New Public Art

Edmonds International District Highway 99 Banner Project

Eight Paths of Light public art installationThe City of Edmonds Arts Commission plans to install permanent cut metal banners on up to 14 red overhead light poles on the east side of Highway 99 in the Edmonds International District. The original lighting project includes artwork consisting of a series of eight lanterns, Eight Paths of Light, by artist Pam Beyette. Fiber banners installed above the pedestrian level light fixtures were removed in 2016.

The current RFQ Call to Artists is for Pacific Northwest artists and graphic designers interested in designing permanent banners for the 14 existing light poles. Up to seven artists will be selected to be compensated for concept and final designs. The City will have selected designs fabricated and installed. For the complete RFQ and Call to Artists information, go to the Opportunities page.

MIKA'S SONG
Civic Center Playfield Park | Mika's Playground
2023 | ED HARTMAN

Mika's Playground Tubular BellsThe Edmonds Arts Commission is pleased to announce a unique and exciting musical commission, “Mika’s Song”, created by award-winning Edmonds composer, Ed Hartman for the Tubular Bells in Mika’s Inclusive Playground at the Edmonds Civic Center Playfield Park.

Hartman considers musical installations like the bells in the playground a wonderful opportunity for people of all ages to experience music in a very welcoming place. He hopes "Mika's Song" will inspire anyone to be creative, positive, and open-minded. Click on the sheet music below to download instructions how to play the song on the tubular bells in the playground.

Hartman performed his composition in September 2023. Read about the performance plus more regarding his inspiration for and development of "Mika's Song" in My Edmonds News. 

About Mika's Playground

Mika's Inclusive Playground, dedicated to Mika Zimbalist who was born with cerebral palsy and passed in 2019, was opened to the public in June 2023. A part of the Civic Center Playfield Park, this inclusive playground is designed to encourage engagement and participation by children of all abilities. For more information about the park, go to Mika’s Inclusive Playground web page.

Mika's Song sheet music

About the Composer

Award-Winning Edmonds musician Ed Hartman is an accomplished composer, performer and educator. Over the past several decades he has created music for film, TV, radio, advertising. Ed is very much part of Edmonds' creative economy and the Edmonds Arts Commission is delighted to offer his "Mika's Song" composition to the community. For information about Ed Hartman, visit his website.

 

cascadia
Civic Center Playfield park
2023 | Clark Wiegman

cascadia-lifeboat + seawall public art installation

Described as ‘a love letter to the Salish Sea’, cascadia, by Seattle Artist Clark Weigman, draws attention to a collective relationship to the local environment. Entering the park under the expansive shade structure, visitors are greeted by a suspended lifeboat sculpture and a super-graphic seawall mural. As a duet in form, pattern and color, lifeboat and seawall is a dialog between the  esthetic of light and shadow; biota and habitat; civilization and wilderness coming together to create a deep sense of place in the Puget Sound region.   

Striking a balance between iconic universality and locational uniqueness, the artwork alludes to Edmonds’ vibrant downtown Creative District and extensive green infrastructure. Close examination of lifeboat reveals various flora, fauna and microbes woven into the hull’s patterns, while seawall surveys the terrain it inhabits. Highlighting riparian settlement overlays as they relate to a web of life, the installation encourages viewers to contemplate a sense of belonging to a larger bio-region and caring for our shared environs.

Clark Wiegman is a Pacific Northwest artist whose work explores ways we may experience nature through cultural frames. Each project responds to situational variables with anomalous beauty that maps the challenges of transformation. Over the past three decades, he’s created projects for a variety of civic contexts throughout North America. 

 To see the development and progress of the fabrication of the artwork, go to: lifeboatseawall.blogspot.com

Fleuressence
6th ave n & bell st
2022 | Jennifer Kuhns

Fleuressence public art installation

A gift to the City of Edmonds Public Art Collection by the Floretum Garden Club in celebration of its 100th anniversary. Three tulip-like shapes feature nine mosaic petal faces depicting a gardening vignette: “Pond”; “Photosynthesis”; “Shade”; “Vines”; “Food”; “Flowing Water”; “Pollination”; “Zen”; “Night”. Funding provided by Floretum Garden Club members, The Hazel Miller Foundation, The Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation, and WA State Federation of Garden Clubs.

 

 

portable artworks

Darkness to Light III by Donna Leavitt

From Darkness to Light III,  by Edmonds resident and former Arts Commissioner, Donna Leavitt, was one of the featured art installations for the grand opening of the new Graphite Art Center in downtown Edmonds in 2022. The work is now part of the Public Art Collection in City Hall, donated by the artist.

Silent Sea by d'Elaine JohnsonSilent Sea, by artist, teacher, and long-time Edmonds resident, d'Elaine Johnson was on loan to the City since 2014. The artist donated the painting to the City's Public Art Collection in 2022 . Two other of Johnson's works are in the collection: Haines Wharf, located in City Hall, and Raven, located in Council Chambers.

Select donated works from EAFF

A donation of eleven artworks from the Edmonds Arts Festival (EAF) Foundation collection were donated to the City of Edmonds Public Art Collection in 2021. All of the works were originally shown in EAF juried art displays and then selected for purchase by the EAF Foundation. Some of donated works are by artists already represented in the City’s Public Art Collection, while others showcase the variety of media and topics addressed by previous EAF artists. Several of the eleven donated works will be permanently displayed in public areas of City buildings. The others will be shown periodically in the EAC Display Case at the Frances Anderson Center. The Arts Commission appreciates receiving these wonderful and diverse additions to the City Collection. In addition, approximately 44 pieces were donated to the Edmonds Waterfront Center and are on permanent display throughout the building.