Seattle Center Opens Temporary Art Installations, 5/9

Visitors will experience Seattle Center Poetry Garden in new ways this year thanks to a collaboration between Seattle Center and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (Arts) that brings a series of four temporary art installations to this serene space, tucked away just to the west of Seattle Center Armory.

The first installation, titled Vertical Garden, by artist Elizabeth Gahan, will be in place through April. An installation by artist Naoko Morisawa will be on display May 9 - Aug. 1, followed by works by Natalie Ball, Aug. 8 - Oct. 31, and Tara Tamaribuchi, Nov. 6 - Jan. 31, 2017. Through a partnership with Arts and Porchlit, visitors to www.porchlit.org will be able to listen to readings recorded in the Poetry Garden that complement each installation.

In Vertical Garden, Gahan uses synthetic, commercial advertising materials to create abstract, flora-inspired pieces to hang on the Poetry Garden fence. The colorful, 3-dimensional works fold and overlap, as they blend inspiration derived from the garden with materials that reflect the aesthetic of the surrounding city.

2016 marks the third year of collaboration between Seattle Center and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. The initiative began in 2014 with the installation of a collection of artworks displayed during Seattle Center Winterfest. It expanded in 2015 with the creation of Seattle Center Sculpture Walk, where the Office of Arts & Culture installed seven sight-specific artworks between September and December of that year. The Sculpture Walk will return in September with several new pieces and run through the end of the year.

The temporary art installations join a remarkable assortment of permanent outdoor works, one of the leading collections of outdoor art in the region. Brought to Seattle Center through the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and the City's Public Art program as well as private donations, the pieces add interest, color, intrigue and whimsy to the 74-acre campus. Notable works include Dreaming in Color by Leni Schwendinger, Gloria Bornstein's Neotoems and Neototems II & Children's Garden, Grass Blades by John Flemming and r/b/f architecture with Susan Zoccola, Ronald Bladen's Black Lightening, Moon Gates by Doris Chase, Olympic Iliad by Alexander Liberman, The Seattle Mural by Paul Horiuchi, several interactive play pieces in Artists at Play by Judith Caldwell and Trimpin, and many art elements contained in fountains and waterworks.

For more information on outdoor art at Seattle Center and other Seattle Center public programming, visit www.seattlecenter.com or call 206-684-7200. Visit: www.seattle.gov/arts/programs/public-art to learn more about the City's Public Art program.

About Seattle Center

Seattle Center serves as an extraordinary arts, civic and family gathering place in the core of our region. The more than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations residing on the 74-acre campus, together with a broad range of public and community programs, offer nearly 5,000 events attracting 12 million visitors each year. At Seattle Center, our purpose is to create exceptional events, experiences and environments that delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities. Activities at the Center, which generate $1.15 billion in business activity and $387 million in labor income, are supported by Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Alaska Airlines, Worldmark by Wyndham and the City of Seattle.

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