It was a beautiful sunny winter day and I had to get outside. I had been thinking I would head to the mountains for a bit of snowshoeing, but I had not planned anything, and I am a bit leery about wandering in the snow alone. I don’t know enough about identifying potential avalanche hazards, and I don’t really have any desire to be buried in one. I decided on an urban adventure. The Seattle Art Museum has just opened their new Olympic Sculpture Park with much fanfare and media frenzy, so I thought I would take a look.

I set off walking toward the Route 72 bus line. I was early, and the Sunday schedule has buses running only once an hour, so I went for some exercise and walked along the bus route until it was close to when one would arrive. The ride downtown was not long, and I continued my “hike” by walking through the Pike Place Market and north to the new park. I didn’t take a camera along, so I don’t have any pictures to post, but you can find lots of information by visiting the Seattle Art Museum website. The park overlooks Elliot Bay on Puget Sound, and provides a great view of the Olympic Mountains.

Because the park is new, has gotten a lot of media attention, and the weather was fantastic, there was a huge crowd. For some reason, every other person, couple or group felt the need to bring one or more dogs with them. There is still construction going on to finish the park and complete all of the installations. The plantings will need a few years to grow into the site and produce something of the effect that the designers had in mind.

Although I am trained as an artist, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington, I generally do not find much art which appeals to me. There were only a couple of pieces that I saw that I found more interesting than the construction that was in progress. Richard Serra’s Wake and Roxy Paine’s Split were interesting. Alexander Calder’s Eagle and Claes Oldenburg’s Typewriter Eraser were note worthy from an historical perspective.

Conceived and created so that some of the wealthy locals would have a place to put their outdoor artwork, I guess the park accomplishes that. I think that as the landscaping matures, and the installations grow, this will be a nice addition to the Seattle downtown/waterfront area. Since it was mostly funded by gifts, I guess there isn’t too much to object to. Hopefully the donors will enjoy their tax breaks, and the people of Seattle will enjoy the park.

Another short walk back to my bus ride home, a ride on the Route 522, and finally a walk from Lake City to my house, and my urban hike was over. I didn’t get to the mountains, but I did get a good view of the Olympics, and managed a bit of exercise. It is always good to walk around the city where you live, to stay in touch with things on a more intimate level than you get from behind the steering wheel of a car.