-We are on the Seattle waterfront at the new waterfront park.
The art that is here really tells you a little bit about the place.
It could be about the environment, the ecology of the waterfront.
It could be about the culture of the waterfront.
We are standing in front of Oscar Tuazon’s
artwork called “To Our Teachers”.
It is an artwork that represents the architecture
that used to be on the waterfront.
That takes reference from long houses,
the traditional indigenous architecture
of the waterfront.
Over here
we have a carving by Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson,
who are members of the Muckleshoot Indian tribe.
it is called honoring our Muckleshoot Warriors.
And it is a Muckleshoot warrior.
And on the other end we have a carving, called “Looking at All Our Tomorrows”
by Suquamish carver Randi Purser.
She has carved the figure of Sholeesta,
who is Chief Sealth’s mother and is holding Chief Sealth, who is an infant.
Chief Sealth, of course, is the namesake of Seattle.
We are on the waterfront.
We could, in the future experience sea level rise as a result of climate change.
And so the artwork by Buster Simpson called “Migration Stage”
uses structures that are, adapted from the idea of shoreline armor.
They are these are concrete structures that interlock and prevent shoreline erosion.
He also has sandbags, benches made of sandbags.
He calls them SeaBearers.
But they also look like grain bags.
And that makes reference to the fact that the waterfront is a port.
It's a working port.
And so the grain bags are the commodities that come in and out of the port.
So we have the “Joshua Green Senior Fountain”, by George Tsutakawa.
And this fountain was made in 1966
and it was originally at Colman Dock
And so we we reintegrated the historic fountain.
There are two historic fountains here.
At the Union Street pedestrian bridge.
We have “Unfurling a Gesture, the Nature of Persistence” by artist Norie Sato.
It is a large, arching sculpture that, frames the stairway
that goes up to Western Avenue and also along the pedestrian bridge
has images of ferns in the perforated screen,
which is overlaid by the wingspan of a seagull.
basically represents what sort of plant and animal life that you can find here.
on the waterfront.
On pier 62
on the floating dock
there is a piece by Stephen Vitiello which is called “Land Buoy Bells”.
And that artwork rises up and down along with the floating dock.
And, it actually captures the tidal energy of Puget Sound.
And then it will release that energy and you will hear
that sound as bells that are a part of the artwork.
Then we also have,
an artwork called “Guests”, which can be seen in particular at night
by artist Ann Hamilton, and that is underneath the Overlook Walk.
And it is in this space that is sort of in between the sidewalk and the park,
Pike Place Market garage.
And so that is a piece of 42 large
puppet figures that are suspended in this space,
and they move and sway and bob with the wind.
We're hoping that as they look at the artwork,
as they look at the artist statements, that they will be able to get a sense of,
you know, what this waterfront is
and learn something a little bit more about the place that they're in.