Art Plan for the Pro Parks
Seattle, WA

Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs

Art Plan for the Pro Parks 2000 Levy

As artist-in-residence in Seattle Parks & Recreation, charged with developing an art master plan for Seattle's park system, Law researched urban parks, Seattle's park system, and the possibilities for art within "public" natural settings. From this research, she developed an art plan whose goal was to create a legacy of artworks for Seattle's parks. The plan's focus was on experiential art projects within a selection of parks, one artist-led park design, and one city-wide writer-in-residence project. The art plan outlined the rationale, vision, goals and scope for the $1./2 million in pooled public art funds generated by the $197 million Pro Parks levy that dealt with 100 new and renovated parks throughout the city.

The primary vision of the plan focused artists on making art within park settings that provided respite from urban life and occasions to reflect on and connect with the natural world within the dense urban environment of the city. These artworks drew their essential concepts, metaphors, and materials from nature and from the character and patterns of use in each particular park. They created an engaging, interactive artwork, "places" of meaning and unique imagination that creatively expressed an idea and interactive experience -- offering all generations a specific experience with each park.

The Pro Parks Plan received a 2003 Commendation from the Seattle Design Commission for "true innovation and design excellence in the public realm by providing coherent, comprehensive planning that is bold, energizing and strategically savvy, and reinforces an integrated role for public art in open spaces for the community." The art plan process is also being offered as a model for other park systems.

The fabrication of art projects continues into 2010.