Gotta love public art! Here are 3 fascinating pieces in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle!
1. Underneath the Aurora Bridge is the Fremont Troll. Made of reinforced concrete, wire, and a VW bug, it’s large enough for several people to climb on at once. The troll has inspired several annual events and is often decorated with chalk art.
2. The Interurban Sculpture depicts several people waiting at a bus stop, along with a dog with a human face (said to be the likeness of either a particularly beloved or hated public figure, depending on who you talk to). It is regularly decorated, dressed up, and/or yarn bombed. Community members are welcome — encouraged, actually — to adorn the statue as they choose for a week, as long as they are not displaying commercial messages.
3. So this conversation actually happened:
“Do you want to see the statue of Lenin?”
“Lennon? Like John Lennon?”
“No. Like Marx and Lenin.”
“What?!”
Yep. Imagine all the people who could be depicted in statue form in a Seattle neighborhood, and I bet you wouldn’t have guessed the Russian communist leader either. The statue was originally installed in Slovakia, toppled during the 1989 revolution, and currently stands on a street corner in Fremont. I don’t think the community is trying to promote his ideals. As I understand it, it’s about great craft extending beyond ideology. All they are saying is “give art a chance.”
Fremont prides itself on its quirkiness. And with a giant Volkswagen-eating troll under a bridge, a statue that residents dress, and one of a Russian revolutionary, I don’t think it’s in danger of losing that distinction.
With a little research help from my friends Ian Smith and Christine Smith of Four Windows.