Client: City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality

Overview

Part community organizing project and part public artwork, flumeflow is a multifaceted multimedia installation created as part of a new urban trail network and renovated park for South Tacoma. A monumental stonework and landscaping at the entry to Oak Tree Park features informal seating and fossil discoveries, while additional stones and student-made birdhouses populate trails throughout the park. A new Water Flume Line Trail provides dedicated pedestrian and bikeways to the downtown core as it passes our refurbished New Deal Era Art Deco pump station.

Goals

This project features 4 main interrelated components: 1) free, an iconic blue-painted Garry Oak at the entry to a new meadow at Oak Tree Park; 2) fly, a series of student-built/painted birdhouses for Western Bluebirds (as part of a larger habitat restoration effort); 3) flume, a monumental stonework and landscaping for a new entryway meadow and trail network: and 4) flow, a refurbished New Deal era pump station with giant photo graphics. The art project was conceived and designed by the artist as a unique collaboration between Tacoma Parks, Tacoma Water, South Tahoma High School, Tahoma Audubon and the Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality. The intent is to highlight existing and new green infrastructure for this working class South Tacoma neighborhood.

Process

Over a 3 year period, we worked with the project landscape architects, local artists, Tacoma Parks and Water departments, Tahoma Audubon and a nearby high school to develop and implement an overall plan that involved over 200 participants. Collaborating with the landscape architects, we developed a site integral approach for developing a new meadow, trail improvements and stonework. Working with local artists and City personnel, we renovated a piece of vintage WPA infrastructure. And guiding teachers and students through a joint research, design and fabrication process, we created over 50 unique bluebird houses as part of a larger habitat restoration project.