Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 6, Issue 11, November 2002

Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Giant potatoes won't be only art in Lake City

By CHERYL KLINKER

Lake City may not get the most beautiful buildings ever developed in the city of Seattle, but whatever you think, we WILL get the most spruced up highway running through ... Lake City.

New sidewalks, bus shelters decorated with artistic panels, a new little gathering area in front of Cranium's Coffee & Collectibles, planted areas along Bill Pierre's recently touted "Auto Row," and new ART!

Art, coming to Lake City?

That's, right! And not only that, but the ARTIST is renowned to boot!

Paul Sorey was selected by a panel of both community and city employees to be sponsored by the Seattle Art Commission and Seattle Department of Transportation through the One Percent for Art Program.

For those of you who think you are not familiar with Sorey's work, you need only be reminded by taking a stroll around the Ballard Locks to see his installation. Shiny wave-shaped structures by day turn into innovative and artistic projectors by night to give viewers an extra surprise.

Sorey has been given the next couple of months to visit Lake City, speak with its residents and businesses, collect ideas, get inspired and come up with a design or two.

On Sunday, Nov. 10, the Lake City Chamber of Commerce will hold a pancake breakfast where residents of Lake City can meet Sorey and offer him suggested themes to consider. The breakfast starts at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 1 p.m. at the Lake City Community Center, located at 12531 28th Ave. NE.

In the meantime, it seems like a good idea to address the art Lake City already has, namely the sculptures in the medians along Lake City Way, between NE 123rd and NE 127th. Some of you don't recognize it as art. Others have created fanciful myths around Lake City's art.

I first heard they were representations of salmon swimming over boulders to show their struggle upstream. I was later told they represented the historical pioneer days of Lake City. Others described them to me as the "forks in the giant potatoes."

The real story on these art objects is that artist Michael Sweeney (from Iowa) created his only major work in a public place to represent painted steel swords slicing into large stones. He explained: "Boulders conjure suggestions of wilderness and have been used throughout history to establish gateway points into cities. The steel units (which arc toward the city) are derived from rectangular shapes inherent in the geometric character of city structures." The curve of each rectangle suggests nature's continual motion. They refer to Lake City's image as a gateway from the city to the country. (From "Art in Seattle's Public Places An Illustrated Guide," by James M. Rupp.)

I was disappointed to find out the rocks holding up the blade-like forms were not real, but Disney-esque, hollow painted forms over metal wires. I should not have been surprised. There is little natural along Lake City Way, and when there is something natural it gets chopped down to size pretty quickly. Take the nice trees that used to grow in front of the strip of shops that includes Sudden Printing.

All this to say, I would like to ask for your support, now that Lake City Way will supposedly be getting beautiful and have real street trees.

Let's relocate the "art" in the medians between NE 123rd and NE 127th to another public space befitting their form. Maybe Bill Pierre Ford would like to purchase them, dress up one of his sales lots a little, display as images of fast-moving cars and tie a few balloons on them just to add some color. How about it?

Come to the Pancake Breakfast on Nov. 10 at the Lake City Community Center and let me know what you think.

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Cheryl Klinker is a Meadowbrook resident and a member of the North District Stewardship Committee.