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One Step Closer to Future Additional Art in Riverfront Park

The Seeking Place is pending full Park Board approval Thursday

Riverfront: 625.6600 Media: Fianna, 435.1866

Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 2:49 p.m.

SPOKANE – The Riverfront Park Committee of the Park Board today voted to move forward The Seeking Place art piece by Sarah Thompson Moore of Coeur d’Alene to a full vote of the Park Board. The full Park Board is anticipated to vote on the piece at their meeting on Thursday.

Additional art is desired for Riverfront, as part of the 1% art budget for bond-funded redevelopment. Stepwell by artist Meejin Yoon, was selected as the “signature” art piece for the park’s redevelopment, and is slated to open in the spring on West Havermale Island.

The Seeking Place is made of perforated anodized aluminum panels, with inspiration drawn from our region’s basalt outcroppings. The perforations form unique lighting and shadows that change throughout the day, and LED lights mounted along the top cast light downward and create a glow in the evening while also keeping it well lit at night. The proposed structure is roughly 40’ x 23’, and up to 12’ tall in places. If the piece is approved, the site will be determined in the near future.

If approved, it is anticipated The Seeking Place will be constructed in Riverfront Park in summer 2021.

The Seeking Place was the second recommendation of the Joint Art Committee; the Beaver by Saya Moriyasu was the first recommendation. The Riverfront Park Committee reflected on the JAC expertise, along with community feedback and knowledge of parks as volunteer representatives of the Spokane community, in their vote. The full Park Board will do the same.

The Riverfront Park Committee reflected that they would enjoy seeing a Saya Moriyasu piece somewhere in the Spokane area public art collection, if private funding or grant opportunities arose in the future.

Background

In our outreach process on Stepwell, the first piece of bond-funded art, we heard from many in the community that they wanted to see more local art in our park. Part of the criteria for this second bond-funded piece was that the artist reside in the Inland Northwest region of Washington, Idaho, or Oregon. Other criteria indicated the art should be interactive, accessible and welcoming, and made of durable material suited to an urban park.

Parks has an agreement with Spokane Arts to facilitate the process. The Joint Arts Committee (made up of 3 Spokane Arts commissioners and 3 Park Board members) chose four finalists from an incredible pool of applicants. The JAC reviewed the four finalists’ submissions at a public meeting in April, and then recommended the Beaver to the Park Board for their consideration.

The Riverfront Park committee of the Park Board reviewed the recommendation in May, and requested additional public feedback before making a selection. Public feedback is a valued part of the redevelopment process using taxpayer funds. The committee subsequently asked the JAC to provide a second option recommendation as well for consideration.

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