Look up and look closely near the top of Fremont's 1953 rocket monument. It reads "Delibertus Quirkus" - Fremont's official motto that means "freedom to be peculiar."
In this part of Seattle, anything goes and the unusual is welcome. To inform and educate people about this unique neighborhood, Northwest artist Roger Wheeler led a public art tour through the streets of Fremont on July 26.
The tour, sponsored by the Fremont Historical Society, highlighted the history behind the artistic community's development and its evolution of uninhibited creative expression over the years.
A CREATIVE CULTURE
Wheeler has been in Fremont since the beginning of the artistic boom, having lived in the neighborhood from 1956 to 2004. He currently resides in Toshiro-Kaplan Artists Lofts in Pioneer Square, where he is a working/teaching artist.
He has seen a once blue-collar community transform into what is now known as the hip/artsy "Center of the Universe."
A founding member of the Fremont Arts Council, Wheeler is a wealth of knowledge for the "back stories" of Fremont. He once painted in Fremont for 25 years in a studio where Blue C Sushi restaurant stands today.
Nowadays, he is known for his mask-making.
He explained that Fremont supports creative culture.
"It has always been a community of people that worked with their hands," he said. "There was a creative energy here, and the artists liked it."
A WORKING MAN'S NEIGHBORHOOD
Fremont - once a thriving industrial area for mill workers, carpenters, boat builders and welders - attracted artists with its affordable housing and workspaces in warehouses, storefronts and scruffy apartments. Fremont was considered a working man's neighborhood, Wheeler said.
In the '70s came a mish-mash of residents, which added a dynamic flare to the community: the blue-collar workers, artists, hippies, students, elderly and even bikers.
Though conflict seemed inevitable with the assorted personalities, Wheeler explained that bikers really did not like hippies until the hippies introduced them to marijuana. In all the years he's lived on Fremont Avenue, not once did he ever see a fight, he said, because they had one thing in common: poverty.
The creative community began to grow when two programs were introduced: a job bank and a food bank. The Fremont Fair formed in 1971 as a vehicle to finance these programs. The fair and the parade enticed more artists to the area, officially establishing Fremont as an arts community.
Then, in 1977, an arts council formed to benefit the many artists now living in the community. By 1978, a sculpture project was proposed, and soon after, "Waiting for the Interurban" took its place on the southeast corner of Fremont Avenue North and North 34th Street.
'ART ATTACK'
Wheeler's tour was an ideal opportunity to get an inside look at the many public artworks and the often-whimsical history behind them.
The "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture is often used as platform for announcing celebrations of all kinds; Fremont residents refer to it as an "art attack." Usually, the sculpture is dressed up and decorated to suit the occasion in which one is celebrating.
"I've often had to come down at 4 a.m. to avoid traffic so I can stand out in the street for a good picture," said Penny, who lives on Queen Anne.
The tour of 10 public works of art started at the "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture, wound around neighborhood streets and alley ways, up under the Aurora Bridge and finally ending at the Topiary Dinosaurs on the edge of the canal.
Wheeler also explained how public art gets made. When a public art project is initiated, a public call goes out with specific guidelines on what the project will represent.
Neighborhood groups like the Fremont Arts Council then propose a location where they would like to see the artwork displayed and presents its suggestion to the city for approval.
Funding comes from a variety of resources. A large portion generally comes from grants from the Department of Neighborhoods' matching-funds program; public donations make up the rest.
Once a piece is in place the volunteers maintain it. Some pieces, like the Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge, is a magnet for attention. With frequent visitors, trash is often a challenge to keep in check. The same applies for regular upkeep such as repairs, graffiti and vandalism.
Occasionally, pieces need to be moved and stored during periods of construction, which groups such as the Fremont Arts Council tend to. Last year, when construction commenced on the Fremont Bridge, "Waiting for the Interurban" was moved out of the way to a temporary home at the History House, only a few feet down the street.
MORE PUBLIC ART
Future public installations in Fremont include a life-size bronze statue of Pacific Northwest children's icons J.P. Patches and Gertrude, which will be placed on the southwest corner of 34th and Fremont by February 2008. Local businessperson Suzie Burke donated the land for the statue.
It will take $150,000 in funding to create the work of art, and fund-raising is already in the works through a website (www.jppatches.com) and Patches Pavers (bricks) that can be inscribed.
The finished piece is to include a collection box for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center.
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