Joanna Lepore in City Arts magazine

Coming soon to the Red Wall is Joanna Lepore's Vertical Pallet Garden project.
"The vertical pallet garden installation will showcase a beautiful, living, edible vertical garden constructed of waste materials complete with a creative, low cost irrigation solution. The installation will include three large panels detailing at-home construction of a pallet garden. A fourth panel will identify edible plants within the garden to encourage passers-by into a full sensory experience. The aim is to inspire urban Seattleites to recreate pallet gardens at their homes and apartments."

Joanna was recently published in City Arts magazine writing about her growth and development as an urban garden activist in an article entitled, The Education of an Urban Environmentalist.

NKO wins City Arts Art Walk Award!

Congrats to NKO for winning the City Arts Art Walk Award for his Red Wall project. He was chosen from a list of 10 finalists during an event on Jan. 24th. NKO received the first place award of $1,250. Kudos to City Arts and sponsors for supporting Seattle artists and Art Walks!

City Arts Art Walk Awards

We were pleased to hear that 3 of the artists who completed projects recently on the Red Wall have been noticed by the good folks at City Arts Magazine for their quarterly Art Walk Awards. Congrats to NKO who was chosen as a finalist. Greg Bourdeau and Tory Franklin were included in the People Choices Finalist category, wherein the public can vote them into the final round. Vote here.

Greg Bourdeau's painting stolen!

Greg Bourdeau's Arboretum - courtesy of the artist

One of Greg Bourdeau's recently installed paintings was stolen over the holidays. Entitled "Arboretum", the 32" x 92" painting on reclaimed wood was taken sometime between December 19-21st. If you have any information on the whereabouts, please contact the Sound Transit Art Program. Greg will be adding additional works to his installation in the coming months.

Otto Bulut - SEAT

Otto Bulut is the latest SEAT, Seattle Experimental Animation Team, artist to utilize the Red Wall for a stop-motion animation film project. As part of SEAT's residency, each artist is allotted 6-months of wall time to develop their project. Some insights into the process from Otto:

"The shoot at the wall was a great experience and was a first for me in a couple of ways.  It was my first time directing a crew on a live shoot and my first time doing pixelation (stop-motion with human models).  My expertise is in 2D puppet animation (shadow puppets and paper doll) and 2D computer animation (Flash, After Effects) and I have rarely had the opportunity to work with a crew.

Otto Bulut

The shoot went surprisingly smoothly.  I came in knowing what I wanted to get on film but not having a technical plan on how to execute it.  Seven members of S.E.A.T. showed up and worked it out with me, quickly coming up with a plan on how to get my vision captured.  I felt like our collective experience really came together to make it a fun learning experience. 

Saskia Delores with SEAT animators, Salise Hughes and Tess Martin

I am also so very grateful to the members of the community that came out to lend a hand.  The five of them were so patient and good-natured during the slow and demanding process of animation.

This experience gave me much inspiration to finish the project which is a music video for Saskia Delores, the rest of which will mostly be stop-motion with painted 2D puppets. As an added benefit, it made me excited to work with teams and live shoots in the future, directions I have long wanted to explore."

Otto with SEAT animators, Stefan Gruber and Britta Johnson, and crew

For more info on Otto Bulut - here and here 
Photos courtesy of the artist.

STars on Broadway

STars on Broadway Celebrates Third Year

(On the Capitol Hill Red Wall, on John Street at Broadway)

For the third year in a row, Sound Transit has partnered with the Capitol Hill Chamber to shine a light on neighborhood non-profits that make life brighter for everyone on Capitol Hill throughout the year.

A lighting ceremony will be held at

5:30pm, Thursday, December 13, 2012

in conjunction with Capitol Hill ArtBlitz

Meet at the Capitol Hill Chamber office (1641 Nagle Place, next to Cal Anderson Park) and promenade to the STars on Broadway site at E John St and Broadway.  (Lanterns encouraged.)

STart, Sound Transit art program, in conjunction with the Capitol Hill Chamber and the red wall curator - DK Pan, pair an artist from the Red Wall temporary art roster with a local organization to create a custom STar inspired by the non-profit.  These STars will stay lit on the Capitol Hill Link light rail construction wall through the dark winter nights.

2012 nonprofit honorees and artists:  

Capitol Hill Housing - Dan Hawkins 
Three Dollar Bill Cinema - Monika Proffitt 
Velocity Dance Center - Ezra Dickinson 
Washington Bus - Susan Brown
Friends of Olmsted Parks - Jeanie Lewis

Capitol Hill Seattle Blog article here.
Capitol Hill Seattle Blog’s coverage of 2011 STars on Broadway lighting here.

STars on Broadway 2011, photo

Top Row, left to right:

2010 Rosehedge/Multifaith Works, Michiko Tanaka; 2010 Cal Anderson Park Alliance, Rob Zverina; 2011 Friends of the Conservatory, Volunteer Park, Joanna Lepore; 2010 Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets, Jesse Brown; 2010 Neighborhood Farmer’s Market Alliance, Sam Trout

Bottom Row, left to right:
2011 Entre Hermanos, Joey Veltkamp; 2011 Ingersoll Gender Center, ilvs strauss (lowercase correct); 2010 Gay City Health Project, NKO; 2011 Reel Grrls, Kelly Lyles; 2011 Youthcare, Ferdous Ahmed.

Greg Boudreau

Greg Boudreau has installed 7 panels of his series on cityscapes on the Red Wall. Each painting is a laborious process involving multiple layers of hand-cut stencils and aerosol paint, created from manipulated photographs taken by the artist. The panels are constructed from re-claimed wood. For more info on the artist's work - gregboudreau.com

Arboretum

Transit Skyline Merge

Airport Way #1

Colonnade Park (top), I-5 Merge (bottom)

Spokane Street Ramp

11th & Pine

photos by dk pan

Amanda Manitach gives a shout-out to the Red Wall on her wonderful article in City Arts magazine about psychogeography and the city -  City Arts article

NKO - "The Architecture of Endlessness"

The Architecture of Endlessness, a new mural by NKO, will officially open for the second Thursday ArtBlitz from 5pm until dusk on September 13, 2012, between Denny and John on 10th Avenue East in Seattle. Situated on the East facade of Sound Transit’s Link light rail Capitol HIll Station construction site - also known as the Red Wall - this 24’x 240’ painting will remain until the station construction is finished.
For more info on NKO - here and here. An earlier post about the project as it commenced is here.

The Architecture of Endlessness was designed and painted by NKO, with assistance from Sign Savant’s Japhy Witte. Executed over five weeks, the mural is an abstract, improvisational reaction to the site framed by concept (and word) of endlessness -- both in relation to the site itself (the painting will disappear in a few years) and to the continual evolution of the city. Repeated letterforms collapse into colorful cityscapes, towers climb within impossible geometries, lifter cranes swing freely above as the clouds roll in... the visual tableau is of a jumbled, brightly lit future accented by surreal moments of colorful nostalgia.

photo by Barbara Luecke

The project is curated by New Mystics and commissioned by Sound Transit through STart, it was also funded by an Individual Artist Project Grant from 4Culture, and received support from Sign Savant, Art Primo, Davis Sign and Painter’s Guild of Magic. D.K. Pan is the STart lead artist who helps shape the Red Wall art commissions.

photo by Barbara Luecke

NKO is a Seattle based visual and performance artist, curator, and designer. He is founder, with DK Pan, of Free Sheep Foundation and Black Sheep Book Arts. No Touching Ground and NKO are also founders of New Mystics. NKO regularly works with experimental theatre company Saint Genet, and has been a long time volunteer at VERA project silkscreen studio. As a curator, NKO has produced shows for Bumbershoot, City Arts Festival, and has worked with the Department of Neighborhoods, 4Culture, Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, and Seattle Parks Department.


Japhy Witte, aka Sign Savant, is one of the finest sign and scenic painters in the city of Seattle. You may have noticed his other work on the Red Wall project - he has composed and executed all of the hand painted artist title cards adorning the wall. You can also find his work at Under the Needle tattoo in Belltown, and on almost every block of West Seattle. Japhy has worked with MOHAI on restoration projects, and also regularly works with New Mystics and Saint Genet.

Photos by dk pan unless otherwise noted.

Tory Franklin - "Fe Fi Fo Fum"

Tory Franklin has installed 'Fe Fi Fo Fum', a mural which includes an articulated figure, and measures 12' high by 20' wide. This project is located on John St and 10th Avenue, at the North Easternly most corner of the red wall.

Tory's words about this project: "The Victorian Era, much like our own, was an age of extreme eclecticism. A proliferation of surface ornament appropriated from many different cultures covered anything designers could get their hands on. Children were for the first time considered a major demographic, and the market was flooded with books and easily assembled paper toys taking advantage of new print techniques and industrialization that put these objects into the hands of the general public.

I grew up with reproductions of fairy tales and toy theaters from this period and the fantastical design aesthetics and possibilities of print were firmly cemented in my artistic core. Years later I returned to this rich source material to combine narrative with contemporary print processes on an architectural scale.

This piece is based on Jack and the Beanstalk and depicts a human-scale puppet of Jack making his way up a beanstalk snaking throughout the image area of the wall."

To learn more about Tory Franklin's work: toryfranklin.com

Photos courtesy of the artist.

Sam Trout - "Landscape of the Vanities"

Sam Trout is the latest artist to finish their project for the Red Wall. This 56'x8' mural painting is located near the Broadway Ave.and E. Denny intersection. Originally from Anchorage, AK, Sam has been working in Seattle as an illustrator, graphic and apparel designer, painter, and I Heart Rummage co-curator since 2000.

More information on the artist's work:
samtrout.com
samtrout.wordpress.com
Capitol Hill Seattle article about this project here.

All photos courtesy of the artist.

day 1

day 3

day 5

day 8 - complete

detail

detail

 

Stefan Gruber - "Both Worlds"

Stefan Gruber recently completed his 3-part painting for the Red Wall. Previous post on his project here. The artist added bracketing "cat ear" panels to the previous installation, fitting the display into the contours of the wall under the Chinese Scholar tree.

NKO - "The Architecture of Endlessness"

Earlier this week, NKO started work on a site-specific mural painting for the 10th ave. section of the Red Wall. At 220'x24', the project will be one of the largest murals in the city. Entitled "The Architecture of Endlessness", the artist envisions "an abstract mural based on drawings inspired by the surrounding architecture and structures incorporating geometric forms and typography depicting the words endless, never forever, always, and new mystics".

"NKO is a Seattle-based semiotician, visual and performance artist, curator, designer and chef. He works as an art director and managing director for experimental theatre companies Saint Genet and Implied Violence, and is co-founder of Free Sheep Foundation, Black Sheep Book Arts and New Mystics. NKO has exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally working between Seattle, New York, and Europe.

The failure of language, of communication, is often the premise of NKO’s work; things that are misheard, mumbled, whispered, spoken through broken teeth and bleeding tongues. He is deeply influenced by the writings of George Bataille and Jean Genet."

photos by dk pan

photo by kelly o

Stefan Gruber - "Both Worlds"

“Both Worlds” by artist Stefan Gruber (acrylics and house paint on 1/4 " wood panels) has begun installation.  The mural installation on the red construction wall is meant to be a cartoon place where characters from Stefan’s previous films can go to relax.

The center panel of “Both Worlds” (currently installed) shows a spot in the cartoon landscape called Battery Charge Point, a place the animation’s characters (Jake and Viking: one is a bird-man, the other is a dragon-man) are attracted to for its relaxing properties. The high mountain side, moving waters, and wispy forests add to this effect.  This imaginary place has a sort of candy land quality. There's a blossoming garden that the artist hopes will act as an antidote to the NW's wobbly weather quality, and inspire people to find relaxing spots just like this within Cal Anderson Park.

detail

Sign Savant

“Both Worlds” is a frame from an animation performance piece by the same name, which will be touring in summer 2012.  The performance piece has live processed vocals, audience interaction, a psychic reading, and an original sonic experience by Jherek Bischoff.  It's never the same performance twice and always really magical.

The mural is being created in parts so it can be revealed over time. The center panel is a literal still frame from the “Both Worlds” animation performance piece, and the side panels are original extensions of the animated land. Look for the side panels to be installed in June.

 

- Mylinda Sneed

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To learn more about Stefan Gruber’s work: stefangruber.com, stefangruber.posterous.com

Stefan Gruber (left) with assistant