Olympic Sculpture Park

The Olympic Sculpture Park, created and operated by the Seattle Art Museum, is a park, free and open to the public, in Seattle, Washington that opened on January 20, 2007. The park consists of a 9-acre (36,000 m2) outdoor sculpture museum and beach.[1] The park's lead designer was Weiss/Manfredi Architects,[2] who collaborated with Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture, Magnusson Klemencic Associates and other consultants. It is situated at the northern end of the Seattle seawall and the southern end of Myrtle Edwards Park. The former industrial site was occupied by the oil and gas corporation Unocal until the 1970s and subsequently became a contaminated brownfield before the Seattle Art Museum proposed to transform the area into one of the only green spaces in Downtown Seattle.

Olympic Sculpture Park
The park as viewed from the Space Needle
LocationSeattle, Washington
Coordinates47°36′59″N 122°21′19″W
Area8.5 acres (3.4 ha)
FounderMary and Jon Shirley
DesignerWeiss/Manfredi
Operated bySeattle Art Museum
OpenJanuary 20, 2007
StatusOpen
Other informationOpen sunrise to sunset
Websiteseattleartmuseum.org/visit/olympic-sculpture-park

As a free-admission outdoor sculpture park with both permanent and visiting installations, it is a unique institution in the United States.[3] The idea of green space for large, monumental sculpture in Seattle was first discussed between Virginia and Bagley Wright, Mary and Jon Shirley (former president of Microsoft and Chairman of the Seattle Art Museum Board of Directors at the time), and then Seattle Art Museum director (and wife of William Gates Sr.) Mimi Gardner Gates.[4] The idea grew further during a discussion in 1996 between Robert Measures, Martha Wyckoff, and Mimi Gardner Gates while stranded on a fly fishing trip in Mongolia due to a helicopter crash.[5][6][7] Wyckoff, being a trustee of the Trust for Public Land, soon after began an effort to identify possible locations for the park.[6]

A $30 million gift from Mary and Jon Shirley established them as foundational donors.[6] As part of constructing the sculpture park, $5.7 million were spent transforming 1,000 feet (300 m) of the seawall and underwater shoreline inside Myrtle Edwards park. A three level underwater slope was built with 50,000 tonnes of riprap. The first level of the slope is large rocks to break up waves. The second is a flat "bench" level to recreate an intertidal zone. The lower level is covered with smaller rocks designed to attract sealife and large kelp. It is hoped that this recreated strand will help revitalise juvenile salmon from the Duwamish River and serve as a test for future efforts.[8]

Maintenance of the sculptures has been an ongoing challenge. Bordering the Puget Sound, a large body of salt water, the park environment has been corrosive to pieces like Bunyon's Chess, made primarily of exposed wood and metal. Tall painted pieces such as Eagle need to be watched for damage from birds and their waste. Maintenance of these large structures is expensive, requiring scaffolding or boom lifts. The paint on Eagle is also easily damaged by the mechanical clipping of grass near the base of its installation, requiring the gardeners to use scissors instead of a lawn mower near the sculpture.[9] Conservation work on Bunyon’s Chess was completed by the museum in 2018.[10]

The Seattle Art Museum regularly presents temporary, site-specific works at the Olympic Sculpture Park, including Victoria Haven’s Blue Sun (April 2, 2016 to March 5, 2017);[11] Spencer Finch’s The Western Mystery (April 1, 2017 to March 17, 2019);[12] and the newest installation Octopus Wrap (May 11, 2019 to March 8, 2020), by Brazilian artist Regina Silveira.[13]

Artworks

Current
Bunyon's Chess
Eagle
Eye Benches I, II and III
Father and Son
Neukom Vivarium
Seattle Cloud Cover

Former

Awards

The park has received numerous awards for its design, engineering and environmental restoration.

2003
  • Architecture Magazine, Progressive Architecture Award
2005
  • Museum of Modern Art, selected for the exhibition Groundswell - Constructing the Contemporary Landscape
2007
  • American Institute of Architects, Honor Awards for Washington Architecture
  • American Institute of Architects, Seattle Chapter, the Allied Organization Award[35]
  • American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter, Design Awards: Architecture Honor Award[36]
  • American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Professional Awards: General Design Honor Award (Lead Designer: Weiss/Manfredi, Landscape Architect: Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture)[37]
  • American Institute of Architects, New York State Chapter, Excellence in Design Award
  • Cascade Land Conservancy, New Directions for Livable Communities Award
  • Harvard University Graduate School of Design's Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design
  • Seattle Design Commission, Design Excellence Award
2008
  • World Architecture Festival Nature Category Award[38]
  • The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design American Architecture Award[39]
  • The EDRA/Places Design Award in cooperation with Metropolis magazine
  • I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review
  • Travel + Leisure Design Award for best cultural space[40]
  • American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, Top Restored Beach Award[41]
  • American Council of Engineering Companies, Engineering Excellence Award
  • American Institute of Architects, Institute Honor Awards for Architecture
  • Puget Sound Regional Council, 2008 VISION 2020 Awards

Public reception

Prior to and during the park’s opening in 2007, the project received positive reviews from many regional and national press sources,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] and the Olympic Sculpture Park has now become an icon for Seattle. Frommer’s guide calls it “the best thing to happen to Seattle in years.”[51]

Each year the Olympic Sculpture Park (free to the public) welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors, according to the Seattle Art Museum’s annual report.[52] In 2018, Artsy named the park one of the “World’s Greatest Sculpture Parks.”[53]

Criticism
The site in 1934. The oil storage facility can be seen at center right; the streetcar storage and maintenance building can be seen to the left of that.

Before the construction of the Olympic Sculpture Park began, there was substantial criticism in the community that the new park would result in the complete shutdown of the Waterfront Streetcar, a fixture of the Seattle waterfront since 1982, because of the park's needed demolition of the streetcar's maintenance and storage facility. The storage and maintenance building was located on a portion of the park's proposed site, and the new park was not designed to either incorporate the existing building or construct a replacement facility. As a result, the streetcar "carbarn" was demolished and the line shut down in November 2005, despite an offer by the staff of the Waterfront Streetcar to modify the carbarn into a sculpture to fit into the park, the route being named, by National Geographic Society, as one of the 10 Great Streetcar routes,[54] and its great popularity with tourists and locals. A new facility has been proposed to be built in Pioneer Square to allow the route to reopen in the future. As of 2013, King County Metro, and City of Seattle fail to implement a plan for said new carbarn.

As soon as the park opened it was also criticized by the public for two policies that seemed to conflict with the easy public accessibility of an open-air museum: "Don't Touch" and "Limited Photography". The park hired security officers to enforce these rules.

On its weekend opening, both major local papers, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran articles about the museum's "Don't Touch" policy.[55][56] The policy was instituted by Chief Conservator Nicholas Dorman to protect the pieces from damage, not just from scratching and vandalism, but long-term changes caused by oils left by human contact. The largest and one of the most accessible pieces, Wake by Richard Serra, has a delicate patina of rust that could be protected by a coating but has not because it conflicts with the museum's ideal to present and preserve the piece in its purest form.

One of the park's original prominent pieces, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, was on three-year loan from its owner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.[57] Unlike the other sculptures in the park, there was initially a posted sign indicating that the public did not have permission to photograph this sculpture,[58] in spite of its position alongside Elliott Avenue, a major street running through the park. After some criticism, the prohibition was lifted, with a Seattle Art Museum spokesperson claiming it was "a misinterpretation of the loan agreement".[59] Typewriter Eraser, Scale X moved to Seattle Center in 2016.[60]

The piece Stinger, by artist Tony Smith, caused some debate among artists and critics because it was created after his death.[61] The work was conceived by the artist in 1967 in a drawing and first constructed as a plywood mock-up in 1968. The painted steel version at the sculpture park was fabricated, based on the artist’s design, in 1999. It was donated to the Seattle Art Museum by the artist's estate.[62][63]

References
  1. "Seattle Parks Department official site". City of Seattle. 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/arts/design/14shee.html?pagewanted=1&n=Top/News/Business/Companies/Washington%20Mutual%20Inc.&_r=0
  3. Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic (July 25, 2006). ""There's nothing else like this in the country" for outdoor art, says artist". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  4. Corrin, Lisa Graziose; Gates, Mimi Gardner (2007). Olympic Sculpture Park. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum. pp. 10–12. ISBN 978-0932216571 – via Book.
  5. Regina Hackett (March 29, 2005). "Mimi Gates, Seattle Art Museum's director, doesn't shy away from a challenge". Seattle Post Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
  6. Gardner Gates, Mimi (207). Olympic Sculpture Park. Seattle Art Museum. pp. 10–12, 63. ISBN 3-540-63293-X.
  7. Sheets, Hilarie M. (14 January 2007). "Where Money's No Object, Space Is No Problem". New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  8. Seattle Times Research with the Seattle Art Museum (15 January 2007). "The seawall: Changing the landscape under water". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  9. Stuart Eskenazi (January 10, 2008). "Art at Sculpture Park is a touchy subject". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  10. Brown, Liz (May 30, 2018). "New Cedar for Bunyon's Chess". Seattle Art Museum Blog. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  11. "Victoria Haven: Blue Sun". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  12. "Spencer Finch: The Western Mystery". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  13. "Regina Silveira: Octopus Wrap". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  14. "Bunyon's Chess". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  15. "Curve XXIV". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  16. "The Eagle". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  17. "Echo". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  18. "Eye Benches I". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  19. "Eye Benches II". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  20. "Eye Benches III". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  21. "Father and Son". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  22. "Love & Loss". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  23. "Neukom Vivarium". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  24. "Perre's Ventaglio III". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  25. "Persephone Unbound". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  26. "Schubert Sonata". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  27. "Seattle Cloud Cover". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  28. "Sky Landscape I". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  29. "Split". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  30. "Stinger". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  31. "Untitled". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  32. "Wake". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  33. "Wandering Rocks". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  34. http://old.seattletimes.com/html/sculpturepark/2003518555_sculptureblurbs140.html
  35. "AIA Seattle Honors 2007". American Institute of Architects. 2007-04-13. Archived from the original on 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  36. "American Institute of Architects New York Chapter Announced 2007 Design Awards" (PDF). American Institute of Architects. 2007-02-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  37. "ASLA 2007 Professional Awards". American Society of Landscape Architects. 2007. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  38. "Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum". World Buildings Directory. 2008. Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  39. "2008 American Architecture Awards". The Chicago Athenaeum. 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  40. Barr, Luke; Bloom, Laura; Lombardo, Mimi (March 2008). "T+L Design Awards 2008". Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  41. "ASBPA Announces 2008 Winners of Best Resorted Beaches" (PDF). American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  42. "Olympic Sculpture Park Guide". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  43. Smith, Valerie (September 2006). "Take Back The Site: Valerie Smith on the Olympic Sculpture Park". ArtForum. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  44. "Stunning sculpture park could redefine waterfront". Seattle Times. 2007-01-14. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  45. Sheets, Hilarie (2007-01-14). "Where money's no object, space is no problem". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  46. Verhovek, Sam (2007-01-15). "Transformed by a creative use of space". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  47. "On the waterfront: Money and vision give Seattle a bold new vista". International Herald Tribune. 2007-01-16.
  48. "Seattle trying to woo salmon back downtown". Seattle Times. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  49. Lacayo, Richard (2007-01-18). "Walk on the Wild Side". Time. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  50. Gantebein, Douglas (2007-01-31). "From toxic wasteland to public garden with view". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  51. "Frommer's destination guide-Seattle". Frommer's. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  52. "Seattle Art Museum Annual Report 2016-2017" (PDF). Seattle Art Museum. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  53. Lebowitz, Rachel (8 April 2018). "11 of the World's Greatest Sculpture Parks, from Seattle to Oslo". Artsy. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  54. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/trolley-rides/
  55. Danny Westneat, Seattle Times (31 January 2007). "Getting touchy about art". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  56. Regina Hackett, Seattle PI Art Critic (27 January 2007). "Olympic Sculpture Park: It's not a hands-on experience". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
  57. Percy Allen (6 July 2006). "Allen loans massive "Eraser"". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  58. Jen Graves (19 January 2007). "The Stranger Arrested". Slog (The Stranger's blog). Retrieved 2007-01-22. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  59. Jen Graves (22 January 2007). "Sculpture Park Hangover". Slog (The Stranger's blog). Retrieved 2007-02-19. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  60. "Typewriter Eraser Coming in June". City of Seattle. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  61. Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic (24 January 2007). "A critic's-eye view of the new Olympic Sculpture Park". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  62. Lindsay, Erika (2 May 2005). "SAM Acquires Monumental Work by Tony Smith for the Olympic Sculpture Park, Stinger, 1967-68". Seattle Art Museum press release.
  63. Matthew Marks Gallery (2007). Not an Object, Not a Monument: The Complete Large-Scale Sculpture of Tony Smith. Gottingen: Steidl. p. 92. ISBN 9783865213136.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.