Client: Edmonds Floretum Garden Club

Overview

In 2021, I was selected to design and install a sculptural mosaic to celebrate the Edmonds Floretum Garden Club’s centennial. The design needed to be viewable from all sides, easy to read as a pedestrian or from passing traffic, to have strong visual impact, but could not exceed 36″ in height. I brought on metal sculptor Abe Singer as a collaborator and we crafted three steel and mosaic sculptural elements suggesting three flowers in different stages of blooming. Each sculpture has 3 “petals” and each set of facing petals features a vignette in a different garden theme. The sculptures are anchored into 30″ of concrete, buried underground. The final artwork was installed in August 2022, and was then transferred into the collection of the Edmonds Arts Commission.

Goals

The goal was just that: to integrate commissioned artwork into this corner of a city block, in front of a municipal building, one block from the downtown corridor. This is a residential area, very pedestrian-friendly, but with consistent, slow vehicle and bicycle traffic. A goal was to install artwork that would be colorful and vibrant, and visually interesting both from afar and close up.

Process

I worked closely with the Edmonds Floretum Garden Club committee, Edmonds public works department, and with fellow artist Abe Singer to design a project that would fit within the size restriction (36") while having strong visual impact. It needed to be shaped in such a way as not to invite climbing, but durable if someone were to hoist themselves onto it. I also had to gain approval from Edmonds City Council, so there were many levels of collaboration to get this project from concept to completion.