Guerrilla art mysteriously appears on 14th Ave.

Geeky Swedes Ballard

You may have noticed the new metal artwork in the center median of 14th Ave.

It’s at 58th St., where volunteers with the 14th Avenue Visioning Project recently created the landscaped median, raised crosswalk and curb extensions.

We spoke with 14th Ave. organizers this weekend during a cleanup project, and they said the artwork appeared out of nowhere — a guerrilla art project. They’ve asked around, but have been unable to determine the source of the triangular piece. And what do they think of it? “We like it,” they said.

Earlier this month: Mysterious creature appears at construction site

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

38 thoughts to “Guerrilla art mysteriously appears on 14th Ave.”

  1. This is so silly; right adjacent to this median is an artists workshop/gallery, and they are the ones that made this and put it out there: there just not telling poeple they did incase the city has a problem with it. The other day I was driving down 14th and the sun was setting so it was that gray period between light and dark and I thought the install was a person which kinda made me slow down to make sure – hopefully it will have this affect on other drivers because 14th is a really dangerous street for pedestrians and cars because of its split down the middle with parking in the center orientation, and poeple do not go the speed limit hardly ever.

  2. I saw this in the back of a pick up truck being driven south on 8th Ave. N.W. one night about a day or so before I noticed it at its present location. If the artists across the street made it, then they fabricated it somewhere else.

  8. Your right LY, we lost our “blue box” on 14th and 62nd but about 20 feet from the art install is another “blue-box” on the south side of the artist space. I don't think they pick it up as often as it says though (5pm daily), I have found the only way to truly expidite my mail fast is to bring it to the post office blue-boxes (did a little experiment with netflix and different mailboxes).

  9. Where do you live? I have some old rusted scrap metal in my garage, I could dump it there for you, it would look the same as this “art”…

  11. I think it's a cool sculpture. There was a big iron horse there at one point.

    I heard that somebody was killed going to that mailbox when it was in the median. That's why it was moved down the street. I don't know if the remodel of that intersection was related to that too. Anything to improve 14th is good, imho. People need to chill the f*ck out on 14th–it's way too congested. If you need to speed, stay on 15th.

  14. Artwork on a busy median vs post office box. No brainer…right? Turn the whole frickin' median into an art park…that would be cool!

  15. One unintended consequence of the curb extensions: bicyclists are forced to merge with cars to get through or, finding that unsafe, must ride on the sidewalk. Too bad they didn't leave a “bike channel” through each extension.

  16. While the people were cleaning 14th on Saturday we saw a speeding black truck going up 14th that honked very loudly and nearly ploughed into a car turning left. Both were going north bound. This is the same intersection where a friend was killed. Personally, I think the City needs to put in lights at that intersection. The improvement doesn't seem to stop the reckless drivingg.

  17. I've looked at the photos for quite some time, but I still don't see any art there. What am I missing? There's a big rusty thing there, but surely that's not it? That's not art.

  18. Hey, Fnarf, thanks for saying that. If someone put this in my yard, I'd be extremely irritated. Have you noticed that most of what passes for art in public places looks like junk to you? For example, that huge eraser wheel at the SAM park? Again, wouldn't want that crap in my yard either.

  20. Gorilla art is the Coolest kind. Its nice to have people invest time and effort in their hood.
    Some people would like to look at parked cars instead. Sad really, those people.

  21. I love how the city is so poorly run at this point that mass groups of people have to lie about the origin of a public piece of art so that we can put it up. Yeah Nichols!

  23. Somebody just sent a nasty email to me in regards to one of my comments on this newspost. It is one thing to post nasty comments in the forum but do not send them to people's personal email. After this comment I will know better than to leave comments on a public forum like this. How sad.

  24. A lady was killed here in Dec. 2007. She was going to work at the church after mailing cards at the old box. As this is a walking street for the school kids, the city said they would try and make it safer for everyone. The crossing was made smaller for safety in crossing this street at this intersection. It was meant to slow down the traffic and to be aware of people crossing. As stated before this is a speedway. Anything to help save a life is worth it.

  25. You would prefer maybe a representational statue of Tim Eyman? I rather like this piece. I find Seattle’s ‘whimsical ‘ approach to most public art growing tiresome.

  26. I know the person who put that art work there. He is a Senior at UW and is in the Interdisciplinary Visual Arts program. He wanted people to see his art work, and this was a way he thought he could do it.

  27. We get a lot of “Guerrilla art” mysteriously appearing on out street. It ususally has a “For Free” sign. I think they call it “dumping” officially.

  30. I've never logged into this type of chat before. However, I've read all of the comments, and believe all of you to be right. I think the creator of the work would be pleased that the work has generated dialog between humans. Whether or not it is art or eyesore is of no real consequence. The fact that you are all awake is.

  31. I went to high school with the artist who put this up! They were trying to center it and thought they'd done a pretty good job, but think someone may have tried to move it after it had been placed. Maybe they just have bad depth perception *shrugs*. The artist wants people to enjoy his pieces, which I think is why he put it where it is out in public instead of stuffed inside a gallery. The “shields” are at face height. This makes an interesting impression when a person standing on the inside is observed from the outside =)

    -Cheers :)

  33. i think it's crap too. but it is art… it's just a bunch of metal welded together, it looks like someone tried to make something cool, but it came out crappy, so they dumped it here…
    because what is art? something that makes you take a second look…. something that creates conversation… something that you remember… who knows?

  35. Well, there's definetely a conversation going. I think there's more to art than that though…

    It's kind of a presentable spot to dump something crappy. I don't think it's much of a spot to get rid of something one's embarrassed about.

  38. I’m currently working on a project that won’t be completed for another week or so, but if you’re interested I can let you know when it’s finished and where you can see it.

    The best part of guerrilla and/or public art [for the artist] is witnessing the reaction and interaction of those whose environment it alters. I’ll either let you know privately or after the neighborhood has formed their own reaction so the response starts from the center and not from an exterior source.

Leave a Reply