public art comparisons with a common vocabulary

Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary

The following concepts are commonly used to describe public art. The descriptions are contested, mostly at the

margins, and quite subjective; but they will help you categorize and discuss what you find appealing about

different types of public art

Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary

Site integrated: Integrated into the construction of a facility, usually through design team process

Site specific: Designed for a specific location but can be detached if necessary

Portable Works: Paintings, prints, photographs, glass, ceramic, small sculptures that are displayed throughout city facilities Temporary Art: Short-term artwork, often tied programmatically to the work or mission of an event or organization.

Installation Art: Site specific art that temporarily transforms a space.

Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary

Gateways: Creating a sense of arrival.

Transit/wayfinding: Providing orientation for travelers.

Murals: Part of a town-enhancement strategy.

Performance Art: Interdisciplinary performance mostly unscripted and usually presented only one time

Placemaker Art: Defines a community gathering place

Street Furniture: Benches, Streetlights, hatch covers/pavement, gates and fences, wall decoration

Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary

Think about these concepts as you view the following examples of public art from around the world

Myrtle Edwards Park, Michael HeizerAdjacent, Against, Upon, 1976

Tilikum Place Park, James Wehn, Chief Seattle Fountain, 1909

Seattle Art Museum, Jonathan Borofsky,

Hammering Man, 1991

Sidewalk Stamps • Seattle, Washington

Yarn-bombingSeattle, New York, Toledo

MuralsPhiladelphia, Chicago, Seattle

Fremont NeighborhoodSeattle, Washington

Repurposed Lenin statue from former USSR

Fremont NeighborhoodSeattle, Washington

Repurposed ICBM missileFremont Neighborhood

Seattle, Washington

Grass BladesPainted steel sculpture • 2003

Seattle, WashingtonJohn Fleming and Susan Zoccola

Downtown mural • Portland, OR

The Spiders • Bronze • ClevelandTemporary art installation

Louise Bourgeois

Father and Son, 2005. Olympic Sculpture Garden

Seattle, Washington Louise Bourgeois

Puppy, 1992 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

Jeff Koons

Public Seats

Fremont NeighborhoodSeattle

Public TransportationSeattle, Washington

Fire Station ArtSeattle, Wash

Ziggurat–East, Summer • Abandoned Fisher Body Plant, DetroitSculptural installation and photography project

Scott Hocking

Cloud Gate • Millennium Park, ChicagoAnish Kapoor

The Gates • Central Park, New York • 2005Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Steam Pig 2010 Art Prize

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Aires Libres Montreal, Canada 2011

Claude Cormier

Seattle, Prague

Bell Town PopsicleSeattle, Washington

Catherine Mayer

Big Blue Bear(I see what you

mean) •

Colorado Convention

Center, Denver•

Elizabeth Thomsen

Eyeball benches • Seattle, WALouise Bourgeois

Co2LED • Arlington County, VASolar-powered LEDs on rods, each topped with a reused plastic bottle

Jack Sanders, Robert Gay and Butch Anthony

Art Tool, 12 foot imprint of Los Angeles as seen from above

Santa Monica, 1986

Pocket Beach Olympic Park

Seattle, Washington

The SequenceBrussels

Arne Quinze

UchroniaNevada

Arne Quinze

Federal BuildingTacoma, Washington

Dale Chihuly

Balloon DogNew YorkJeff Coons

Cloud CityMOMA, New York

2012Tomás Saraceno

New York, Seattle

Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor

Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor

Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor

Odette ParkWindsor, Ontario

Memorial ArtToledo, New York

Pima Freeway, Scottsdale, Arizona

Nisbet Road Pedestrian Bridge Phoenix, Arizona

Alavadaro Water Treatment Plant, San Diego. Branded questions about San Diego water history, 1998

Waterfront FountainSeattle, Washington, 1974

James Fitzgerald and Margaret Tompkins

Waterfront Place FallsVancouver, British Columbia