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| Sidewalk: Artist Gloria Borenstein. |
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| Detail of Sidewalk Art |
When
you visit Seattle be sure to pay close attention to the little details around
you. Did you spot a 30-foot sculpture of
a troll under a bridge, gold plated leaves rustling within a concrete sidewalk,
how about a live performance by buskers in Pioneer Square? Details like this
make Seattle a very unique place to visit.
Around every street corner and in every crevice King County ensures to
provide its residents and visitors a rare artistic experience. 4Culture is the agency that provides the
finances to these projects. Prior to my
internship with 4Culture this summer, I had visited Seattle and wondered how
these extraordinary works ended up in the most unusual places. Sometimes local friends didn’t know
themselves.
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| Walk way plaques along the sidewalk. |
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| Walk to the Mountain |
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| Detail of Art Work on Walk to the Mountain |
This
summer, because of my internship, I found out the answer. Seattle lies within King County. Since the 70’s the County receives a 1% tax
from hotels and lodging which goes to supporting the arts. This means that every time a tourist,
international backpacker, or businessman at a conference pays for a hotel,
hostel or bed and breakfast within the county, a 1% tax is taken and applied
for the sole purpose of the arts. Think
about a sculpture, mural, or tile walkway at the entrance of a building that
you might have seen in your town. Many
cities and counties integrate art into the design of their communities in one
way or another. The difference between
King County and other communities is that they place art everywhere! While visiting, if you walk down the sidewalk
in any direction, chances are you will see a work of public art. There are thousands of them in every shape,
size, and medium.
Do
you have interests in building a skate park, applying for grant funding, making
a public work of art, or developing your cultural vision? I’ve learned from my
internship, to get yourself into the door of 4Culture, your application should
be impeccable. Next, make your
interview stand out by forming your project around the goals of community
interest.
As
part of the agreement, employees are not allowed to choose artists; instead a
panel of from the community is formed and voting to make the final
decision. This is for every, and I
emphasize every public artwork, live
performance which could be dance, music or theater, even some writing and poetry. Choosing an artist or performer is a
step-by-step method that does not happen immediately. I had the privilege to sit in on this process
and watch behind the scenes of some of Seattle’s up and coming exciting
projects.
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| Artist Selection: Pro Skater Torey Pudwill, Representative of Red Bull & Transworld Skateboarding. |
One
project, very special to me as a vertical quad roller skater, was the Red Bull
Skatespace. The concept was to
create an artistic, skateable artwork that would be available to the
public. The panel included seven lucky
participants: a Seattle Arts
Commissioner/Landscape architect; a visual artist with public artworks
experience; a representative from the Seattle Department of Parks and
Recreation; a representative from the Seattle Skate Park Advisory; professional
skateboarder Torey Pudwill; and representatives from Red Bull and Transworld
Skateboarding. Although, Red Bull solely
funded the budget for this public work, the process to pick the artist was conducted
the same as a public funded arts project.
How
about $36,000 to create your vision?
That was the budget for the Red Bull Skatespace project and it is
exactly what Red Bull did for C.J. Rench and partner. C.J. Rench
is a retired professional snowboarder with a sculptural and sports innovation
background. It was no wonder why the
panel chose an artist of such professional competence. However it was not an easy decision. A few other artists were community favorites
and just as professional. In the end, it
was the Instagramable images of C.J. Rench that won over the panel.
Red Bull Skate Space. Artist Selction at 4Cultrue. Part 1: Black Canvas. Collaboration begins.
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| 4 Culture Entry Way |
Luttikhuizen and Jordan Howel.
Public Art (P.A.) is a field that
merges public presentation with artist’s intent. From what I experienced through 4Culture,
this could be a mural, a sculpture, an integrated work, a site-specific work, or
a work of art hanging on a wall, as long as it is available to be viewed by the
public in some way or another. While
interning with P.A., I attained access to many county offices that an average
visitor might have no interest in seeing.
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| Looking out into Seattle from within 4 Culture |
Seattle’s downtown courthouse has 11
floors including the basement, yes there is even art in the basement. Roaming the halls was like Easter egg hunting
with the prize being a remarkable work of art.
I even saw an original Ed Hardy piece from 2007, who would have known? Reporting the conditions of the courthouse
artwork was a challenge because of security.
We could not enter with all the tools we needed, and occasionally people
wouldn’t allow us into their department until a department head cleared us.
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| Harborview Medical Center Entry Way & Waiting Room |
My internship was only eight weeks
and taking reports on each county public artwork was impossible. The courthouse took over a week itself! Focusing on large buildings close to the
office was the best option. Another one
of my favorite locations we tackled was the Harborview Medical Center (HMC),
which was comprised of several buildings nine or ten floors apiece. Although we did not have to get security
clearance, we still had to be sensitive towards visitors and people’s health
conditions. At the HMC I worked alone
and saw many families waiting for updates on their loved ones. In these instances I was extra careful to be
respectful of the healing process and thought of how the art helped subside any
sorrow or heartache. It was also interesting
to see how the employees reacted to the art.
Sometimes they were grateful of the art, mentioning the cheer it brought
day-to-day and other times they couldn’t wait until someone at 4Culture changed
it out. For the most part, the artwork
pleased the people of King County.
A link to a story about the arts at Harborview Medical Center:
4Culture
is committed to diversity. Staff
represents a full spectrum of cultures and viewpoints. Many of them have backgrounds or interests in art. It was great to see so many people working
toward one vision to bring artistic joy to King County. Although the staff was focused on
professionalism, they don’t allow that to get in the way of friendliness, which
I think is the key to 4Culture’s success and something I hope to carry with me
for the rest of my life. It was a
pleasure to get the chance to work with 4Culture Staff.
The Red Bull Skatespace is an
example of a corporate funded project consulted by 4Culture. This doesn’t happen often since projects are funded
by the county’s 1% tax. Three projects I
had the opportunity to witness the processes on were the Wayne Tunnel, the
South Park Bridge, and the Juvenile Justice Center. Each project was in a different phase of
production and the comparison helped me to understand the role of
4Culture.
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| The South Park Bridge |
The South Park Bridge is probably one of 4Culture’s largest budgets for a project it used both county as well as federal funds. After a nationwide call to artists, Babara Grygutis was awarded the project. By the time I arrived in Seattle the bridge was already being fabricated. We visited the companies that were welding and painting. Both processes were intriguing since they had to collaborate with an artist’s vision. I was impressed with the importance the men painting and constructing placed on the artist’s intentions. Building a bridge seems hard enough without having to worry about the artistic intent behind each piece. It is these types of projects that I think make Seattle stand out from other cities. I not only look forward to seeing the end result but I also hope to get to ride across that bridge one day.
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| The Seattle Bridge |
Located in the Fremont community is The Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle, a
long bike path that cyclists and pedestrians use on a daily basis. Along the trail is the Wayne Tunnel a large
empty space just waiting for someone to turn its white walls into art. It’s the kind of space where if the county
didn’t select an artist, someone might elect themselves to transform the space. This project, like the Red Bull Skatespace,
was still in the panel stage. However this
panel consisted of other community artists, locals who lived in the
neighborhood, parks and rec, and community leaders. The panel process took two weeks. The first week the panel came together to
look through hundreds of applicants only to narrow it down to five
finalists. In the second week the
finalists came in for an in-depth interview.
It is after the interviews that the panel votes. The final votes might take hours because some
panelists can be conflicted between more than one artist. During this time, 4Culture staff is not
allowed to share any opinion on the votes one way or the other. For me it was very difficult not to have an
opportunity to say what I thought, but it was an exciting process to watch and
I was pleased to see that the panel settled on Kristen Ramirez for the project.
The Burke-Gilman Trail
One project I did a lot of research for
was the new Juvenile Justice Center. I
really liked this project since my art background is largely influenced by
prison art. The project was still in its
beginning stage of development and required a lot of investigation. Similar projects where Juvenile Justice Centers
(JJC) integrated art with the design of their structures helped but much of
what I read was heartbreaking and depressing. Youth with troubled pasts and very little hope
for the future seemed stuck inside a system that historically used domination to
reform. JJCs know this dark reputation
follows them. Today a change in the
atmosphere as well as relationships between youth and staff is the focus of new
art programs implemented into JJCs. Instances where the juveniles collaborated,
installed, and inspired designs were most helpful in understanding reform and
the arts. Overall, the research I did
proved that offering fine and performing art programs and an atmosphere that displays
or integrates art helps speed up the reformation for these youth.
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| A snapshot of the art show titled Free First |
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| Work by Artist K. Ramirez |
On top of everything else they do,
4Culture also hosts monthly art exhibitions.
The artists who exhibit are locals, chosen by panelists. I found out that most artists only get one
opportunity to display their work because gallery space is in high demand. Aside from the gallery space there are also
two digital exhibition spaces. One displays
work from people all over the U.S. and another displays communal projects.
Contest Winners at 4Culture's Arcade Gallery:
Mobile Stories Throughout King Country:
Art on display during my time at 4Culture:
Past exhibitions at 4Culture:
Contest Winners at 4Culture's Arcade Gallery:
Mobile Stories Throughout King Country:
Art on display during my time at 4Culture:
Past exhibitions at 4Culture:
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| Loading Art Work with Bill Whipple |
Most
of my internship required observing but not contributing my opinion. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; even staff
cannot state their opinions during panels when asked.
It
felt good when the day came that my opinion finally mattered. During Artists Up, I was allowed to be on a
panel with leading Latino artists of Seattle.
Our panel discussed the issue behind why more Latino artists did not
apply for grants. This was the final
stage of a three part series in which Latino artists from the community could
come and learn the process of how to apply for a grant. Applying and getting a grant can be a trial
and error process because you are trying to figure out exactly what the grantors
are looking for. People usually don’t help
each other to submit a successful grant application, especially not the agency
that is contributing the funding. The more applicants an agency receives, means
more paperwork to read through. The prospect of that additional work does not
deter 4Culture as it understands that sometimes you have to do a little extra
work to have equal representation from the community.
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| My work space at 4 Culture |
I
would like to thank the 4Culture staff for making me feel at home in
Seattle. I had my own desk and worked
next to another amazing intern. Getting
to know Jordan, Esther, Willow, Tamar, Cath and Raya from the Public Art
division meant the world to me and making connections with Tina, Sean, Heather
and Bill will be with me for a lifetime.
I visited 4Culture two years ago and thought that I could only dream of working at a place like this. Thank you ARTTABLE, the agency who awarded me
the internship, to remind me that dreams do come true.
