(Pete Buck, chairman of the nonprofit board of Northwest Hub, will be contributing serendipitous observations from time to time. He has a tiny camera in the glove box of his car and an eye and ear for what is good in the world. Anyone with ideas for positive happenings, programs, things, etc., should contact him at pete@northwesthub.org.)
Yesterday, on my way to work, I came across Jesse Brown and Todd Lown creating great art on an unusual canvas: the traffic signal vault at First Avenue and Lenora Street. It turns out they are painting a total of 28 signal vaults up and down First, Second and Western avenues. These great pieces of art should have more permanence than the wonderful Pigs on Parade we get to enjoy every few years.
Jesse and Todd work for Urban ArtWorks, a local nonprofit that obtained funding from the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods. Kudos to the city, to Urban ArtWorks, and to Jesse and Todd. We are fortunate to live in a place where someone can have this vision, and get others to organize it, fund it and bring it to life through numerous cans of paint. By the way, I learned that Urban ArtWorks has a contract to maintain the art and is keeping all those cans of paint handy in case the signal vaults get tagged.
For more information on what seems like a pretty neat organization, go to www.urbanartworks.org. I intend to find out more about them for future chairman’s corner posts.
