South Park Lands New Artwork

September 16, 2016 by Erika Lindsay 2 Comments

SEATTLE, (September 16, 2016) —Allure, a 22 foot filigree anglerfish has landed at south east corner of 14th Ave S and S Dallas St, just south of the South Park Bridge. Commissioned by King County in partnership with the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and the Office of Economic Development, Allure was created as a gateway to the neighborhood by artists Diane Hansen and Jennifer Weddermann.

Inspired by the intricacy and quiet elegance of South Park, Allure, beckons the community and its visitors to linger and investigate the layers that comprise the neighborhood. Allure was inspired by multiple conversations with the vibrant community of South Park, who describe their neighborhood as a “small town within a big city.” The sculpture resembles an anglerfish and greets commuters and passers-by as they enter the business district. The depiction of the anglerfish embodies the community’s resourceful spirit, in its references to a variety of cultures and layers of history: from the farming culture that started this neighborhood and is now embodied in Marra Farms, to the current industries that continue to employ many of the population here, to those who still fish in the river.

The artwork is near neighborhood favorites, Muy Macho, Jalisco, and Mi Fondita del Itsmo. Napoli Pizzeria and Loretta’s Tavern are just a block away.

Allure is fabricated from ornamental iron and sheet metal laser cut with integrated motifs including many designed by South Park community members, symbolic of the rich history and cultural diversity of the area. The open iron filigree is covered with a brilliant metallic gold glaze.

Featuring a working lantern fabricated from reclaimed lighting from the old South Park Bridge, Allure stands as a beacon for South Park, beckoning visitors to come and enjoy the business district’s offerings. The lantern is illuminated with an integrated commercial solar floodlight, which creates a friendly and safe environment per Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines.

Photo by Hansen Weddermann.

Celebrate the conclusion of Horatio Law’s South Park Crisálida

August 10, 2016 by Erika Lindsay Leave a Comment

Come celebrate the conclusion of Horatio Law’s South Park Crisálida project at Summer Splash at Marra-Desimone Park on Sunday, August 14. Co-sponsored with South Park Arts, Summer Splash recognizes and honors South Park residents who participated in the creation of Community Yarns that cover the South Park Crisálida artwork. The celebration includes hands-on art activities featuring South Park artists Elise Koncsek and Tristen Warner, and a presentation on Urban Hydrology by Karina Adams and Therese Graf.

South Park Summer Splash
Sunday, August 14, 11a.m. – 3p.m.
Marra-Desimone Park (park entrance on Director St between 5^th Ave S and 7^th Ave S)

South Park Crisálida was created to raise community awareness for the 14^th and Concord Sewer Improvement Project that Seattle Public Utilities is constructing and became a destination piece that attracted visitors to the neighborhood during construction. The sculpture was on display within the construction zone along 14^th Ave. S. in May and was moved to Marra Desimone Park for a temporary summer exhibition. The Community Yarns created by South Park community members will be on display at the South Park Branch Library at a future date.

South Park Crisálida is commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds and administered by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

Image: Horatio Law; South Park Crisálida; Steel, nylon;18”x6”x6”; 2016; image courtesy of the artist.

South Park gets a new park and art by artist Ben Zamora

August 2, 2016 by Erika Lindsay Leave a Comment

The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has selected Seattle artist Ben Zamora to create a permanent public artwork for a new park at 12^th Avenue S and S Elmgrove Street. Zamora’s artwork will respond to the size and scenic nature of the site, which is envisioned as a as a resting spot for the community.

The site for the 12^th and Elmgrove park is currently owned by the Port of Seattle and Seattle Public Utilities. The site most recently hosted a temporary artwork by Zamora for the Duwamish Revealed art project. Zamora’s artwork is being funded through SPU’s 1% for Art Funds; SPU is supporting the development of this park in conjunction with the utilities’ construction of a new pump station as part of its strategy addressing overall drainage issues in South Park.

Ben Zamora is an artist whose work is primarily based in light. Over the last few years, Zamora has developed an impressive body of work that creates a dialogue between the viewer and their environment, while addressing universal themes of life, transformation, and transcendence. He has created large-scale installations and sculptures for Art Basel/Design Miami, Kunsthalle Krems in Austria, the Frye Art Museum, Suyama Space, as well as a number of other galleries, museums, private art collections, and public art projects including the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

Office of Arts & Culture participating in Seattle Design Festival 2015

September 10, 2015 by Erika Lindsay 1 Comment

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture is participating in Seattle Design Festival 2015 with two unique events; a workshop that will explore the vision of an equitable city and a hands-on art making workshop with Portland artist Horatio Law for his temporary public artwork South Park Crisálida.

The Seattle Design Festival celebrates the ways design makes life better. The 2015 festival: Design for Equity explores how design can contribute to a more equitable society. From buildings that everyone can access and move through, to apps that enable civic participation by people in every location and language, to cities where we can all afford to live – design is a vehicle of innovation. Design for Equity invites us to create a future in which everyone in our society – from every background, ability, race, age, gender, location or economic status – can access the same opportunities and outcomes, both now and in the future.

Saturday, September 19 • 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Seattle Central Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
WORKSHOP – Designing the Equitable City Four agencies from the City of Seattle present a workshop on visioning an equitable city.

Cities are spaces where diverse cultures, experiences, backgrounds, traditions and ways of being converge. They are nests for creative expression and offer pathways for unique and dynamic opportunities. Yet, although diversity is a clear asset to all cities, not all communities reap the same benefits of what a city has to offer.

The City of Seattle has made a commitment to work towards social equity with an emphasis on racial equity, across all departments. In this workshop you will hear from the City of Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights, Seattle Design Commission, Seattle’s Planning Commission and the Office of Arts & Culture as they share the role that we as designers, urban planners, and artists play in creating a new equitable vision for our cities. There will be a panel of commissioners, design professionals, artists and staff who will share what is happening at a city-wide level to realize the City’s commitment to building a racially equitable Seattle, followed by an interactive brainstorming breakout session where we will all explore our own individual roles in visioning and realizing a more inclusive home that serves all communities. There will be an opportunity to report out on the smaller-group discussions and share what we’ve learned from each other.

Sunday, September 20 • 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
8709 14th Ave S, Seattle, 98108
WORKSHOP – South Park Crisálida – Envisioning Community Transformation Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and South Park Arts co-present Horatio Law’s South Park Crisálida

Portland artist Horatio Law and South Park Arts present a hands-on art making workshop that invites community members and Design in Public participants to partner in the creation of South Park Crisálida, a temporary public artwork that will be installed in the South Park neighborhood. Law’s sculpture invites the South Park community to be co-creator of the artwork by weaving “Community Yarns” that will form the outer skin of the artwork. Each participant will be able to create a 10’ “yarn” by weaving colorful ropes and incorporating personal artifacts. Design in Public participants are invited to observe and participate in this equity-building activity that empowers the community to create change.

Law is designing South Park Crisálida to raise community awareness about a sewer improvement project that Seattle Public Utilities will construct in 2016 and become a destination piece that attracts visitors to the neighborhood during construction. Through this workshop, community members and merchants will work together to build stronger ties, as well as incorporate their vision for a future transformed South Park.

“Community Yarns” created during the workshop will be displayed at the South Park Library (8604 Eighth Ave. S., 98108) until South Park Crisálida is installed in spring 2016. The artwork is commissioned by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.

More information on SPU’s South Park Sewer Improvement Project can be found here.

ACCESSIBILITY: ADA/Wheelchair Accessible, Family Friendly, Scent-Free Space, Multilingual program: Spanish interpretation (please check back for additional language interpretation)

Weekly Art Hit: ‘The Unified Playing Field Theory’ by Ginny Ruffner

February 28, 2013 by Tamara Childress Leave a Comment

With the dedication of South Park Vortex by Horatio Law coming up this Saturday, we thought we’d feature another public artwork in South Park – The Unified Playing Field Theory (1989) by Ginny Ruffner. The artwork at South Park Community Center was one of the earliest design team projects in which the artist worked closely with the architects from the beginning stages of renovation. Ruffner worked closely with ARC Architects, offering ideas on both structural and decorative aspects of the project.

Ruffner’s principal contribution centered on the entry sequence to the building and the tile in the locker rooms. The artist-designed entry portal is a 26-foot‑high painted steel structure that serves as a landmark and identification sign for the center. Ruffner designed cast-bronze inlays for the sidewalk leading to the main entrance. The inlays depict each day of the year, with special holidays highlighted. Also included in the sidewalk is the alphabet, with each letter and its symbol in Braille, Morse code and hand signs. All of the artwork has been incorporated into a game devised by the artist that children of all ages can play. The sidewalk patterns continue through the entrance and into the lobby, where more bronze symbols representing the solar system are set in colored concrete surrounded by symbols in sets of five: Washington mountains, local animal species, sports played at the center and the human senses.

Inside the locker rooms Ruffner created a ceramic mural featuring the handprints of well‑known local athletes, such as Debbie Armstrong, Chris Gobrecht, Fred Brown and Jim Zorn. Handprints of neighborhood youngsters are intermingled with those of the athletes.

Constructed in 1913, South Park Community Center was one of the first in Seattle, known then as a “field house.” Unique among centers nationally, South Park introduced the concept of consolidated facilities, which required fewer operating staff and provided a “homey” atmosphere. A new facility was completed in 1989.

The Unified Playing Field Theory was funded with Seattle Parks and Recreation 1% for Art funds. South Park Vortex was commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds and made possible with additional assistance from South Park Arts, South Park Library, South Park Community Center, students of Concord Elementary School and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

IMAGES: Ginny Ruffner; Unified Playing Field Theory; 1989; painted steel, masonry, bronze tiles, concrete, ceramic. Located at South Park Community Center.

– Tamara Gill, Community Development & Outreach

Horatio Law’s artwork ‘South Park Vortex’ to be dedicated March 2

February 27, 2013 by Tamara Childress Leave a Comment

Check out Horatio Law’s new public artwork South Park Vortex, at the dedication, 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 2, at Marra-Desimone Park (Marra Farms) in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood. The event will be at the northeast corner of Marra-Desimone Park at 533 South Director St., between Fifth Avenue South and Seventh Avenue South. Law will be present to talk about his artwork.

South Park Vortex is a free-standing sculpture consisting of 550 laminated, blue, glass disks, supported by a stainless-steel frame. Each sandblasted disk features a unique snowflake pattern designed by South Park residents through a series of workshops sponsored by the Seattle Public Library’s South Park Branch. The artist states, “The artwork symbolizes the coming together of the South Park community to affect change and reflects the independent spirit of South Park: dynamic, creative, proud and inclusive.”

SPU installed a bio-swale to manage stormwater runoff from Marra-Desimone Park. South Park Vortex is located on the catch basin within the swale. The artwork raises awareness of the Puget Sound region’s water cycle and environmental stewardship, especially as it connects to SPU’s work.

Law’s artwork includes mixed-media installations, public art projects and community residencies. He uses common cultural artifacts to explore issues of identity, memory and cross-cultural struggle in the evolving global community. Law is a Portland, Ore.-based artist whose public art projects include work for the New Columbia housing development and the Old Town/Chinatown Light Rail Station in Portland.

South Park Vortex was commissioned with SPU 1% for Art funds and made possible with additional assistance from South Park Arts, South Park Library, South Park Community Center, students of Concord Elementary School and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

IMAGE: Horatio Law; South Park Vortex; 2012; stainless steel, etched glass; 12’x12.5’x12.5′.

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