When Seattle artist Jenny Heischman studied Ernst Park, she noticed "all these shapes and features reference water."
Speaking at an April 4 public meeting at the adjacent Fremont Library, Heishman described how "the winding path spills you out into the circular area." Its "curved benches [are] like waves lapping at the shore" and "visitors flow through the park," as they pass through it.
In an e-mail, Lori Patrick, public-relations manager for the Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, wrote "...the slope along one section of pathway is steep enough to make some park visitors uneasy; thus, the artwork railing project."
Heishman entitled her proposed design "Water Mover" and intends "to create a connection between concrete and water."
For practical purposes, "we refer to it as a sculptural safety railing," Patrick said.
Funding for creativity
Developed with Pro Parks Levy money, the parks department named the park after A.B. Ernst, a Seattle Parks Commissioner from 1906 to 1913.
With its winding wheelchair ramp and staircase, it gets most use as a shortcut and library access. The park includes a central plaza amphitheater, where original plans had an art fence to keep people - and daredevil skateboarders - from tumbling onto a steep slope.
When Pro Parks money ran out, Fremont Chamber of Commerce representatives advocated within the city for funding for a railing, according to chamber president Marko Tubic. The $18,000 earmarked covers administrative, sales tax and design costs, which leaves only $12,500 for fabrication of the actual railing.
Heishman appeared undaunted by this challenge. "As it often happens," she commented, "the parameters can push creativity."
At the meeting, attendees commented on her use of a polystyrene boulder at the head of the railing. When pushed about why the boulder can't be real, Heishman admitted a real boulder, cut to fit the space, costs too much.
From the boulder, the "Water Mover" consists of a series of troughs perched on x-shaped beams meant to evoke sawhorses. The 6-foot-long curving border slopes down but still the "Mover," in the design presented, starts at 4 feet to end 1 1/2 feet tall to provide adequate slope to move rainwater.
During rainy days, water will cascade off the end of the kinetic sculpture into a bucket, a "bit of humor" according to Heishman.
QUESTIONS OF DESIGN
Heishman spoke of her excitement to work in Fremont, where "the community supports arts."
Supportive and curious, the small audience at the public meeting asked many questions. They inquired about the bucket which, Heishman assured, will be bolted to the curb. With a false top to make it look full, it will tilt so water runs off, which answered fears over standing water or trash problems.
Heishman patiently tried to address all concerns. She said the boulder will be made to sustain human weight, and an engineer will consult to make sure the railing can do its job. One concern, about the railing being shortest at the steepest part of the slope, couldn't be so easily answered. Project manager Kelly Davidson admitted Heishman never received instruction on height requirements for a railing.
"Because the curved curb along the path meets the required code standards for safety," Patrick wrote by e-mail, "there is not a requirement for the height of the railing."
Heishman doesn't need to change her design, but she later said, "I'm happy to consider [the changes]; "It just seems like an easy-to-adjust concern."
A single conflict remains - this one of art appreciation. Representative works presented from Heish-man's portfolio appear modern, industrial and edgy, according to me - a person with no visual-arts expertise.
One audience member called the "Water Mover" creative and whimsical, while, to me, it looked urban and formidable.
Tubic said, "I looked at it and thought of shore defenses at Norman-dy."
ARTIST SELECTION
Last summer, a panel of two representatives from the Fremont Neighborhood Council and one from the Fremont Arts Council selected Heish-man from among artists who answered an invitational call.
"I would defer to the arts council," Tubic said of the selection, although "I would have liked to see the piece done by someone more connected to the community, someone who had strong local ties."
As chamber president, Tubic knows well the complex and diverse reaction art evokes. It is the chamber, after all, that aided the erection of Lenin in our Artist's Republic.
PUBLIC COMMENTS STILL TAKEN
For more information, or to make comments, contact Public Art project manager Kelly Davidson at kelly. davidson@seattle.gov; 684-0998; or P.O. Box 94748, Seattle, WA 98124.
No date has been set yet for the final proposal to go for parks committee review, Patrick said, but they will collect public comment until April 27.
Kirby Lindsaypasses through Ernst Park regularly in her travels 'round Fremont. She welcomes your questions at fremont@oz.net.[[In-content Ad]]
