Ballard is bursting with art

Originally published Saturday, November 20, 1999

By AMY E. NEVALA
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Once a sleepy little fishing village, Ballard now rivals art-rich neighbor Fremont as Seattle's hub of art and chi-chi chic. Over the last 20 years, art has popped up in Ballard's gardens, roadway underpasses and even on windows, as Barbara Noah demonstrates with "Forms of Power," one of many artworks throughout the city funded by the Seattle Arts Commission.

Playing on the Canal Substation's power theme, Noah in 1995 designed seven back-lit window silhouettes, the largest 8-by-10 feet in size.

"I wanted to show other forms of power besides electrical power," Noah said.

A couple kissing in a pink window represents the power of love, and the children's hand game of "rock, paper, scissors" in three orange windows represents physical power. Mind power comes from the figure of a scientist in a blue window. The strength of the law lies in its impartial (blind) calculations, as represented by a blindfolded figure in a white window.

Noah painted the figures on colored Plexiglas covered with a second, sanded sheet of Plexiglas, giving the images a hazy, silhouette look.

"It's best to see them at night, when the art is lit from behind," she said. "The images look like shadows."

While checking out Noah's art on Eighth Avenue Northwest and Northwest 45th Street, visit Jeffrey Mitchell's 1995 concrete and ceramic tree stumps decorated with whimsical animals, Dutch children and gnomes. The sculptures liven the Ballard sculpture garden on Northwest 46th Street and Sixth Avenue Northwest.

Also pause for the 46th Street Underpass Murals, painted to discourage graffiti and brighten the roadways for drivers and pedestrians.

Installed in 1995, the murals cover both walls of North 46th Street and Leary Way.

Other roadway and sidewalk art in Ballard includes mosiac tile at 11 intersections along 24th Avenue Northwest between Northwest Market Street and Northwest 65th Avenue. Each of the blue and white tiles spells out a former name of the streets before they were renamed when Ballard became a part of Seattle.

Ballard sculpture ranges from Lawrence Beck's 1976 "The Golden Money Moon," a welded steel and enamel sculpture at the west end of Seaview Avenue Northwest, to Archie Graber's wood sculpture "Trees of Knowledge" at the Ballard Branch Library, 5711 24th Ave. N.W.

Commemorating Ballard's fishing and milling Scandinavian roots is a mural at Bergen Place Park, Northwest 22nd Avenue and Northwest Market Street. Norwegian royalty appeared at the mural's dedication in 1995.

Nearby is Ballard's newest art addition -- a community kiosk designed by Ballard artist Brad Rice. The kiosk, designed with a lighthouse appearance, will post information on cultural and art events in Ballard.