Slog - Comments on Re: "Georgetown Artists" Angry with SBC?

Comment by department of artland security

department of artland security — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:29:42 -0800

remove all that rock and concrete? i doubt it. it would look nice with a bit of landscaping.

Comment by holz

holz — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:34:41 -0800

SBC's project seems fatally flawed...

the amount of money they're going to spend on environmental cleanup of soil is gonna be really high.

wouldn't they be better off lifting the building on some pilings a la PLOT's Maritime Youth Centre?

http://seafever.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/maritime-youth-house-copenhagen.jpg

Comment by jason

jason — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:35:27 -0800

what the hell's it supposed to be? looks to me like an amateur attempt at making a retaining wall.

are we supposed to save every pile of crap that someone has some sentimental attachment to? did i miss a memo? i say good riddance.

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:42:30 -0800

@3, I'm with you, pal. It ain't like it's Howard Finster's garden or anything. Meh.

Mr. Developer...tear down this wall!!!

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:45:17 -0800

If the house is staying, why worry about the fucking wall?

Comment by John

John — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:45:33 -0800

I love the rock work - it needs some artist to art it up a bit - display artists - and get SAM to buy it

ship it to the Sculp. Garden

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:57:40 -0800

Maybe if they do a good job of tearing out that nasty thing, they can come up and do the same to some other embarrassing local "art" landmarks, like the Fremont Troll and the hideous mushroom thingies in that park in Ballard.

Comment by PC

PC — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:02:29 -0800

1. No buy it for $500,000 of taxpayer funds and ship it to Cap. Hill light rail station.

2. title it "Yabba dabba doo!"

3. Ensure rocks are a bit more ferrous

4. Put the Jimi Hendrix statute on it.

5. this will become a masterpiece that slyly and self referentially nodds to the "dialectic" between space (the "positive space rocks" inside the "negative space tunnel station" wrested from the "positive space" rocks -- surely you catch the sexual connotations? mmmm?) with a total double entendre to Seattle's culture and "rock" via the Jimi adonrment....

and AT THE SAME TIME man's ever upward quest for better transit (with the sly nod to the dinomobile in the title! wink, wink!)

ensuring that the piece "speaks" multiple "languages" that can only be "heard" in this specific site -- you know, other rocks are just rocks, but this is art! -- and even

"celebrates" the "diversity" of Capitol Hill by speaking those multiple languages

to boot in a most "ironic" way.

Thus we shall have made " 'art' "!

OK tell Sound Transit to send me $500,000.
I'm sure the folks paying the sales tax will love this artwork.

Thank you!

Comment by jessco

jessco — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:04:35 -0800

The hideous mushroom thingies in Ballard make my blood boil. They are uglier than hate. Also, that little public wedge is now about 30% as useful as it was before.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:13:10 -0800

@5 because everything that is older than the 1990s has inherent cultural value in Seattle.

Comment by GV

GV — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:16:37 -0800

I bought a Hawaiian shirt from the tweaker who was selling stuff there during the garden tour.

Comment by catnextdoor

catnextdoor — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:32:15 -0800

I totally dont miss the artists that sit around and jump to conclusions in the NW. That thing looks like some crappy public "art" in Port Townsend or something. Really- tear that shit down SBC!

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:45:27 -0800

@9, I'm with you on the boiling rage, but the space isn't less useful than before, because it has never been useful. Triangular wedge parks are never useful. Those spaces should be used for buildings, because wedge-shaped buildings ARE useful, and attractive, and make corners come alive. Parks kill corners like that, though.

Comment by monkey

monkey — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:58:10 -0800

I have a pile of wood in my back yard that I've needed to get rid of for a while now. Now I see the solution is to just leave, name it, and call it art.

Comment by SP

SP — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:03:46 -0800

Question for these "artists". If they value that rock sculpture so much, why haven't they been maintaining the property? The rock wall was literally covered up with brush and blackberry brambles until a couple of weeks ago.

Comment by HK

HK — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:18:07 -0800

For all,
A few facts to set straight on the project.

1) The entire building was slated to be torn down and the property was going to be sold to a developer for condos.

2) For zoning and code purposes, the rock wall must be removed so that the columns of the awning can be retro-fitted and brought up to code. Rock wall simply cannot stay.

3) The artists have spoken with several members of the neighborhood, including the owners of Louie's former home on Flora. The artists have promised to re-use the rock wall in their project. While it will not be reconstructed as it is now, the wall's use will honor Louie.

4) The Georgetown Community Council did not vote to tear the wall down.

5) This is a really amazing opportunity for the property to be re-purposed not only as green space but also a gathering space for the community.

Sincerely,
Holly Krejci
Georgetown Community Council - Chair
chair@georgetownneighborhood.com

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:20:35 -0800

We start bombing in 5 minutes.

Comment by It's Mark Mitchell

It's Mark Mitchell — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:07:02 -0800

So tedious when things work out so nicely.

Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:07:14 -0800

"a gathering space for the community" = a place for hookers to smoke crack.

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:09:28 -0800

@19, Taskent!!!

Comment by HK

HK — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:09:58 -0800

Re: #16
I'd like to make corrections on #1 and #5. Neither are fact.

#1 - The land is zoned for condos. But, I do not have confirmation from the property owner as to the fate of the land/building. I was speculating.

#5 is clearly a statement of personal opinion.

I apologize if I have mislead anyone.

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:10:14 -0800

*Tashkent

Comment by ronald aeberhard

ronald aeberhard — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:26:59 -0800

The definition of art is not one that can be resolved here, but a large segment of this community treasures the work in this area that gives it character and many feel that this is one of those works. The folks who have lived here for a long time are particularly sad and see it as another change to the face of Georgetown.

The owner of the heating oil company that was there, Mr. Perovich, used it for offices and storage and asked Louie to make this work for his building. He really felt that he was getting a work of art. More than 50 years later it is still there.

We love the idea of this project and look forward to the final result, but this wall should be respected and incorporated into the project. There is no need to tear down this small landmark

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:34:45 -0800

it's a landmark because...
still waiting.

Comment by ejamadoodle

ejamadoodle — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:43:28 -0800

Save the Kalakala!

Sometimes it's OK to let things die.

Comment by AA

AA — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:56:26 -0800

Bellevue Ave have you even been down there to see it? Anyone from the neighborhood knows the sculpture is a landmark. It also represents part of old Seattle art that is fast being obliterated by impersonal corporate style art. If you read the SBC web page you can clearly see that their Mini Mart project was designed before the site was selected. If SBC really wants to bring back the original nature of the site they should retain Mr Moss"s sculpture in it's original form as part of their design.

Comment by delfina jones

delfina jones — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:25:57 -0800

Yeah let's knock down the rock wall so generation ass-hat can turn Georgetown into Kirkland.

Comment by Con

Con — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:50:57 -0800

I live in Georgetown. NO one in the community know it was going to come down until like last month, if that. It is what makes a place unique. I was wondering who the person was with the city that told the artist the wall had to come down? I was looking around for a permit. NOthing was found. The build has been throught at least 2 or 3 earthquakes and everything is still standing. I highly don't the wall or the building isn't structually sound. I do believe that the artist need to be honest with the community and just admit that they want it down and in 6 months when no one is taking care of their "green space" Georgetown will be left with another really nice place for homeless and drug addict to go hang out in the dead space. With no wall to remind us of just how different we were. Now we can look like every other place in Seattle. Souless. But hey people who are not from Seattle like to come in and change the city I've lived in all the time. Yeah please make me think I'm in Cap Hill. Great!

Comment by Con

Con — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:59:02 -0800

Sorry for all the mispellings. I'm not a spellchecker.
So that place is a brown site. Are they going to really clean it and with what money. Condos really. Don't think so but that's what I heard. You can speculate all you want. And as far as landmarking. I know someone who was actually in the process of doing that landmarking. To bad waste of time. People don't want to save old Seattle because that won't make them money or in this case get them some fame. Way to go! Yeahhhh for future dead space!