Artist chosen for West Seattle’s Fire Station 32 reconstruction

Thanks to Deb for the tip – a city newsletter brings word of the artist has been chosen for a “1 Percent for Art” project for the Fire Station 32 reconstruction project in The Triangle:

Oakland, Calif.-based artist Sean Orlando will create a permanent artwork for Fire Station 32 in the West Seattle Junction. The new fire station will be built at the existing location, 3715 SW Alaska St., and will be the lead station for Battalion VII, which covers all of West Seattle, southwest Seattle, Harbor Island, and the industrial areas lining both sides of the Duwamish River. The fire station is expected to be completed in fall 2015.

Orlando is an installation artist and community organizer with an interest in collaborative and immersive, large-scale sculptural installation projects. He is a co-founder of the Five Ton Crane Arts Group and principle artist at Engineered Artworks. Orlando’s most recent collaborative group projects include the Steampunk Tree House, Raygun Gothic Rocketship and The Nautilus Submarine art car. His area of expertise includes the design and fabrication of large-scale public sculpture and leading collaborative teams to bring to life high-profile aesthetic visions that celebrate human ingenuity and exploration. He’s exhibited at venues throughout California including Port of San Francisco, Coachella, Chabot Space and Science Center, Burning Man and Worth Ryder Gallery.

A panel of arts professionals, Department of Finance and Administrative Services (DFAS) representatives, a firefighter, West Seattle community members, and fire station architects selected Orlando. The project is commissioned with DFAS 1% for Art funds.

dean May 3, 2013 (5:58 am)

No artists in Washington. Hm. One percent for art. Looks like get ready for an intergalactic protest piece from an antiestablishment, community agitator. Perfect.. As a friend of mine once said, “If I can do it,
it’s not art.”

Neighbor May 3, 2013 (8:49 am)

Wtf? Has this state no local artists? Seriously I don’t care if he’s the latest and greatest at all the corporate feed troughs (Coachella, Burning Man) the fact that yet again no Washington state artist was chosen means that the art commission is failing. This is a huge insult in today’s funding. Washington tax payer money should stay in the pockets of Washingtonians especially when it comes to funding art for public buildings.

Orca May 3, 2013 (9:10 am)

How much money is involved?

How was the “selection” process conducted?

Lets have fun with this picture May 3, 2013 (9:40 am)

The building itself will be art. Plenty of money gets spent on the art of the architecture involved. That is art, too.

It’s time to get rid of the 1 percent for art program. It is a silly way to budget for aesthetics and leads to spending simply for the sake of spending.

Support local art.

Sarah May 3, 2013 (9:47 am)

Were there any artists from Washington that have experience doing the requirements that needed to be met to be considered? When they posted it I viewed it and it was pretty detailed in what they were looking for and specific criteria that had to be a persons past to apply. Maybe there wasn’t anyone from Washington that applied or was qualified enough to be considered.

Anne May 3, 2013 (11:15 am)

Really– no one in the whole State?? Kind of hard to believe!

G May 3, 2013 (11:27 am)

Sure, a local artist would have been great, but having lived among homo sapien Californicus off and on for a year, I don’t think they would make the same fuss about an out of state artist. This is really provincial stuff, sorry.

Stacy May 3, 2013 (11:36 am)

I agree with the comments to support local artists. There are several qualified artists in walking distance of the Junction. Is there an appeals process for concerned taxpayers to overturn this decision?

WSB May 3, 2013 (11:38 am)

I am not hugely knowledgeable about the process, but locals were involved in making the choice. It was pointed out the last time we published an announcement of a public-art project that was handled by out-of-state artists – artists from our state are considered for projects in other states, so theoretically it all works out in the wash, as the saying goes. Would be very interested to hear from anyone with deep knowledge of the process and whether it really does shake out that way – TR

Mike May 3, 2013 (12:22 pm)

This program is more lovingly referred to by capital project managers as 1% for Junk.

datamuse May 3, 2013 (2:57 pm)

“If I can do it, it’s not art.”
.
I find that a really bizarre statement. Does your friend think that doing art is some sort of rarefied gift of the gods, beyond the ken of mere mortals, or something?
.
Anyone can do art. It won’t all be GOOD art, but one can’t have everything.

JW May 3, 2013 (3:32 pm)

Is there something wrong with the present station ?
With today’s economy , could the money be better spent elsewhere ? Like employing more firemen or medics.

WSB May 3, 2013 (3:54 pm)

It’s going to be expanded to serve as the headquarters of Battalion 7, noted in previous coverage linked in the story. Almost every other West Seattle fire station has had a project funded by the Fire Levy – construction is also ahead for stations 11 and 36, though those are smaller projects. – TR

dean May 3, 2013 (6:52 pm)

1 percent for junk. Im not willing to go that far, but, what really matters to me is the local artist community. I am sorry this came under the radar, i am sure there must have been a public comment period? Or maybe not. Does anyone know? I would join an effort to revisit this decision..

dean May 3, 2013 (6:54 pm)

As I read, I had my chance to comment. Last paragraph in the article.

Jennifer May 3, 2013 (7:20 pm)

Local artist appreciate, and actually do large public art peojects in other states and internationally, so it does balance out. If you approach it provincially, then you lose out on having diversity of works and ideas. In the choosing of artists for projects, panels are looking for the best candidate for the situation.

WSB May 3, 2013 (7:57 pm)

And Dean’s comment reminds me – we did publish a notice here when they put out the call for artists, fwiw:
.
https://westseattleblog.com/2013/01/artist-sought-for-work-at-west-seattles-fire-station-32

G May 4, 2013 (3:57 pm)

Art is not changing a tire on a car; sometimes the search for the best artist for a project means going out of state. As long as Washingtonians had the same opportunity to compete, let the best artist win. “Protectionism” is antithetical to whole concept of art.

Sorry, comment time is over.