I was somewhat surprised to see a gigantic flower in bloom at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Union Street in downtown Seattle. Turns out the yellow daisy isn't real, but a 27-foot tall kinetic sculpture by artist Ginny Ruffner. Urban Garden is the "capstone" of the Sheraton Seattle Hotel's new $2.5 million Garden Walk. It will be celebrated with a public garden party on Thursday, July 21 from noon to 1 PM. Ruffner, known for her mixed media sculptures and metal and glass installations, will be at the party.
The 9,950-lb. sculpture was commissioned by the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, and is the largest piece in the hotel's extensive collection of Pacific Northwest art. Inside the hotel are works by Mark Tobey, Morris Graves and Jacob Lawrence. A glass flower, Dale Chihuly's Flower Form 2, is a major piece in the Sheraton's lobby.
Installation of Urban Garden was still underway when I saw it a week before the public reveal. The nine-foot wide yellow daisy will spin continuously while the red watering can tilts and waters the flower pot -- meanwhile, bluebells open and close. The flower "show" is on a programmed cycle, and viewers can watch the mechanisms at work through a window in the base of the flower pot.
Urban Garden, which Ruffner created along with Seattle's Fabrication Specialties, has been seven years in the making. It completes the Sheraton's Garden Walk project, which was designed "to create a welcoming pedestrian envrionment and infuse green space in a central downtown intersection." Nearby are theaters, the Washington State Convention Center and I-5.Features of the Garden Walk include large-scale mirrors that reflect the surrounding buildings; a glass canopy for protection from the rain (it glows at night); and seating among evergreens and perennials.
I'll have to wait and see Urban Garden in its entirety, once it's up and running and not surrounded by boom lifts and installation crews. My first impression? Mr. Rogers' Meets Pee-wee Herman and Edith Ann. Maybe it will grow on me.
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