Three artists presented their concepts for interim art installations for the 4th Avenue Cultural Corridor to a five-member advisory panel during a public meeting held at the Edmonds Conference Center Monday night, March 23.

The presentations are linked to the Community Cultural Plan’s goals of implementing short-term art projects to highlight the cultural corridor, which leads patrons along 4th Avenue from the Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA) to Main Street.

Accepting invitations from the Edmonds Arts Commission to develop specific designs for the interim art installations were John Fleming, Bruce Myers and Iole Alessandrini. Each artist was charged with keeping his or her design concept within a $30,000 budget.

In their 30-minute presentation. the artists spoke of the natural elements of the city, its history, and its future, incorporating design elements of illumination, color and sculpture.

John Fleming demonstrated the influence that artists Piet Mondrian, Gene Davis and Sol LeWitt have in his choice of primary colors and energetic features. He offered, as examples of his experience working with municipalities, his “Signals” and “Erratic” installations in Redmond, and his project “Graffitti Rainbow,” which features color-changing LEDs.

Offering tribute to the Salish culture Fleming’s proposal for Edmonds incorporated “Coastal Salish colors into a sidewalk mosaic . . .” which could become, “a sidewalk canvass for future artists.” He noted his preference for pedestrian “lily pads” of mosaic color that would provide pedestrians with going-forward destinations as they walk along 4th Ave.

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Bruce Myers of Myers Sculpture/ Bruce Myers Public explained that he “sees a connection to shore and water and sky” as he proposed design elements for the arts corridor that “incorporate the natural world.

Myers, a poet as well as a public installation artist, presented a menu of options that the Edmonds Arts Commission, and ultimately the City Council. might pick and choose from should his proposal be accepted. Myers envisions themes of “universal elements, form and navigation” by combining bronze inlay medallions installed into the sidewalk along 4th Avenue with “moonlight catcher” sculptures of stainless steel mounted on poles that lead along the arts corridor; and the option of forged finials, poetry painted along walkways, and stone mosaics.

Myers proposed that the bronze inlay medallions he is recommending as path-builders along 4th Avenue might be a source of revenue if the city were to solicit sponsorship for each medallion as it did for personalized bricks in Centennial Plaza. Myers designed many of the artful elements in the mid-waterfront walkway north of the Port of Edmonds.

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Ione Alessandrini set the stage for her presentation with, “I work with light,” and proceeded with a presentation titled Luminous Forest. Alessandrini described Luminous Forest as “an homage to Edmonds’ water and forest, the primary natural resources sustaining [the community].”

Proposing solar-powered light discs and/or “solar road studs” she presented the panel, and attending public, with three illumination patterns installed into the street and overlapping the sidewalk curbs at three locations along 4th Avenue.

When asked about meeting ADA requirements so that wheelchairs would not be impeded, or the possibility of snow and ice removal equipment damaging the light discs installed into the pavement, Alessandrini assured the panel that neither would cause a hindrance, according to the manufacturers of the discs, and that the discs “have a very discrete presence” with less than half-inch height above road surface.

As she concluded her presentation Alessandrini described piazzas in Spain lit with LED discs as “spectacular!”

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A final recommendation by the advisory panel will be forwarded to the Edmonds Arts Commission (EAC) for review at their April meeting. The EAC will then make a recommendation to City Council, with the Council considering approval of one of the design proposals following a public hearing scheduled for April 21.

For more information contact Arts and Culture Manager Frances Chapin at frances.chapin@edmondswa.gov.

— By Emily Hill