We're beginning to collect field recordings now.

If you'd like to contribute any bird songs, other animal noises, elemental background (water, wind, etc) or anything nature-related to the sound collage I'm composing (to be housed inside lifeboat), please send mp3 files to:

clark@artifacture.org

Thanks!

https://www.bird-sounds.net/california-towhee/

 Spent a few hours at Birdfest this past weekend collecting input for lifeboat flora/fauna imagery. 

Adding these to the previous compilations, we're now closing in on 60 Pacific NW plants and animals...

Chickadee (2)—

Bald Eagle (2)—

Great Blue Heron (3)—

Big-leaf Maple—

Cattail—

Vine Maple—

Skunk Cabbage—

Western Red Cedar—

Anna’s Hummingbird—

Salal—

Coyote—

Caspian Tern—

Bittern—

Towhee—

Varied Thrush—

Black Oystercatcher—

Otter—

Rough-skinned Newt—

Long-toed Salamander—

Red Alder—

Douglas Fir—

Black Cottonwood—

Pacific Tree Frog—

Banana Slug—

Blue/Green Darner Dragonfly—

Garter Snake—

Mourning Cloak Butterfly—

Osoberry (Indian Plum)—

Camas—

Cedar Wax Wing—

Calendula—

Redwood—

Salmonberry—

developing a flora/fauna list

Over the past month we've been receiving ideas for plants and animals to be included in lifeboat hull pattern imagery...

Stellar Jay

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Osprey

ferns - varieties

moss - varieties

huckleberry

sedges - varieties 

crows

salmon

Pacific Wren

owls - varieties

falcon

woodpeckers - varieties

sparrows - varieties

Western Bluebird

slugs

clams

starfish

frogs - varieties

jackrabbit

Orcas

seals

...and Sasquatch (there's one in every crowd)

To add to our burgeoning list, send flora/fauna names or images to: 

clark@artifacture.org

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night in front of Edmonds Fire Station...

You’re invited to participate in the design process for public art at the new Civic Park, including a meeting with the artist from 5-6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11.

The Edmonds Art Commission notes that Clark Wiegman, the artist crafting the artwork, is looking for your ideas: “…images and sounds of native animals and plants of the Pacific Northwest that you see, hear, think about and/or love.”

The collected images and sounds will be used to create digitized silhouette portraits that will then be laid out as a collage mural/tapestry. The resulting artwork will be a vinyl graphic that wraps around the hull of the lifeboat.

 

Want to contribute? For gardeners and plant enthusiasts: Submit names or photos of flowers, ferns, grasses, shrubs, trees. For bird watchers and animal lovers: Submit names, photos and/or field recordings of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects. Your examples could be common and abundant, or scarce and endangered.

Share your examples in one of three ways:
1.  Meet with the artist on Thursday, Aug 11, 5-6 p.m., outside Edmonds Fire Station 17, 275 6th Ave. N. — across from the Civic Park site — to share your photos and images of your favorite local plants and animals. This is also a great opportunity to discuss the project and learn about the design process.
2.  Leave a comment on the Civic Park Public Art project blog. The blog features the artist’s thoughts, ideas and insight into his process.
3. Email lists and/or images of your favorite local plants and animals, plus any thoughts or questions you’d like to share with the artist. Email the artist at clark@artifacture.org or the arts commission at eac@edmondswa.gov.

Discovered this website for birders today… 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/

Over the next couple months we’ll be soliciting input on imagery and sounds for this project.  

What we’re looking for are ideas, images and sounds of native plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest that you see, hear, think about and/or love. 

For avid gardeners and plant enthusiasts, it might be a short list or photos of flowers, ferns, grasses, shrubs, ground covers, trees, etc. For bird watchers and animal lovers, these might entail lists, photos and/or field recordings of western migratory birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, etc.  These could be common and abundant or scarce and endangered, it’s up to you…

Once we’ve collected the images and sounds, we’ll create digitized silhouette portraits that will then be laid out as a collage mural/tapestry. The resulting artwork will be a vinyl graphic that wraps around the hull of lifeboat. 

lark sparrow

phantom orchid

Lifeboat is an archetype, a cross-cultural universal symbol of human-powered water transport, a beacon boat, a vivid vessel, a cargo kayak, a star ship, a proverbial ark, a cedar dream…Brackett’s canoe, a Salish skiff, a Nordic clinker, a Chippewa raft, a Polynesian pontoon, a Swahili mtumbwi, an Uro totora, a Neolithic dugout…an intricately-patterned sculptural form…a brilliant torso, a floating totem…a stylus, quill, pen, brush, scribe…flickering, flying, floating, rowing, writing, drawing…

…a beautiful seawall that’s an iconic luminescent wayfinder, a topographical map, a landscape painting, a giant terrestrial print, an expressionist canvas, a fantastic fresco, a cognitive landscape or mythical map of Cascadia…a habitat mural, a meditation on a watery corner of the continent…an aerial view of watersheds, mountains and forests that signifies a gathering place for families, friends and neighbors.

Background research and community outreach informs my overall approach. The concept draws on documented regional history, current maps, and environmental issues, along with conversations with residents and business owners, meetings with stakeholder groups and numerous walks through Edmonds’ downtown, cultural district, waterfront and parks.

Building on this framework, strategies to solicit community input on the patterning of lifeboat and mapping of seawall include a survey and interactive blog that will collect descriptions, images and sounds of residents’ favorite area flora and fauna. The collected imagery will be digitized and incorporated into vinyl graphics affixed to wall and suspension. 

Cascadia expresses a relationship to the regional environment that brings viewers into a dialog between form and shape, color and pattern, light and shadow, sound and silence, biota and habitat. It strikes a balance between iconic universality and locational uniqueness, particularly as it relates to Edmonds’ extensive green infrastructure and vibrant downtown cultural district. The project encourages viewers to contemplate their place within the web of life of our shared natural world. Through the spatial relationship between an iconic lifeboat and a luminous seawall, the artwork will create a feeling of belonging to a larger bio-region, fostering a sense of caring for each other and our environs.