Gears removed from the historic South Park Bridge, now at Jesse Engineering in Tacoma awaiting cleaning.

I took a little road trip with Tim Lane and Barbara Grygutis last week.

Tim is an engineer with King County Road Services supervising the South Park Bridge Replacement Project. Barbara is a public artist who has contributed ideas to the bridge design, serving with the team since 2008. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, but was in town for our initial meeting with the fabricators of the mile of artful railings that will lend rhythm and narrative to the pedestrian and vehicular experience of crossing the new bridge.

Barbara’s design, being executed by Tacoma’s Jesse Engineering, exemplifies the historic and cultural integrity of the 1931 bridge. Curved pickets echo the motion of the Duwamish waterway underneath while magnificent gears and original cast iron rail panels will be embedded throughout the span.

Four rockers and guide tracks, originally obscured from view as they raised the bridge, will flank the approaches and create powerful visual gateways.  All elements will be painted metallic silver, reflective by day; the rockers will be dramatically lit at night.

Looking out from the old bridge to the new and down the Duwamish, as we visit the massive rockers and guide tracks that once opened the bascule span.

King County’s Department of Transportation, Metro Transit Division has constructed a new LEED-Gold certified Operations Building at the Atlantic/Central Bus Base (ACB). The ACB is especially important to transit service capacity because of its central location – nearly half of Metro’s fleet is dispatched from here.

The site is in the northeast corner of Seattle’s primary industrial area, and is near the International District/Chinatown, the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, and Safeco and Qwest Fields. It is bounded by Royal Brougham Way on the north, Airport Way South on the east, South Massachusetts Street on the south, and Sixth Avenue South on the West.

1,200 Metro operators now use the facility for dispatch, training, and breaks between split shifts. Metro administrators have office space here as well.

Artist Norie Sato was selected to join the design team with architecture and engineering firm, Tetra Tech and together they identified opportunities for integrated artwork. With ‘Round and ‘Round she has created a successful link to the Metro aesthetic and highlights the intersection between the building’s interior and exterior, public and private.

Each base – the Atlantic and the Central – operates separately, but similarly. Norie’s artwork embraces this interconnection, celebrating the various networks within the base and between the bus system, the county, and riders as well as the dispersal and return of the vehicles to and from the facility. Movement and rhythm are incorporated within the circular motifs of an interior terrazzo floor and a sculpture on the facade of the building.

Two intertwining labyrinths serve as a focal point of the 7,200 square foot terrazzo floor at the central spine of the facility. Each base is represented by a color, one by blue, the other by green and this differentiation is evidenced throughout the design. Medallions and circular aluminum and brass strips are imbedded for added visual interest.

These colors, forms, and materials extend outward to sculptural elements protruding through the lattice work of the green screen on the building’s exterior. Aluminum half-spheres and blue LEDs are installed on one side of the main entry door, and brass half-spheres and green LEDs are on the other. As plantings grow and envelop the screen, the artwork will be viewed as a secondary pattern in juxtaposition with the natural.

© Norie Sato ‘Round and ‘Round, 2011. Photo: Spike Mafford

For all of that do-goodness, they were awarded the 2011 Conductive Garboil Grant at a public celebration last week. Thanks to everybody who came out to show their support, especially our stalwart selection committee members!

Conductive Garboil Celebration © 2011 Catherine Trapani

Join the party Wednesday, October 26, 6-8 p.m.

Walk or drive down 2^nd Avenue in Pioneer Square recently? Did you happen to see the massive hyper-realistic mural, Emerge, on the side of the Metropole building? Ever visit the 4^th floor of the 619 Western Building on a First Thursday or attend the annual urban art celebration, Artoleptic?

If so, you’ve witnessed the work of Rio Pacific Studio – “Little” Jen Vertz and Jeff “Weirdo” Jacobson – the 2011 recipients of the Conductive Garboil Grant, a yearly, non-restricted award of $3,000.

The grant was developed by artist Su Job just before her passing in December 2008, and acknowledges Seattle artists with a connection to Pioneer Square who “incorporate the creative process into a life practice that diffuses the boundaries between professional activities, social responsibilities, and respect for the people that compose the community we all share.” This talented and extraordinarily generous duo epitomizes that charge.

Jen and Jeff have lived and worked together in the Square since 2006. Their impact on the community has been significant, regularly providing opportunities for other artists to showcase their work and building positive relationships with the viewing public. They organize Artoleptic, transform forgotten spaces with colorful, dynamic murals, and work with the Alliance for Pioneer Square, local businesses and other organizations to energize and promote the health and wellbeing of the neighborhood.

Come and celebrate with Rio Pacific Studio as they are honored on

Wednesday, October 26, 6 – 8 p.m.

4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, WA 98104.

Special thanks to McCoy’s Firehouse for their generous contributions to the event!

Photo credits: Jeff Jacobson, Emerge, © leftcoastletter.com; Artoleptic © Jen Vertz; Jen & Jeff © Rio Pacific Studio

4Culture, Artist Trust and the Estate of Su Job will announce and celebrate the recipient of the 2011 Conductive Garboil Grant on Wednesday, October 26^th.

This $3,000 unrestricted award was established through the vision of the late Su Job to honor artists with ties to Pioneer Square who engage community and push the limits of their creative practice.

Join us at 4Culture (101 Prefontaine Place South) from 6-8pm for remarks, good company, refreshments, an overview of their work plus Brent Watanabe’s This Heavy Load on exhibit in the gallery.

Photo: Conductive Garboil celebration for Kelly Lyles © 2010, Dina L. Johnson

I like collecting sounds & field recordings, and I returned from The Long Walk with many hours of audio. Since then I have been digging through those files, editing, labeling, and posting, happily recalling many moments along the journey.

I learned of The Long Walk through Hollow Earth Radio, an amazing community internet radio station in the Central District. Since I love walking almost as much as I love collecting sounds (the two go very well together), I decided to go. I knew that I would likely be surrounded by people I did not know — yet that felt like an exciting challenge — to jump in to something that fell outside of my normal social group.

I expected to see and hear some art and natural beauty along the walk, so nothing about that was too surprising (the walk and the artists involved offered plenty of that). What did shock me, however, was how quickly the group felt like a community. I often hear about art attempting to create community, and sometimes it happens. This was, however, the first time I saw it happen at such a pace.

This generation of community was to me the strongest aspect of The Long Walk.

There were other aspects I appreciated:

• TLW facilitated communication and not just between the walkers. All of us participants had interactions with people on the roads, trails and towns. We were often asked what we were doing, which allowed us to then have dialog about our own personal experience of the walk with folks we likely would not normally interact with. I personally always appreciate this extended, though often a little forced, interaction with my greater community.

• TLW itself acted as a framework/canvas for many smaller projects, some planned, some not. Some more intimate, maybe even excluding many of the walkers, but some inclusive of anyone who happened to be in the general area (most aspects of the walk were in public areas).

• TLW will likely generate and inspire more art still, as folks, including myself, collect, recall, reflect and refine all their thoughts and experiences that came about as a result of the walk.

• TLW was fairly big in scope, bridging the gap between art, public space, public health, transportation, community/neighborhood awareness and education.

• TLW was one of the better personal, artistic/creative and community experiences I have had in a long time.

All that said, I am curious what may come of the next walk, assuming there is one, given the popularity of the walk this year (all the walking spots were filled the same day they were open), as well as some of the criticism of exclusivity (though most of the event involved public art in public spaces along public trails).

- Christopher Bradbury

Christopher Bradbury loves collecting sounds. He hosts the radio show Gunpowder Suite on HollowEarthRadio.org and lives in the Central District. A selection of his recordings, including ones from The Long Walk, are available at http://soundcloud.com/disconnecteddot.

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Breanne Gearheart and Sarah Kavage.

As artist-in-residence, I am working either in the office or in the field with King County Parks staff. We discuss existing and long term issues related to the Regional Trails System in their planning, maintenance, and everyday operation. Or, we drive and walk different alignments in the metro area, observing and analyzing them. We also envision how they can evolve. On weekends, I often explore the regional trails on my bike.

Last week I rode the Lake Youngs Trail, a regional trail created as a path around the 9- mile perimeter of Lake Youngs, east of Kent, WA. Lake Youngs was developed near the turn of the century as a municipal water resource for the growing city, and was originally called Swan Lake. One can never actually view the lake itself from the trail, as it is far inland to prevent human access.

A protected reservoir, it is surrounded by barbed wire fencing, forbidding signage, and video surveillance cameras. The trail runs in long, straight north/south/east/west stretches, as it hugs the defining fence line. It is used mostly by hikers and people riding horses or bicycles, and from it one can connect rather easily to the nearby and lovely Soos Creek Trail.

The character of Lake Youngs Trail shifts from forest lane to roadside path, and from quiet and solitary passage to a lively extension of suburban backyard playspace. With the construction of each new housing tract, the nature of this area changes from rural to urban. The running fence is the constant.

The trail presented me with an impression of “defensible space,” and that phrase kept running through my mind as I rode the perimeter. The lake area is a zone designated as off limits to humans, but appears delightfully wild and verdant within the fencing. (It made me think of such “militarized” spaces, that by default “go wild,” and how the very mechanisms that keep people out, can keep the plants and animals happy within and safe from encroachment and destruction.) This bounded, ad hoc nature preserve would seem to be a positive byproduct of its existence as an otherwise restricted public utility.

Sanctuarium Münster, Skulptur Projekte 1997 © Herman De Vries

This brought to mind the work of Herman De Vries. His elegant  “Sanctuarium” sited in a sculpture park in Munster, Germany, is a completely enclosed circular brick structure, which defines a space where natural processes can proceed unfettered by human intervention, It is unadorned and impenetrable, save for 4 elliptical viewports which allow peering within. Inside, devoid of human contact, the space has gone feral…

Steigerwald, Traces 2006 © Herman De Vries

He also makes work that one could possibly encounter in a trail setting. His “Traces” are words, phrases, and symbols that he carves into boulders and applies gold leaf to the voids.

On all of the trails I encounter, I look for the “experience” offered and the “experience” that can be made possible. I am seeking opportunities and spaces where art and beauty might come to exist, and also how more ephemeral artistic actions and activities can be supported.

In this instance, the Lake Youngs Trail allows you to experience views to an untouchable, constructed “no-man’s land,” a rare little piece of the world where nature can thrive and other living things can grow and prosper. And such views are increasingly rare, into such places where we humans- fortuitously for other living things – are not allowed to enter.

Photos: Lake Youngs Trail, 2011 by Brian Borrello

D.K. Pan and NKO were commissioned by Susan Robb to create artwork for The Long Walk. D.K. and NKO have collaborated on numerous creative endeavors including co-founding the Free Sheep Foundation. For this project, they presented “The 66 Ways of Water Magic” which involved a limited edition of 66 hand-screen-printed, monotype t-shirts emblazoned with the text “Time Is Memory” (in water-based ink). The shirts were packaged along with a water bottle and hand-labeled. Each Long Walker was presented with the object as a gift, wherein the name on the package was not their own. The instructions were for the participants to bear the gifts and engage in a water ritual with the recipient in order to complete the offering process. To give the gift, one had to receive it first, creating a sequential order based on randomness. The water rituals throughout The Long Walk involved songs and dance, feet and hand washings, and shared moments both private and public. The objects existed as an artifact of the ritual, underlying the aggregated system of understanding which increased with shared activity.

“How shall I tell what I saw?”

The Long Walk started somewhere, sometime. I joined in on a mid-summer’s morning. It was early after a long night. We had spent the late hours gathering, packaging and labeling gifts for fellow walkers, of whom we knew only names, void of familiarity or identity. It was the potentiality of persons still. We drove to a beach glowing in the cool, soft sunrise light. A few known faces amid the strangers. A total of 50 in this mobile engagement; all with their own histories and motivations. Along the way, there were conversations, an accumulation of observations and stories of past journeys. We were on a pilgrimage, some knew, others wished for, we all received. With each phrase and step, a sentence began to build of a collective experience, which understood its meaning before it could be captured in articulation. The specificity of course allowed for a multiplicity of experience tethered by path. We were passing through in real time.

In approaching participation in this project, the focus became one of investigation: how do geography, activity, and time intersect to inform place and memory?

A collection of bodies present with a task contained in scope of location and hours. We were going from here to there. It was understood: we walk and share. There was purpose and exchange, and value in making the moments measured and golden.

We walked through the city, on paved trails dodging bicycles, near places known, but viewing the hidden facades, marked by esoteric glyphs of preserved presence. We walked along-side manicured rivers, manufactured wildernesses, and in the places in-between places. In traversing the interstitial planes, there was a sense of immediacy, in that we will (most likely) never visit these places again, and if so, they will have disappeared, replaced by another place removed from present context.

The immediacy also fostered a certain release, that each place existed because of our temporal passing. The sightings of eagles and hawks, pet pigs, equestrian formations, emus, banana slugs, and forests full of furry trees were gifts of the action we undertook. The time of uphill steps in the mid-day sun – hill, then another and another – accepted our effort and became generous in relief. It was as difficult and demanding as necessary.  A community of expatriate minds bonded on shared activity. To speak of the intimacy of body, its groans and pains, with others barely familiar, led to a suspension of the normal, guided by the most normal way of being, to step with another of common destination.

There was always enough. Our pursuit of engagement guided by the poetic, expressed and observed by intent or accident. The tradition was remarked and acknowledged. References to the everyday and the thinkers, poets, writers, musicians, visual artists, students, teachers, walkers and rangers who contributed out of shared ritual. The water which walked with us listened to our perspiration and rewarded with precipitating mist. The mist settled on the outlined terrain and imagined landscapes of memory and etched them as a temporary tattoo.

- D.K. Pan

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Kolya Rice and Webster Polk.

Read the third blog post in this series of Reflections on The Long Walk

The intention of The Long Walk, a time-based, participatory, and socially engaged art event was this: to experience a shift in the perception of time, a new understanding of the local geography, and the creation of an interstitial culture. A series of stories with reflections from participants about the journey will follow over the coming weeks.

First, this from Long Walker Tara Wefers:

When I happened upon a blog post about The Long Walk I thought it would be perfect for my friend to do. She was a walker, she would like it. It only took a visit to the website for me to throw my hat in, too.

Although I had reasons for signing up – like, I am new to Seattle so I hoped to discover how neighborhoods connected, introduce myself to the parks, immerse myself in the experience of the art of walking, and meet people who were interested in something similar – I was willing to simply, deeply engage a completely unknown experience with a bunch of people as an art project.

This is just a brief glimpse into what I received from the experience. Bottom line, it was so much more than I could have imagined or hoped for.

The design of the walk had me pay attention to the beauty of walking for hours with a stranger and discovering each other. I became aware of the intimacy of walking and conversation, silence, song, pacing, limping, bags, smiles and snacks. I revealed myself in ways I would not have at a gallery opening, over beers after work, or at a dinner party.

Creativity was invited out of the Long Walkers. The music, sounds, poems, photographs, videos, improv, and more that poured out of all was like a feast in dedication to this place – King County.

And the places I met! I now know where the road changes from pavement, to gravel, to pine-needles! I know there are generous communities called Duvall and Carnation! I stuck my feet in rivers, slept in parks, and walked on trails that would have taken me years to find.

For me, the entire event was an invitation to actively be awake, aware, considered and considerate, connected and creative. This I know: I am more alive as a result of it.

- Tara Wefers

Tara Wefers is originally from Portland, Oregon. Her professional background includes various executive positions from VP of Client Services to VP of Marketing to Chief Development Officer for industries ranging from hi-tech services to children’s museums to a sustainable quick-service restaurant chain. She has a Master’s in Transpersonal Psychology specializing in Creativity & Innovation. Tara focuses on working with organizations who desire to go beyond doing no harm – to actually doing good. She is also a photographer, fiber artist, and now…a Long Walker.

Read the second blog post in this series of Reflections on The Long Walk

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Cath Brunner, Beth Sellars, Tara Breitenbucher, Paul Nelson, Christopher Hoff, Sarah Kavage, and Kolya Rice.

4Culture and King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks hosted a Field Day Celebration at the Chinook Bend Natural Area in Carnation last weekend. The fifty-nine acres of open space boasts recreational access improvements and ecological enhancements: an open water wetland, over 15,000 native trees and shrubs planted by volunteers, and a series of restoration projects to encourage natural processes to carve and create the site. Betsy Damon was on hand to talk about her newly installed public artwork, Homage to Living Systems, which honors the increasing bio-dynamism of the area. Special thanks to Catherine Anstett for these fabulous photos:

photos by Catherine Anstett

Deadline: August 1, 2011

$3,000 will be awarded to a Seattle artist with a connection to the Pioneer Square neighborhood and demonstrated ability to push the creative act beyond the accepted limits, definitions or purposes of art while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex.

Does that describe you? Apply now, and please spread the word!

The Long Walk, led by Susan Robb, is a time-based, “open-source”, and socially engaged art event.

Susan and a group of fifty trail trampers will walk more than 45 miles along the King County Regional Trails System over the course of four days – July 28th through 31st – from Puget Sound to Snoqualmie Falls. Along the route, participants will experience a shift in their sense of time, a new understanding of the local geography, and the creation of an interstitial culture.

You are invited to join up with the group on Friday, July 29^th from 7:30-9:30pm at McCormick Park in Duvall for the Midpoint Mash-Up, an evening of place-based sound by the Seattle Phonographers Union, a cappella enchantment by the Bicycle Choir, grass braiding with Sarah Kavage, and a participatory “play the environment” exercise lead by Todd Shalom.

You can also follow the journey and engage via the website www.thelongwalkseattle.com, Twitter (@susan_robb [#tlwsr]), and Facebook (The Long Walk Seattle)!

Photo credit: Sarah Kavage, Grass Braid at Smoke Farm. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Does your work challenge the limits of creative discourse? Do you have a significant connection to Pioneer Square?

Applications are being accepted for the 2011 Conductive Garboil Grant, now in its fourth cycle. Seattle artist Su Job envisioned and endowed this annual non-restricted grant of $3,000 for artists who push the artistic act beyond accepted limits, definitions, or purposes while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex.

Artists or artist teams working in any media or discipline can apply, but must be Seattle residents and have a connection to Pioneer Square.

To learn more about the Conductive Garboil Grant visit the website. Information may also be found in our opportunity listings.

Deadline: Monday, August 1, 2011

Kelly Lyles, 2010 Conductive Garboil Grant recipient, Photo by Paul McRae

With more than 26,000 acres of parks and open space featuring trails, tall trees and cool streams – all less than an hour’s drive from downtown Seattle – King County Parks offers a convenient escape from the daily grind.

Now King County Parks wants to provide its visitors with a unique way to extend that escape to overnight by installing comfortable and environmentally responsible sleeping structures – and they are looking for some creative help in designing such a structure.

King County Parks and the King County Solid Waste Division’s GreenTools Program have partnered to create a competition to design an overnight structure using a surplus cargo container that can be staged at appropriate sites in King County Parks’ open space areas.

“We are looking for designs that integrate the principles of conservation, sustainability, public recreation, aesthetics and forest stewardship,” said King County Parks Director Kevin Brown. “This is intended to be a fun and creative contest that will provide us with a practical design that overnight parks users will enjoy.”

The winning design will receive a $4,500 award. Contest details and rules are at http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/partners/littlefootprint.aspx.

This summer Seattle artist Susan Robb and 50 trail trampers (*including YOU?) will walk more than 45 miles along the King County Regional Trails System from Golden Gardens Park to Snoqualmie Falls. Over the course of four days – July 28th through 31st – the group will experience the landscape in a unique way, camp in unusual locations, celebrate with a formal dinner prepared by Matt Dillon of Sitka & Spruce, and engage with interactive artworks commissioned from, among others, The Bicycle Choir, Abraham Burickson,  Sarah Kavage, NKO, dk pan, SEAT, Seattle Phonographers Union, and Todd Shalom.

Robb describes the intentionality of her time-based, “open-source”, and participatory event:

“This socially engaged work places those involved in an essentially human situation, one where walking and talking effortlessly claim their positions as fundamental sources of connection. As participants walk in an organically shifting line down the trail, strangers meet and friends deepen their knowledge of each other. Maybe it’s the passing landscape that allows just enough input, or that somehow, in looking around at our surroundings, we relax and open up. Perhaps the rhythm of our bodies syncs with some kind of cognitive function? I don’t have the answer, but the simple act of walking over an extended period of time grabs hold of a primordial space inside us and something autonomous, authentic, and exciting happens.”

Are you interested in shifting your sense of space and time, gaining a new understanding of local geography, and becoming part of this interstitial culture of walkers?  The Long Walk is free and open to anyone 21+ who can hike an average of 18 miles/day. Participation is limited and registration will open on June 6th at 7 a.m. via Brown Paper Tickets.

Not up for the trek? You can still join the group at McCormick Park in Duvall on Friday, July 29th and follow their progress via a variety of social media outlets (including Twitter: @susan_robb (#tlwsr) and Facebook: The Long Walk Seattle).

Want more information? Visit www.thelongwalkseattle.com.

Photos © Susan Robb and participants of The Long Walk, 2010

*Video documentation of The Long Walk, 2010 can be viewed here: http://blog.4culture.org/2011/01/the-long-walk-in-video-view/

Step right up! The summer festival season kicks off with a bang on Saturday, June 11 (12-8pm) at the Georgetown Carnival. This eclectic event focuses on the creative diversity that characterizes the industrial arts district. A wide variety of attractions will appeal to visitors: circus entertainers, sideshows, aerial acts, carnival games, confections, music, alluring art, power tool races, and more!

For a list of Georgetown Carnival artists, performers, activities, a map and schedule see: www.georgetowncarnival.com.

Photo courtesy of Georgetown Carnival

The finalist will be embedded with the Parks and Recreation Division for a full year to develop an arts master plan that includes: (1) an overarching scheme/ethos that can help define and articulate the identity of this unique amenity; and (2) a long-term and synergistic approach to public art programming within the RTS, including the formation of concrete recommendations for the inclusion of artworks in multiple media and in specific locations.

Open call to professional artists living in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia

Deadline: February 7, 2011 by 5:00 pm (PST)
Budget: $50,000

More information here, or contact Jordan Howland, 206.296.4137

Image © King County Parks and Recreation Division

Damon’s artwork, comprised of three distinct elements, underscores the notion of water as a living system, interconnected to all life. Living Water Compass features a low relief image of a magnified drop of water, demonstrating the metaphor of returning the site to an integrated living system. Pole to Measure Floods identifies flood levels, the rising and falling waters. Seating Stones are created from glacial boulders etched with natural imagery and descriptors of revitalization: reveal, restore, and revere.

Audio Interviews with Betsy Damon:

Chinook Bend

Chinook Bend

Living Water

Living Water

Take a trip to Carnation to see the work in person!

Images: Betsy Damon, Homage to Living Systems, 2010 © Lonnie Feather

Artist Andy Cao has worked on the project with the King County Roads Division and Water and Land Resources Division since 2007. Gregoire acknowledged his participation in the design process and the development of his forthcoming integrated earthwork. Pillow Field will be comprised of sculpted earthen mounds formed from soil excavated during site construction and planted with chamomile. The work will occupy each of the four quadrants created by the switchback path.

Photo: 4Culture. Pictured: Christine Gregoire, Xavier Perrot, and Andy Cao.

Envisioned and endowed by artist Su Job before her passing in December 2008, the Conductive Garboil Grant is a new, non-restricted award of $3,000 for Seattle artists with a connection to the Pioneer Square neighborhood who have “demonstrated a profound ability to challenge the limits of creative discourse and its effects on our society, pushing the artistic act beyond accepted limits, definitions, or purposes while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex.” It was Job’s wish to use funds originally designated for extended end of life care to establish the annual program. She chose Lambe as the first recipient. Lambe’s resume, bio and work samples can be viewed on myartspace.com.

Are you a Seattle-based artist with a connection to Pioneer Square? The 2009 Conductive Garboil Grant cycle is open through July 27. View the guidelines and application. More details may be found at www.garboil.org.

image: © Lambe receiving Conductive Garboil Grant, Photo by Doug Vann