The concrete columns beneath I-5 on James Street and Cherry Street will be getting a facelift this year, and you can help decide how they’ll look. Five artist finalists have submitted designs, and today, Wednesday, March 8, is the last day for the public to vote for their favorite.
Local nonprofit Urban Artworks will lead the install of the most popular design l in collaboration with the artist (or artists), aiming to finish by mid-May. The project was initiated by the First Hill Improvement Association and is funded in part by the Seattle Office of Economic Development.
You can view the proposed designs and vote online until midnight tonight.
Rose Alyea and Gabriel Stromberg have submitted a bold, monochromatic design scheme. Each column will be wrapped with a different pattern inspired by Seattle’s landscape, culture, industry and landmarks. Nathan Watkins offers vivid, hyper-saturated silhouette of Seattle’s hills, with pillars successively showing sunrise to sunset. Baso Fibonacci intends to wrap the pillars in black, and then add large flowers in his recognizable, painterly style. Forrest Perrine suggests a brightly colored, text-based wrap for the pillars that has a “net-art” vibe. Finally, Angelina Villalobos has a vision that applies a blue, red or green palette to the columns and gives each a unique treatment whose abstract lines are reminiscent of feathers and foliage.
Tough choices to make, but make your choice before it’s too late!