February 2007 | Mindful Living
SAM’s new Olympic Sculpture Park is a welcome, wide-open space
Big development is here. Condos are poppin’ up in record time and everywhere you look green space is going gray. Unless of course, you glance down at Elliott Bay’s waterfront.
Last month, The Seattle Art Museum’s long-awaited Olympic Sculpture Park opened to the public.
The park, a blend of art, ecology and architecture, offers permanent pieces and a rotating exhibition with a focus on the history of sculpture and the interaction between artist and landscape.
The works are commissioned, donated or part of the museum’s collection. The park features prominent international sculptors including: Alexander Calder, Richard Serra, Louise Bourgeois, and Claes Oldenburg.
“The curators obviously, given the space limitations, have chosen to tell a particular story about the history of sculpture and art in public places,” says Chris Rogers, SAM’s Director of Capitol Projects, referring to the pieces selected for the park. “So, all of their choices were based on that, working through a history of time and also through how artists interact with the landscape.”
In addition to being an innovative outdoor museum, SAM’s Sculpture Park will also serve as some much-needed natural habitat in the city, and a free, open space for the masses.
“It offers the chance to get outside and recreate and be healthy,” says Rogers.
The park is divided into four distinct ecological regions: Valley, Grove, Meadows, and Shore.
Each “region” is planted with appropriate native flowers, shrubs, and trees. Visitors to the Valley will encounter two trees that were once native to the Northwest, the ginkgo and the metasequoia (Dawn redwood). Additionally, SAM demonstrates dedication to our local salmon by providing a kelp habitat for migrating Chinook in its restored shoreline.
“We are also dealing with storm water runoff and keeping it inside as opposed to in the street water system,” adds Rogers. “We also have a no pesticide approach to landscape maintenance.”
The nine-acre green space is Z-shaped and designed by Weiss/Manfredi of New York. The park’s main path links three areas of land and connects to Myrtle Edwards Park.
“We are hoping to increase the public’s understanding of the arts and appreciation of public sculpture,” says Rogers. “We are also hoping to create an appreciation of the Northwest. SAM is introducing the visiting public to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.”
—Sophie Raider
Quick Activism
Don’t Just Get Mad… GET ACTIVE
You’re busy. You have a job, family and social life. You don’t always have time for activism. We get that. So in honor of our shortest month, and keeping in the spirit of brevity, we’ve collected some quick and easy activism opportunities.
15 minutes: Wish you could give legislators a piece of your mind? Want to tell mega corporations what you really think of their shady business practices? ActForChange provides contact info and sample letters to help you fire off an impassioned missive to the powers that be. Visit www.workingforchange.com/activism.
10 minutes: Sixty percent of the US population is eligible to donate blood, yet only 5 percent do. A person who gives blood six times annually can save up to 18 lives. It only takes 10 minutes, so what are you waiting for? Find your local blood drive at www.givelife.org.
5 minutes: While some people feel the need to upgrade cell phones the second the latest model hits stores, others simply need the means to dial 911. Mail in your outdated celly to victims of domestic violence at ncadv.org/takeaction/DonateaPhone or to seniors in need of a lifeline at www.phones4life.org.
—Jessica Ridenour
Who Resuscitated the Electric Car?
On January 7th I fell in love. Her name is the Volt, a new electric concept car developed by GM. Rumors had being circulating for months about the kind of drive train she would have, and if she would just be a carbon copy of my last electric love from GM, the EV1 (subject of the recent documentary Who Killed The Electric Car?). But I’m glad to say she turned out to be more than I had ever hoped for, and if brought into mainstream production, she could be nothing short of revolutionary.
GM is calling the Volt a hybrid car but it’s not like any hybrid we’ve known so far. It’s primarily an electric car with a small gasoline motor to charge the battery once it reaches 30 percent of its capacity, giving it a maximum range of 640 miles. Its 53 kW power plant is fed by a 136 kW lithium-ion battery pack that pushes it to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds, with a top speed of 120 mph. The Volt can be fully recharged from a conventional wall outlet in 6 hours and has a maximum fully electric range of 40 miles. The equivalent miles per gallon you can expect depend on driving behavior. If you travel long distances you’ll get about 50mpg, but if you travel under 40 miles per day (like 80 percent of Americans) you’ll see the equivalent of 400-500mpg. With the performance of an average sports car, her sleek modern styling, and an astounding fuel economy, you can see why the Volt is turning heads.
Sherry Boschert’s book Plug in Hybrids (New Society Publishers, 2006) examined this kind of configuration, a large electric drive and small gas generator, but many agreed that we would not see a carmaker attempt to produce one for several years. The Volt has effectively leapfrogged the industry’s expectations. GM has broken my heart before with the recall of the EV1 so it is with trepidation that I take her hand for one more dance and wonder, will GM bring the Volt to my eager arms or will she forever remain a dream car just of reach?
— Damien Somerset
America’s Best Eco-Communities: Ballard
Just one more reason that Ballard is the new center of the Universe.
If you have ever strolled Ballard’s Sunday Farmers Market, sipped a cocktail at Thaiku or rocked out at one of the many live band venues, then you already know that this neighborhood is hip and happenin.’ Now, Seattle’s very own Ballard has been named as one of America’s Best Eco-Communities by Natural Home magazine. The magazine selected the top 10 urban neighborhoods—including hotspots in New York, Chicago and Texas—that encourage a healthy and eco-conscious life.
Criteria for selection included: community involvement; shopping, libraries and schools within a walk-able area; public transportation; and locally owned businesses. Ballard was picked for its varied architecture and energetic business district (with nightlife), coffee shops, boutiques, wine bars and a lively music scene.
Ballard’s noted “Curb appeal?”
• Lots of trees, nearby parks, access to kayaking and sailing
• Roof with 18,000 low-water-use plants atop the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library.
• Successful curbside recycling program
• High-density neighborhood: empty lots transformed into condos; run-down industrial sites razed and turned into homes
• Green, LEED-certified condos in Hjärta (“heart” in Swedish) building
— Ritzy Ryciak
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