Newly installed artwork by John Fleming features a solar light in the center of the "You Are Here" panel.
The first sidewalk panels to be installed are located on the west side of College Way N near N 97th Street across from North Seattle Community.
Art can make a city more livable, more welcoming, and create a sense of connectedness between residents. Art is popping up everywhere in Seattle, even under your feet. As part of a new sidewalk project being installed in several neighborhoods around the city, Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) contractors have begun installing artwork in one to two specific locations on each project. The artwork, which is pictured above, was created with SDOT 1% for Art funds, administered by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.
The 1% for Art ordinance specifies that one percent of eligible city capital improvement project funds be set aside for the commission, purchase and installation of artworks. SDOT, along with the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, selected artist John Fleming to design and develop artwork inlays to be incorporated into sidewalks. The artworks are intended to draw the attention of pedestrians through beauty, surprise and humor. They enliven the pedestrian environment by introducing the element of the unexpected into the everyday sidewalk. The typical Seattle sidewalk is not usually enhanced like this, so we’re thrilled with the addition of this new special artwork. There are two different styles of artworks, each a four-by-four foot square.
As artist John Fleming explains, “My sidewalk art uses material common to the public right-of-way. But it uses this common material in a surprisingly uncommon way. Yellow detectable warning panels are found at the sidewalk corners of most Seattle streets. In my artwork, I combined these durable dotted panels with the messages WHERE ARE YOU? and YOU ARE HERE. Used in this new way, the colorful sidewalk panels become unique markers in your neighborhood.”
The imbedded sidewalk artworks are owned and will be maintained by the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. If you have any questions about the artwork, please contact Marcia at
marcia.iwasaki@seattle.gov or (206) 233-3946, or visit the Arts and Cultural Affairs Office public art website.
To see the specific locations where the art will be installed, please visit our website at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/btg_newsidewalks.htm and click on your sidewalk towards the bottom of the page.
To view more of John’s artwork, please visit his website.