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I3UBLIC ART IN II SEATTLE O n Wednesday, October 10th thesun shone in the blue autumn sky on a busload o f happy art tourists as they walked around, on and through some of the many public art installations that Seattle has to offer. Carolyn Lair, North Shore Arts C o m m i s s i o n Cultural Development Officer, and Cathy Matheson, Cultural Coordinator for West Vancouver planned this trip for North Shore citizens to see some of Seattle's Public Art Collection that their policy of 1 % o f public building capital expenditures for the arts has created. O u r first stop after lunch and wandering through some galleries at Pioneer Square was at " W h i r i i gigs" by Emit and V e v a Gehrke, an elderly couple from Eastern Washington who do folk art at its most whimsical. Their whirligig constuctions made of childrens sand shovels placed to catch the wind, kitchen spoons, dust pans, a tonka truck, a Donald Duck, coffee pots and pure fun really made this viewer smile. E m i l built the Whirligigs and V e v a painted them. They are surrounded by a high fence for protection and make their home outside the V i e w l a n d / Hoffman Seattle City Light Substation ( N . 105th A v e . & Fremont A v e . N.). They were chosen for that sight because o f the Whirligigs connection to and reflection o f the powers of wind energy. The high cement walls surrounding two sides of the Substation have a geometric mural which was developed by the design team of Hobbs Fukui Assoc. in 1979 and reflects the color coding o f the electrical equipment inside the compound. Next we visited the North Police Precinct Station where we saw a woven glass brick wall called K h a d i made by Paul M a r i o n i in 1984 and dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. H o w many of us think to go to our local police station or light substation to see art? O n to N C A A (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), probably one of the most famous sites of public art, because there are so many installations in one beautiful geographic area on the shore of Lake Washington. First we climbed the " K n o l l " by M a r i n Puryear made in a circular mound o f stone, concrete and aggregate, evidently not as easy to c l i m b if the day is rainy. That gave us a view of thesurroundingareaandthe benches the artist designed for sitting viewers of his work. D o w n we went to the shoreline to " V i e w p o i n t " by Scott Burton w h o cut lake boulders into beautiful chairs for sitting and enjoying the walerview with bright flower plantings to enhance the aesthetic experience. The cement and aggregate bench that faced west soaked up the afternoon sun and would have been a great place for a nap. A s we walked to Siah Armajani's " B r i d g e " we could see the reflection o f the lake and sky and clouds in the mirrored buidingfront of N O A A . a pretty spectacular backdrop for all this art in their park lands. The "Bridge " goes over a culvert, is made of concrete and has cast bronze leners spelling out quotations from Moby Dick. W e crossed the " B r i d g e " and went down to the water to "Berth Haven", built by George Trakas of steel and timber . The artist had to wear hip boots as he stood in the water to create this dock. He also directed the landscaping of the crooked trees planted nearby. The last piece is called " A Sound Garden" and artist Douglas Hollis created large sculptures o f different lengths o f hollow pipes to make music with the wind. The wind was still so we couldn't hear the pan pipes play, but the benches scattered amongst the sculpture offered wonderful cloud watching between the strong sculptural forms of the "Sound Garden". W e left N O A A for Meridian Park at N . 50th St. and Meridian A v e . W e entered the park through Charies Greening's installation called Meridian A r c h w a y . Rocks, snowflake obsidian. Menicangeodes, fossils and other materials like petrified wood and shells. A s we walked under the arch and up the winding sidewalk alongside Greening's wall the viewer could discover so many beautiful mineral formations. It seemed a bit like someone's treasured collections from the mineral world put on display in a permanent format o f cement. I envisioned a whole community of people building such a work of art on the North Shore with individuals' rock, shell and coin contributions from explorations of mountains, rivers and beaches all over the worid making up some of the final piece. Public A r t has infinite potential. A s we took our Seattle Arts C o m m i s s i o n tour leader, Steve Buss, back to his office we stopped by a city plaza in front of a downtown mall where bricks coloured siena, grey and beige create a Salish weaving pattern on the ground, very pretty and unique in a downtown setting. There was even a raised platform framed with a monumental arch for public performances and speakers. This trip gave me a new way to see Seattle. If you would like a printed guide and map of SeaUle public art you may get one from the West V a n Arts Council at Klee W y c k and from the North Shore Arts C o m m i s s i o n office. ><VLLERIES HARRISON GALLERIES South Park Royal - in addition to regular artists w i l l be showing the work of David L a m (Whistler) Oct 30 - Nov 7 and Daniel Izzard (Europe) Nov 28 - Dec 5. The Gallery is also showing works by Richard Freeman. AMBLESIDE GALLERY 1339 Marine Drive, West Vancouver - B R E N T H E I G H T O N will be displaying his watercolours November 17. A l s o currently on display at the Gallery is a limited edition print by L A U R A B E R R Y . The work entitled W i s h 1 M a y was specially commissioned to assist in raising funds for the Stariight Foundation, a non-profit organization with a founding principle of granting wishes to seriously i l l children. Deadline for orders is November 30. HUMBERSTON EDWARDS fine art, 1360 Marine Drive, West Vancouver - exhibition and sale of recent paintings by S T A F F O R D P L A N T , (November 10-18) and K E N K I R B Y (November 24 - December 2). SEYMOUR ART GALLERY 1204 Caledonia Avenue, North Vancouver works by Sherry L . Mitchell and Trevor Lloyd Jones: "Interior Imagery: Landscape Rediscovered (November 14 to December 20). NEW ARTIST ON THE NORTH SHORE Georgia Youngs, an accomplished and respected portrait artist from Southern Ontario, has Just opened a studio/gallery in West Vancouver. S i m p l y called Georgia's, the gallery is situated in the new W a l k e r Building at 1453 Bellevue Avenue. Currently, she is involved in a number of nature studies inspired by a recent trip to the Baja. F o r further information please contact Georgia at 925-9923. W e s t V a n c o u v e r artist JIM F E L T E R w i l l g i v e a s l i d e s h o w a n d talk at R o b s o n Square M e d i a C e n t r e o n S u n d a y , N o v e m b e r 4 at 3 p m as a part o f the*( A r t ' 9 0 p r o g r a m . J i m got a C a n a d a C o u n c i l grant to study the i n d i g e n o u s art o f the A m a z o n bas i n a n d w i l l share the results o f his s e v e r a l m o n t h s there w i t h the p u b l i c . Illene Pevec 4