Between meetings yesterday I had a few hours to see the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. I was a December baby, am a December baby, and as a child we used to celebrate my birth annually at my aunt and uncle’s home in Fremont. Art installations, unlike restaurants, homes or even high-rises, are permanent fixtures in a community. Fremont had a wealth of artists back in the 60’s and 70’s, the marks of which can still be enjoyed today.
“Waiting for the Interurban,” is an art installation of simple cast aluminum. The artist, Richard Beyer, successfully combined the industrial feel of the big city with the natural treasure of the Northwest forests. These six life-size figures were originally rough carved out of cedar blocks. At the whim of residents and anyone who happens to be walking by, these treasures are given fresh form, color, and life. I once thought to take a photograph of the six everyday for an entire year, to gather a time-decay sequence reflecting the attitude of Seattle’s former creative center. The life of these statues brings a vibrancy to this classic Seattle neighborhood.
A few blocks away one can visit another piece of Beyer’s work. I like to think of this man as “The Pioneer.” This man may have been carved as a blank for aluminum casting; or he may have been designed from the very start to be a slow-rotting sentry for a hillside condominium parking lot. He is one of my favorites.
He is Seattle.
albaniacalling 