Not going to lie, this art turned out way cooler than I was expecting. The first time I’d done extensive laser etching on wood and the technical line based drawings I do translated like a dream. So thanks to Capital One for paying me and my long term curator/project make-happen-er, Heidi McBride. She’s kick ass.
Seattle is a special place for me, as I lived in the Pacific Northwest for years, so drawing the imager and buildings making up this architectural surreal scape was a natural fit. Seattle HAS seen rapid growth and change, so that was a surprise to me spending time in South Lake Union installing this art.
The drawings attempt to border a line of recognizable and obscure in the architectural makeup. I was sure to include some funky houses because Seattle’s neighborhoods are so unique, some of these drawings are from my time living in Beacon Hill in 2007, at the time known as the last not yet gentrified neighborhood in seattle. It overlooks the industrial district near the stadiums and buts up to the International District.
There’s drawings of the extensive port and shipping containers, which attempted to give a nod to its location on the Puget Sound, surrounded by whales and islands.
The city center library is included because that’s just such a bad ass building and very inspiring place to spend time in.
There’s obviously pike place, kinda cheesy to put that in there, I know. But I grew up with a very food forward household and I’ve always loved how this market is a huge tourist destination. Overall Seattle is a dream food location, by being on the water but also so near to such incredible growing locations on the other side of the Cascade Mountain range.
Speaking of, I did include some of the Mountains, including a drawing of Mt Rainer. I mean, for real, that thing is towering over seattle giving the city a constant reminder of the force of nature. It’s inspiring.
I also drew Dicks, the hamburger walk up spot found around Seattle. It’s a classic spot and it reminds me of many a late night food grab after drinking Rainer beers. Just saying.
Gassworks is a park near Freemont, that’s a factory turned amazing park where you can have great views of the city, even watch water planes take off/land in the lake there. I drew that not only because I loved spending time there but to also represent it’s industrial past.
The etching was done locally by an incredible art foundry/fabrication studio. The art was installed to float off the wall in 3 different layers. There’s a light giving a full range of custom color selections by phone, changing the look of this piece at any time. Score.
