meaning, mobility and connectivity. Scuri’s projects, best known for symbolic pattern work; play of sunlight and shadow over sculptural form; and her ability to engage the entire site as a canvas, integrate functionality, landscape and art to create community landmarks. Community identity, site, climate, and environment are important considerations in shaping each project’s unique expression.

This SDOT project began as a community application for improvements along Aurora Ave. N. It was funded by the Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) Program, for design in 2017 and construction in 2018. The project creates improved crossings of Aurora Ave. N. at N. 92 St. and N. 100 St. for people walking and biking. There is also a significant art component to the project, requested by the Aurora-Licton Urban Village. The goal of this project is to create art that will develop a distinctive spirit for the neighborhood, revitalize and change people’s perception of Aurora Ave. N., create a progression of ideas that extend along the entire corridor, bring color, vibrancy, and day and night presence to all modes of transit: pedestrians, motorists, bus riders.

Scuri was selected by a panel of artists and design professionals, advised by Aurora-Licton Urban Village community members, and city staff. The project is commissioned with SDOT 1% for Art funds.

Photo: Vicki Scuri

Image: Arlington Boulevard, Highway 50, laser-cut steel and LEDs, completed 2015

Jill Anholt commissioned to create artwork for Fauntleroy Way SW

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The Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), has commissioned artist Jill Anholt to develop site-specific artworks for the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard Project. Anholt will work with SDOT and SDOT consultants from design through construction to develop permanent public artwork for the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard Project. Possible sites include green spaces, median strips, and/or sidewalks, to be determined through collaboration and coordination with the project team. Anholt is beginning her project by investigating the history, multiple uses, and busy right of way along this corridor to design and implement site-responsive artwork.

Anholt is a visual artist based in Vancouver, B.C. who has been creating site specific works in the public realm since 1998. Anholt’s practice ranges from complex integrated works in parks, pedestrian walkways and transit stations, to small scale installations in buildings and public plazas across North America. Her installations explore the relationship between nature and infrastructure, body and place; revealing layers of personal and cultural memory and experience. Environmental sustainability play a generative role in the conceptual development, form, and material expression of many of her works. Along with her art practice, Anholt is an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

SDOT’s Fauntleroy Boulevard Project builds upon previous planning work done by the community. Discussions of improvements to Fauntleroy Way began in 1999, when the West Seattle Junction Hub Neighborhood Plan identified streetscape improvements in this area, and continued through the multi-year West Seattle Triangle planning process. The streetscape plan was formally adopted by SDOT and the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (now Office of Planning and Community Development) in 2012. Through several extensive community processes, the residents and business owners in the area have expressed the need for improvements to make this stretch of Fauntleroy Way SW safer for pedestrians and bikes, and highlight its role as a main entrance to West Seattle.

Anholt was selected by a panel of artists advised by community members and city staff. The project is commissioned with SDOT 1% for Art funds.

Photo: Carlos Amat

Image: Marking, carved wood, Fort Calgary, Calgary Canada, completed 2015

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.

Ben Zamora selected to create a permanent public artwork for Madison Bus Rapid Transit Corridor

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The Office of Arts & Culture, (ARTS) in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), has selected Seattle artist Ben Zamora to create a permanent, site-specific artwork along the Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit route.

“I am excited about this opportunity to create a new artwork that will serve as a vibrant focal point resonating with energy of a city in constant change and movement,” Says Zamora. “I hope this new work will reflect the spirit and identity of this community, serve as a beacon from afar and an interactive experience up close.”

The Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service will provide fast, frequent, reliable, and safe public transportation between First Avenue in downtown Seattle and Martin Luther King Jr Way. The new route will serve densely developed neighborhoods and feature a redesigned streetscape as well as new state-of-the-art electric trolley buses. Throughout 2017, The artist will participate in a variety of outreach and community conversations to develop a proposed design. Construction is scheduled to being in early 2018.

Zamora is best known for his light-based artwork and earned a MFA from University of Washington in 2005. He has created large-scale installations and sculptures for Art Basel/Design Miami, Kunsthalle Krems in Austria, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, and the Frye Art Museum, as well as a number of other galleries, museums, private art collections, and public art projects including the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

The artwork is being funded through SDOT and Move Seattle Levy 1% for Arts Funds.

Photo: BEN ZAMORA, IMAGE 10 & 11, NEVER FINISHED, 2014, Seattle, Washington. Photo credit: Mark Woods. Dimensions: 20’ x 50’ x 15’
Description: Created as a companion piece to THROUGH HOLLOW LANDS (Frye Art Museum, 2012). A Lilienthal/Zamora project. 300 suspended fluorescent tubes move from the gallery’s wood planked floor and ascent toward the open beam ceiling, expanding and imploding. Black and white tubes create the movement.