Public art in public parks

By BARBARA LUECKE
King County Public Art Program

Artworks in many parts of the world survive to give us insight into the history of a culture. This is why we gain so much pleasure from our travels in other countries. The King County Public Art Program is doing its part to make life at home pleasurable as well.

From Australia to Enumclaw, people are beginning to demand more of the places in which they choose to live or to work. Art helps define a place, commemorate the past, and celebrate the present.

Salish house posts of Beaver Lake Park Photo by Helen Carlson

The current view of public art sees the integration of creative ideas and artworks with their location, often referred to as site specific.

Artists can also create building parts. When a design calls for seating, guardrails, tree grates, surface treatments or a variety of other alternatives, an artist can be hired to create those parts. The King County Public Art Program makes selecting an artist easy through its Artist-Made Building Parts Project. Forty-seven artists and artist teams, pre-selected for the quality of their work and their construction experience, are showcased in a full-color catalogue available to King County design professionals through the Public Art Program office, (206) 296-8676.

The catalog is also on the Internet. This award-winning program divides artists into art medium categories, and cross-references those who work in multiple media. A slide show featuring the current work of the artists can also be booked through the Public Art office.

Around the world, artists are joining teams of design professionals to collaborate on environmental designs. Besides creating original works of art, artists working on a team can affect creative decisions about space, materials and color that impact the entire project.

The Beaver legends totem, Beaver Lake Park Photo by Helen Carlson

Art in parks

In partnership with the Public Art Program, Cole incorporated Tsimshian totem poles and Salish houseposts into the design of Beaver Lake Park on the Sammamish Plateau. To make installation easier, the Portico Group included footings and specifications for the artwork in construction documents for the park. The 30-foot and 40-foot totems in the meadow, and the 10-foot houseposts in the cedar pavilion, look like they were made for the park because they were.

Following a community outcry in Enumclaw over county plans to pave over a beloved swimming pool, Cole worked with artists Vern Luce and Monte Gillette to create a smaller multi-level wading pool known as Pete's Pool. The artist team also developed a landscape plan, and designed and fabricated a unique lighting system inside the pool enclosure. The result was a satisfying continuation of the legacy begun by community activist Pete Chorak: a special place for the community to gather.

Ray Jensen's Gathering Place in North SeaTac Park commemorates the lives of the many families who once lived there. A 210- acre park was formed north of Sea-Tac International when the FAA required over 1,000 family homes be moved due to flight path hazards. Through an open competition, Jensen was selected by the Public Art Program to create an original artwork for the park. Jensen found the houseless foundations and empty streets the most compelling aspect of the site. He decided to pay homage to the ghost neighborhood through the form of a one-room schoolhouse skeleton. A bell that once rang in a nearby school hangs in the belfry. The city of SeaTac was inspired by Jensen's design to contribute in-kind landscaping around the sculpture to complete the sense of place.

The Gathering Place by Ray Jensen photo courtesy of King County Public Arts Program

The King County Public Art Program advocates for creating public art of the highest quality and for bringing an artist into the design process early. An artist's work as a design team member can be collaborative and form part of the overall design documentation, or presented as individual concepts for site-specific artworks. An artist can be selected through a call-for-artists competition, which is basically a request for qualifications, or by hiring an artist to make building parts.

For more information about public art in King County, please call the Public Art Program at (206) 296-8676.

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