Eastlake self-guided art tour

Eastlake is home to large and small public art works, some of them provided on private property but provided for public enjoyment. Below is background on two corridor-wide installations that were funded in 1997 by Seattle Public Utilities; and then a list from north to south of all the known public art works in Eastlake.

Seattle Public Utilities-funded corridor art. A large construction project in the mid-1990s to expand the combined sewer main that flows through Eastlake was the funding source for two separate corridor-related art installations that are now permanent parts of the City of Seattle’s collection.

“Dreamboats” by artist Linda Beaumont (1997) are translucent golden Fiberglass kayaks which include embedded images, powder coated metal, and mosaic; they are lighted from within. In the artist’s words they “link the busy street with the lake shore, to Eastlake’s history as a Native American site, and to Lake Union, the body of water, center of the city, and passageway to Puget Sound and Pacific. The night transforms the three kayaks into glowing beacons along the length of Eastlake. The titles, ‘Rest’, ‘Read’, and ‘Respect’ imply choices for the passing public.” These themes are further described below at their locations.

“Cornerstones” by artist Stacey Levy (1997). The artist writes: “Thirty-two units of stone inset with glass and designs of native microorganisms are fixed into the sidewalk at intersections along Eastlake Avenue. At each intersection, there is a brightly colored cornerstone inset into the sidewalks of Eastlake Avenue celebrate the native microorganisms that live in the nearby Lake Union and its shores. Each stone is sandblasted with an image of microorganisms found in Lake Union, four blocks from Eastlake Avenue. Multicolored glass tiles bear the names of the cross streets and point northward. Working with zoologists from the University of Washington, the artist and scientist picked the species that were part of the water and soil ecosystems. Designed to raise awareness of the different life forms in the area, aquatic microorganisms appear on the lakeside intersections, while terrestrial ones appear on the landside. Cornerstones orient passersby to the variety of human-made and ecological systems through which they move and give them a sense of their invisible neighbors.”

3125 Eastlake Avenue E. This beautiful apartment and office building whose architecture itself follows Coast Salish lines, has on the east frontage above the garage a monumental cedar carved and painted mural by Native American artist Ron Coy Hilbert.

2900 Fairview Avenue E. The Eastlake P-Patch Community Garden has several pieces of public art [more information to come].
Intersection of Eastlake Ave. E. and E. Hamlin Street. The metal poles that support electric trolley bus wires were painted in bright colors and designs by artist Carolyn Law, who also strung unusually colored and shaped insulators on the wires that connect them. Funded as part Metro’s 1997 re-establishment of electric trolley buses on Eastlake Avenue.

2500 Eastlake Avenue E. This Dreamboat (see background above) is entitled “Rest.” In the words of the artist, it “has a mosaic bed, to recline and look up into the seven chakras of body image.“

2307 Eastlake Ave E. This Dreamboat (see background above) is entitled “Read.” According to the artist, it “references the World Wide Web and includes a beautiful passage of a Native American legend, the invention of the paddle, the transformation of the material world, and the gift of travel.”

2299 Fairview Ave. E. The “Gaudi bench” in Lynn Street Park honors the memory of Tom and Peg Stockley, who perished in the January 20000 crash of an Alaska Airlines jet bound for Mexico. Tom had admired such benches in Barcelona, hometown of the great architect Antoni Gaudi. Tiles for the bench were done by artist Maggie Smith, who earlier also coordinated production by dozens of community members of other tiles that also distinguish this City park.

2241 Eastlake Avenue E. Darold Andersen, owner of the retailer Mort’s Cabin, has distinguished the patio outside his store’s entry with a rustic bench, bear, eagle, and cougar, all in hand carved wood by Bellingham artist Tomas Vrba.

2200 Eastlake Avenue E. This Dreamboat (see background above) is entitled “Respect.” According to the artist, it “has been planted with Native plants, and a trellis for a wild passion vine. “

1823 Eastlake Avenue E. The East Howe Steps Apartments feature a very large outdoor sculpture.

1700 Franklin Avenue E. Seventh Climate (Paradise Reconsidered) by artist John Roloff, who write that it “emerges from the interaction of six elements each representing a different climate, memory and/or ecology: four species of trees, each from a distinct biome/terrain planted to form one organism, a simulation by lighting and artificial rain of the 1960 Seattle, pre-freeway precipitation, sunlight and moonlight cycles, and the current ambient weather of Seattle. … The installation of freeway in the early 1960’s necessitated the removal and dislocation of a portion of the Eastlake neighborhood, there are no recognizable remains of the streets, houses or biota of that neighborhood except the several streets dead-ending into the freeway’s under space. … A complex electronic program activates an elevated mist/rain emission system and solar and moonlight simulation lighting. The ground plane within the zone of altered climate is of recycled concrete, a reflection of the overhead freeway and missing neighborhood’s construction/deconstruction.”

Intersection of Eastlake Ave. E. and Fairview Avenue N. Artist Carolyn Law strung unusually colored and shaped insulators on the wires connecting the metal poles that support the electric trolley bus wires. Funded as part Metro’s 1997 re-establishment of electric trolley buses on Eastlake Avenue

1500 Fairview Avenue E. Just south of the Washington State Employees Credit Union building is a large steel and cable sculpture by artist Carolyn Law. “’By Water On Land’ draws its physical form and artistic concept from the urban tension and emotional undercurrents of the Eastlake area. The site has a strong urban expression dominated by the elements that comprise our city streets such as utility poles and trolley lines, forming what the artist calls ‘a visually condensed and energetic infrastructure.’ But this is also a place at the water’s edge, which brings to it a sublime quality of shifting light, oyster skies and misty breezes.” Funded as part Metro’s 1997 re-establishment of electric trolley buses.

1201 Eastlake Avenue E. From 1997 to 2021 (when it was removed for construction; no word yet on where it will be relocated) this was the site for “Shear Draft.” It is a large steel sculpture by artist Thomas Lindsey, who drew inspiration from the Eastlake neighborhood’s maritime and Boeing seaplane history. Funded by City matching funds and by donations, and chosen through a national competition, it was fabricated and installed by the nearby Lake Union Drydock.

For questions or suggestions: info@eastlakeinfo.net.