Capitol Hill Station is an underground light rail facility serving the Capitol Hill neighborhood, Seattle Central Community College, Group Health and other surrounding businesses. Two artists will create works for the station; Mike Ross for the platform level of the station and Ellen Forney for the station entrances. Capitol Hill Station is part of the University Link extension and will open for services in 2016.
Dan Corson
Oscillating Field
Oscillating Field by Dan Corson © Oct-Nov 2009
Photo by: Corey Scherrer, installation volunteer
Dan Corson created “Oscillating Field” on the soon to be under-construction-site of Sound Transit’s light rail station in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. With the help of many volunteers, Dan began assembling the artwork in the paved, fenced lot at Broadway and Denny on October 23, and the laser light installation will be up through November 2009. More images and video online. In the daytime “Oscillating Field” takes the form of a grass field, a hedgehog’s back or a glowing yellow mist, while at night it transforms into thousands of surfaces for the dynamic play of an emerald green laser. Every night between 5 p.m. – 11 p.m., the lasers illuminate the sculpture with a range of dynamic patterns and animations. Viewers contemplate the half-hour looping light show from outside the fence. The temporary art project was produced to keep the dark, square-block area in a densely populated urban neighborhood active and interesting to passersby. An adjacent retail and restaurant neighborhood has been impacted by the loss and demolition of many businesses, and Sound Transit’s Outreach Team and Art Program wanted an innovative method of transforming the empty block into a spectacle that helps attract people to the Broadway area
Mike Ross
Given the context in which Ross' work would exist - a long narrow space with cathedral-like ceilings, with large support beams running the length of the platform - an artwork that could be experienced in parts without full visibility of the whole is required. Ross takes advantage of these challenges by using the space as a canvas on which to paint graceful, uplifting curves. His proposal takes two decommissioned jets, deconstructs them, and transforms them into the shapes of a birds taking flight. Inspired by the mirrored quality of the platform, he proposes to mirror the birds, almost meeting at the center in to a kiss. The sculpture explores the tension created by forces that both pull together and push apart, the juxtaposition of nature and powerful technology, as well as adding a counterpoint of color and curvature in a formal and geometric setting.
Views showing the sculpture in isolation, and in a cross-section view of the station.
Click images to see a larger version.
Images © 2008 Mike Ross/Non-stop Inc. All rights reserved.
Ellen Forney
Graphic artist Ellen Forney has proposed two murals for the north and west entrances of the station. Her designs, particularly that of the north entrance, mirror some of the same themes of Ross' sculpture: a level of playfulness, ambiguity, and a juxtaposition of forces pushing together and pulling apart. The clean graphic quality of Forney's work, in addition to the bold color she has chosen, allows the mural to become beacons for the entrances to the underground station.
Forney plans to create the murals on site - preserving the artist's hand in the final work.
Click on images below to see larger versions. To see how the murals will look in context, check out our flythrough animations >>>
Images © 2008 Ellen Forney. All rights reserved.
Learn more about the Capitol Hill Station>>
Comments?
For comments about this STart project, please contact:
Jennifer Babuca
Public Art Program Coordinator
(206) 398-5120
babucaj@soundtransit.org
