an editorial by Kirby Laney, posted 19 June 2019
UPDATE: Immediately after this column published, Fremocentrist.com learned that a compromise on the Center of the Universe Signpost had been negotiated, giving the City contact information for the artist, who will be responsible for its upkeep, but no fee to be paid for a permit. The need for a policy, rather than negotiated settlements, remains, so this editorial does as well. KSL – 23 Jun 2019
In November, 2018, a woman tore down the Center of the Universe Signpost, single-handedly. A customer at etg coffee took video, or else many of us wouldn’t have believed it. A Seattle Police officer identified the vandal, and informed the Signpost artist that she has a history of doing similar damage around the city.
The neighborhood, and the artist, were distraught over the loss, but volunteers rallied and helped with a rebuild – and a new Signpost rose again in December 2018. In April 2019, the artist replaced some of the directional posts, painted in clearer colors.
On June 12th, the artist, a member of the Fremont Arts Council (FAC,) responded to a Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) request, forwarded from the Fremont Chamber of Commerce (Chamber). SDOT noted that the Center of the Universe Signpost, an iconic piece of Fremont public art located here since 1995, has not got a permit – and the artist fears that now the City may remove the piece, permanently.
Originally, the Signpost came to the neighborhood as a piece of ‘Art Attack’, installed anonymously and temporarily, but the neighborhood has since taken the piece to its collective heart. In 2005, when the City realigned the streets in preparation for rebuilding the Fremont Bridge approaches, the neighborhood demanded they protect and retain the Signpost. A few years ago, as the Fremont Chamber and the Fremont Neighborhood Council both looked, independently, at updates for their logos, both organizations initially chose the Signpost as part of their designs.
Yet, the Center of the Universe Signpost has never had a permit, or any kind of formal paperwork – the same as most of the 70+ pieces of public art in Fremont. The Signpost artist, who gave the piece to the neighborhood and has paid for repairs out of his pocket, is unlikely now to pay for a permit, or keep up the annual fees. This leaves a big question about whether the City will let this go, as they have in the past, or push and remove this, and several other pieces of non-permitted Fremont art… as in, most of it.
Public & Private Public Art In Fremont
A large majority of Fremont’s ‘public’ art is actually located on private property; even some that look like they are on public land. The ‘Dreamer of Peace’ alongside the Lake Union Ship Canal, on the Burke-Gilman Bike Trail, stands on private land. So do the Dinosaur Topiaries, the J.P. Patches ‘Late For The Interurban’, and all of the ‘Fremont Murals’. The Helen Tapp Bench – the most significant public art piece in Upper Fremont – is on private land, and the newest owner wants it gone.
The Statue of Lenin sits on private property, although members of the Washington State Legislature didn’t seem to know this when they drafted a bill last session to replace the sculpture. The four-page bill detailed the need for a work group on what would replace Lenin – but never explained how they planned to get, legally, around removal of a statue that stands on private property.
Still, some Fremont art is in the public right-of-way. The tile art at B.F. Day School decorates the retaining wall around Seattle’s oldest, continually operating elementary. The ‘People Waiting for the Interurban’ and the Fremont Troll are both, technically, in the street. The SPACE installation, which surrounds a tall ‘tree’ of globes, but also includes benches, sidewalk paint and glass beads embedded in the concrete, is a large curb bulb.
Then there are the hybrids… The Fremont Rocket is installed on a private building, and it sticks out over the sidewalk. The bottom of the authentic, Korean-era fuselage, or about 3/5ths of it, hangs nearly 10-feet above the sidewalk.
The City has sent a similar demand for a permit for The Rocket, including bills for a permit fee. However, the organization that installed the Rocket – the Fremont Business Association – no longer exists. Meanwhile, the Fremont Chamber has been working, for a few years, on raising money to repaint it. The cost may be as much as $20,000 (including the permits for working in the public right-of-way.)
The City also insisted the artist, and building owner, who created the Saturn sculpture get a permit. He did, and he pays an annual fee – although only a small fraction of the sculpture hangs out over the sidewalk – five-stories above it.
The City also got a permit from artist Jessica Randall, who worked with children from B.F. Day Elementary to design sidewalk squares embedded with glass beads. The students designed their own squares, with the help of Randall and other artists, and together they all installed the squares at the corner of Evanston and N 36th Street. The City billed Randall, and she continued to pay the annual fee for many years.
A Permit Gets What?
As the sidewalk beads age and deteriorate, and the Rocket requires a paint job, the question has arisen about who will pay for maintenance on our public art. If the Rocket were permitted, would the City of Seattle?
When the woman tore the Signpost from its cement base, the artist had to figure out how to pay to replace it first – before he could even start on the work. Donors stepped up to help, but it would be a lot to ask to find donors for permit fees – especially fees that won’t cover maintenance, or protection from vandalism.
The ‘public’ art that sits on private land sometimes gets more maintenance, but not always. The Lenin Statue is cleaned by volunteers, when it gets cleaned. Sometimes the owner removes a piece to avoid maintenance costs and difficulties. The Fremont Rocket mural and Reynard The Fox were painted over when building owners couldn’t figure out how to restore them.
The Aurora Bridge Mural (a.k.a. The Bridge Way Mural) also has suffered from severe graffiti damage – and the City got the neighborhood protection when the artist asked to have the mural painted out. In 1997, Patrick Gabriel hand-painted the mural, one of the longest in the U.S. at the time. Neighbors, and members of the Fremont Arts Council, stepped in to repair graffiti damage over the years – and in 2010, when Gabriel no longer felt the mural represented his work, he asked to have it removed. In 2011, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture negotiated between the neighbors who said the piece had been given to Fremont, and the artist, and eventually won a signed permit for the art to stay.
A Plea For A Groundswell
Fremont has a lot of public art; possibly more than any other neighborhood in Seattle – and likely more than most cities in the world.
Most of the art in Fremont has been ‘donated’, either given to us by the artist or acquired, and to ask the gift-givers or the gift-receivers to pay a permit is prohibitive. It would put a halt to all considerations of art in the future… Including those developers who might want to put public art on their building – à la Saturn – but don’t due to the costs of another permit.
…and it raises a question of precedent. No one pays for a permit for the ‘People Waiting for the Interurban’, or the Fremont Troll. Which pieces can stay, and which will go, and when will a permit be required? And what happens if they all require a permit? Who pays? And will the City remove the part of the Fremont Rocket that hangs over the sidewalk?
While running for re-election in 2015, Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien was asked about the permit issue by this columnist, and he agreed that it was an issue worth investigating – but without a larger number of constituents demanding action, the issue floundered.
As Council Candidates vie for his open District #6 seat, and for the other six Council positions up for election this year, it might be the time for a groundswell for Fremont, and all, public art.
Those who love art, and especially those who love Fremont’s bounty of creativity and color, need to ask for clarification on the permit issue – and demand a plan for maintenance and protection for the iconic works of art all around us!
And, of course, for the Center of the Universe Signpost that guides us all!
Related Articles
- Artists On The Attack In Fremont
- by Kirby Lindsay, January 10, 2011
- Fremont Public Art Inventory, Part VIII: Tiles & Mosaics
- by Kirby Lindsay, May 10, 2013
- Brian Regan’s Contributions To Fremont Public Art
- by Kirby Lindsay, September 25, 2013
- The Artist & The Aurora Bridge Mural: A Personal Account
- by Kirby Lindsay, June 27, 2012
©2019 Kirby S. Laney. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.