Seldom do we get to go back and
redo a project- but in this case I did. In 1977, I was one of
3 artists commissioned to work on the Creston Nelson Substation
for Seattle City Light. This was one of the first artist design
team projects in the country.
We made a series of related artworks
for the station, and I designed a woven pattern in the chain link
fence, a series of cast aluminum light bulbs, and a bench/sculpture
that was concrete and aluminum. I was never very happy with the
sculpture- my ideas were more complicated than my fabricating
abilities at that stage- I was only 22. So when, in 2003, the
Seattle Arts Commission offered me a chance to revist Creston,
I was happy to do so. The aluminum parts from the original sculpture
were recycled into a completely new sculpture for another City
Light location- the Light Bulb Bench at the North Service Center,
and in its place at Creston Nelson, I built these two sculptures.
Based on my original light bulb iconography of 1978, but executed
with the skills I have learned since then, one giant 12' tall
light bulb was split in half to make 2 benches for the parklike
grounds that surround the substation.
8' diameter, 12' tall, electropolished
stainless steel.
Commissioned by the Seattle Arts
Commission.