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Seattle Art Interruptions 2016 - Mini Murals

9/27/2016

Art Interruptions is an annual public-art program, run by the City of Seattle's Office of Arts and Culture, for purposes of vitalizing selected Seattle neighborhoods with temporary Art Installations that create discovery and surprise.

I had the good fortune to be one of 7 artists selected in 2016 to activate the Rainier Valley East-West Neighborhood Greenway, which is a pedestrian path that runs through a neighborhood, connecting parks at each end.

"Art Interruptions, an annual temporary art program created by the Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation, will offer ephemeral moments of surprise and reflection in the Rainer Valley East-West Neighborhood Greenway. This area includes: New Holly, Othello, Brighton, Lakewood and Seward Park. Beginning September, seven temporary installations on view in the greenway from through January 2, 2017, will inspire and enliven the route with an element of the unexpected. Art Interruptions is funded by Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Art funds."

My contribution to this project is a series of mini-murals tucked away behind street signs. When approached from one side, these look like ordinary signs, but peek behind them, and here's what you'll find:

Was that fun? Yes it was! :)

How did this project come about?

The City of Seattle maintains (and periodically updates) artist rosters, and when opportunities like these come around, artists can apply to the projects with specific proposals. (In business jargon, it's an 'RFP'). The proposals are reviewed by an panel of jurors comprising of citizens, artists, and city officials, and artists are selected based on the match between the proposal and the site/audience requirements.

My original proposal for this project was to traverse the neighborhood and create surprise/discovery by painting whimsical little vignettes on various surfaces (corners, sidewalks, rocks, poles, utility boxes) etc. The panel loved the idea, and I was selected as a project artist, only to discover that actual painting on public and private surfaces was a no-no (too permanent, invites graffiti, has site permission issues, etc).

Lots of neighborhood visits and hundreds of photos of prospective sites.

After much discussion, we concluded I should create temporary art primarily on Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT)-controlled surfaces - in this case neighborhood street signs. (And only particular kinds of signs that would not distract from pedestrian or traffic safety - e.g. no Stop signs, or School Crosswalk signs).

The process involved:
* Identifying the most appropriate signs
* Finding a way to exactly measure the signs
* Creating designs that, as far as possible, took advantage of sign location, shape, or other attributes
* Finding a way to economically create 20+ designs
* Finding a medium on which to render the designs so they could be temporarily attached and eventually removed
* Overseeing the fabrication
* Painstakingly trimming each design to fit it's intended site (ever notice those rounded corners on street signs?)
* Finally, site installation - every one of these signs is 10 feet high!

Here are some process photos:

Sketchbook Page: Various possible signs and their measurements

Visualizing the sites on a Maps (for planning and communication)

Sketchbook Pages showing attempts to find the right design for each site

A peek inside my design spreadsheet. Yes ARTISTS USE SPREADSHEETS TOO!!!

For this project, I realized I would have to design everything digitally. (If I painted with real paints, I would have to scan the paintings before they could be printed on adhesive vinyl. By painting digitally, I could skip the scanning step altogether and save lots of time in the process). The above images show two designs in progress, hand-drawn on a computer. (The one on the left is Escher-inspired - Escher makes it look easy, but, trust me, repeating patterns are HARD!). Even with digital designs (hooray for UNDO), I did twenty designs taking about 4-6 hours each (=80-120 hours), meaning I was sitting in front of a computer for almost 3 full 40-hour work weeks. (Don't let anyone tell you artists don't work hard! :) ).

An in-progress view of my computer folder

The designs, printed out on Removable Adhesive Vinyl.

Finally, many months later, it's INSTALLATION DAY!

But first the City had to issue an Installation and De-installation permit, to make it official.

Giving up the Corporate Ladder to climb the Artist Ladder? PRICELESS!!!

Of all the designs, this one is my favorite (because it's the one most optimized for this off-kilter sign-combination). Hard to imagine what it looked like before.

This one gave me the most trouble! Honestly, you haven't lived, till you're perched 10 feet high on a ladder, holding a large sheet of sticky vinyl, while the WIND IS BLOWING HARD. This was the largest piece and it kept sticking to itself and to the sign in odd ways due to the wind. I had to rip it off and put it back on many, many times. Took almost 2 hours. (Notice all those uneven areas? Now you know why)

Overall, this was an intense, but fun project. The art will be up Sept - end Dec 2016 so go see it anytime. More details on the City Website.

Many thanks to the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and the Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Art Funds for making this project happen.

Click below to see more details.

If you made it this far, maybe you'd like to get a copy of this special Dragon print based on one of the Mini-Mural designs...?

"Ombrophobia (Fear of Rain)"
https://www.etsy.com/listing/466524174/ombrophobia-fear-of-rain-fun-dragon

Available in 3 different ready-to-frame sizes.

This photo courtesy Mark Woods, reproduced with permission.

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Seattle Art Interruptions 2016 - Mini Murals

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Art for Wine Lovers - Part 1

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Seattle Art Interruptions 2016 - Mini Murals