ArtSEA: Two new public art projects point to Northwest history

One of those bright spots is hard to miss if you’re passing through Capitol Hill: a new permanent artwork by Seattle artist Ben Zamora, known for suspending fluorescent tubes in explosive light installations.

For this public piece, part of Metro’s RapidRide G Line development on Madison Street, Zamora created a rectilinear rainbow that shifts depending on your vantage point. 

Facing east (toward sunrise), the open metal squares reflect warm colors of yellow, orange and red. Facing west (toward sunset) a range of cool blues becomes more prominent. From the side, the full spectrum nods to the neighborhood’s history as an LGBTQ+ stronghold. 

“I hope this new work will reflect the spirit and identity of this community,” Zamora said when the commission was first announced.

He also intends the experience to be “interactive,” which was already happening when I visited on a sunny day. Several people were snapping photos of each other through the squares, which shrink in size as they ascend the hill — creating a somewhat psychedelic tunnel effect. Step through and it might just carry you to another plane.

Another engaging new public artwork made its official debut this past weekend as part of the ginormous Seattle Waterfront renovation.

Indianola-born and LA-based artist Oscar Tuazon designed a three-block-long installation, consisting of 22 sculpted post-and-beam structures that echo Coast Salish architecture. The heavy Douglas fir beams — sourced locally and milled in Quilcene — create a stunning colonnade spanning the freshly landscaped bike path.

Just added are two vertical cedar carvings that stand facing the Salish Sea. One is an image of a warrior, by Coast Salish artists Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson, both members of the Muckleshoot Tribe. The other, by Suquamish artist Randi Purser, depicts an image of Chief Sealth rarely seen: as a baby being held by his mother Sholeesta.

Tuazon hopes more Coast Salish artists are commissioned to contribute carvings to the other west-facing poles. The piece is a striking reminder of the people who lived here long before settlers arrived and whose cultural traditions continue to influence the city today.

How contemporary artists can make an impact on the cityscape was a hot topic of discussion at “A New Era for Seattle Spaces,” a public art talk I attended last weekend. The panel discussion — standing room only on a Friday night — featured several local creatives who have taken radical approaches to making arts spaces here.

Included were Kate Bailey, founder of Actualize AIR (which has filled the former downtown Banana Republic née Coliseum Theater with artist residencies); Nick Ferderer, founder of Base Camp Studios (which has taken over the Bergman Luggage building downtown); Elisheba Johnson (co-founder of Black arts space Wa Na Wari, located in a Central District home); and Dominic Nieri (director of ARTXIV, which has staged many arts events in a temporarily vacant Pioneer Square building). 

With moderator (and former Crosscut reporter) Margo Vansynghel, the group discussed the ongoing challenges of creating affordable arts spaces in our unaffordable city — despite the reality that many downtown buildings have remained vacant since the pandemic. 

One concern plaguing several of the panelists: Arts spaces are at the mercy of their landlords, and if a building is sold (as the Banana Republic space was recently) there’s no guarantee the new owner will abide by a previous low rent lease.

Similarly, arts groups brought in at a lower rent to liven up a vacant storefront are likely to get booted if a retail business offers more money. “Buildings are always waiting for a big store to take occupancy,” Nieri said. “It makes it hard to plan beyond little sprints.” He suggested allowing longer leases for artists, so they have more time to relocate if necessary.

A subject that elicited a chorus of groans from the panelists was the City of Seattle’s permitting process, which by all accounts is labyrinthine. But one possibility raised by Ferderer brought widespread applause: a “permitting holiday” leading up to the FIFA World Cup in 2026, when crowds will descend on the city. This would release arts groups from some of the more arcane permit requirements in favor of filling empty storefronts in time for the big event.

Arts News Nuggets

Local arts spaces continue moving and shaking this month.

< After previously announcing it would be forced to close some time this year, Century Ballroom says there’s hope for survival. A group led by local event planner Eliza Wilder is working on a plan to revive the social dance hall under a new name.

< Traver Gallery is leaving the lofty downtown space it has occupied for 30 years. It will reopen in April in a new complex called West Canal Yards, located on the Queen Anne side of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. 

< One of the University District’s last remaining movie theaters is closing this week, as reported by the Seattle Times. The AMC 10 started its cinematic story in 1989 as the Metro, part of Landmark Cinemas. Sundance Cinemas gave it a food-and-drink-focused makeover in 2012; AMC took over in 2017 and is now shutting its doors. 

< Sound Transit has posited a new light rail station on Dearborn Street in the CID, raising displacement concerns from nearby Inscape, the former Immigration and Naturalization Services Center turned hive of 100 artist studios.

Passages

Local writers and readers are mourning the sudden passing of Seattle journalist Eric Scigliano, who died this week in a diving accident in the Galapagos Islands. He was 71. 

A Seattleite since the 1970s, Scigliano was a prolific and often poetic writer for multiple national and local publications (including Crosscut). He penned several nonfiction books and was known for insightful explorations of wildly diverse topics, from elephants to Italian marble to Arctic climate change. He could also be counted on to unpack complicated local issues like Seattle’s tree ordinance, or the totem poles at Victor Steinbrueck Park.

Longtime Seattle writer Tim Appelo — a friend of Scigliano since their Seattle Weekly days — has a fond and rollicking remembrance on Post Alley.