This is a survy of public art from around the world with a vocabulary to use to compare

2. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
The following concepts are commonly used to describe
public art. The descriptions are contested, mostly at the
margins, and quite subjective; but they will help you
categorize and discuss what you find appealing about
different types of public art

3. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
Site integrated: Integrated into the construction of a facility, usually through design team
process
Site specific: Designed for a specific location but can be detached if necessary
Portable Works: Paintings, prints, photographs, glass, ceramic, small sculptures that are
displayed throughout city facilities
Temporary Art: Short-term artwork, often tied programmatically to the work or mission of
an event or organization.
Installation Art: Site specific art that temporarily transforms a space.

4. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
Gateways: Creating a sense of arrival.
Transit/wayfinding: Providing orientation for travelers.
Murals: Part of a town-enhancement strategy.
Performance Art: Interdisciplinary performance mostly unscripted and usually presented
only one time
Placemaker Art: Defines a community gathering place
Street Furniture: Benches, Streetlights, hatch covers/pavement, gates and fences, wall
decoration

5. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
Think about these concepts as you view the following
examples of public art from around the world

7. Myrtle Edwards Park, Michael Heizer
Adjacent, Against, Upon, 1976
Seattle Art Museum,
Jonathan Borofsky,
Hammering Man, 1991
Tilikum Place Park, James Wehn,
Chief Seattle Fountain, 1909

8. Sidewalk Stamps • Seattle, Washington

10. Yarn-bombing
Seattle, New York, Toledo

11. Murals
Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle

12. Fremont Neighborhood
Seattle, Washington

13. Repurposed Lenin statue from former Repurposed ICBM missile
USSR Fremont Neighborhood
Fremont Neighborhood Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington

14. Grass Blades
Painted steel sculpture • 2003
Seattle, Washington
John Fleming and Susan Zoccola

15. Downtown mural • Portland, OR

16. The Spiders • Bronze • Cleveland
Temporary art installation
Louise Bourgeois

17. Puppy, 1992 Father and Son, 2005.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain Olympic Sculpture Garden
Jeff Koons Seattle, Washington
Louise Bourgeois

18. Public Seats

19. Public Transportation
Fremont Neighborhood Seattle, Washington
Seattle

21. Fire Station Art
Seattle, Wash

22. Ziggurat–East, Summer • Abandoned Fisher Body Plant, Detroit
Sculptural installation and photography project
Scott Hocking

23. Cloud Gate • Millennium Park, Chicago
Anish Kapoor

24. The Gates • Central Park, New York • 2005
Christo and Jeanne-Claude

25. Aires Libres
Montreal, Canada 2011
Claude Cormier
Steam Pig
2010 Art Prize
Grand Rapids, Michigan

26. Seattle, Prague

27. Bell Town Popsicle
Seattle, Washington
Catherine Mayer

28. Big Blue Bear
(I see what you
mean)
•
Colorado
Convention
Center, Denver
•
Elizabeth
Thomsen

29. Eyeball benches • Seattle, WA
Louise Bourgeois

30. Co2LED • Arlington County, VA
Solar-powered LEDs on rods, each topped with a reused plastic bottle
Jack Sanders, Robert Gay and Butch Anthony

31. Pocket Beach
Olympic Park
Seattle, Washington
Art Tool, 12 foot imprint of Los
Angeles as seen from above
Santa Monica, 1986

32. The Sequence Uchronia
Brussels Nevada
Arne Quinze Arne Quinze

33. Federal Building
Tacoma, Washington
Dale Chihuly

34. Cloud City
MOMA, New York
2012
Tomás Saraceno
Balloon Dog
New York
Jeff Coons

35. New York, Seattle

36. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

37. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

38. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

39. Odette Park
Windsor, Ontario

40. Memorial Art
Toledo, New York

41. Nisbet Road Pedestrian Bridge
Phoenix, Arizona
Alavadaro Water Treatment Plant, San
Diego. Branded questions about San
Diego water history, 1998
Pima Freeway, Scottsdale, Arizona

42. Waterfront Place Falls
Vancouver, British Columbia
Waterfront Fountain
Seattle, Washington, 1974
James Fitzgerald and Margaret Tompkins