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Category: Public Art

Fremont Public Art: Troll’s Knoll Forest Lanterns

Posted on by Valarie

Dear FOTK (Friends of Troll’s Knoll) Supporters:

On Saturday, March 8th when visiting Troll’s Knoll Forest, we found that a mushroom lantern sculpture (third one as you head south) had been violently damaged. The mushroom cap was split horizontally and the cradle that supported the cap had been crushed and removed from the structure (see attached photo). The four mushroom lantern sculptures on site are a collaboration between artists Michiko Tanaka and HaiYing Wu. They were installed in 2023.

HaiYing and Michiko visited the site to survey the damage. It was determined the mushroom can be repaired but will cost in the neighborhood of $2,000. The work will consist of repairing damage, reproducing a silicone mold, cement casting and installation.

We are very honored to have this work by HaiYing Wu and Michiko Tanaka and are reaching out to the community to help fund the repair as this was not an expenditure we anticipated having.

While it is disappointing having art vandalized, our group is committed to maintaining the art and nature of the site. If you have visited the site lately you may have noticed all of the daffodils and tulips we planted are coming up. We expect even more visitors to the site next year because of 2026 FIFA World Cup. We hope you can make a donation to help with this repair and keep up the momentum at Troll’s Knoll. (Friends of Troll’s Knoll is Seattle Parks Foundation Community Partner, and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID: 91-1998597).

Thank you.

Leo Griffin
President
Friends of Troll’s Knoll
fremonttrollsknoll@gmail.com

Menorah Lighting in Fremont 2024

Posted on by Valarie

This year (2024) Hanukkah begins in the same week as Christmas, adding to the lights and celebrations of the season. At 6:30 PM on Saturday, December 28, there will be the first-ever Menorah Lighting in Fremont! The location will be at the Lenin statue, 3526 Fremont Place North. There is no better place than at the foot of Lenin to celebrate freedom, resilience and triumph of light over darkness.

Lenin in Fremont at the Holidays 2024

Posted on by Valarie

The Lenin statue in Fremont at 3526 Fremont Place North, came from eastern Europe where the statue had been toppled after the demise of the Communist regime. In Fremont in Seattle, the statue represents irony, that Lenin now looks out over Fremont which is one of the most free and artistic neighborhoods of Seattle.

The location of the Lenin statue on a public square, lends itself to many celebrations and the Lenin statue is decorated accordingly. In 2024, Hanukkah begins in the same week as Christmas so lights of the Menorah will be added in a ceremony on Saturday, December 28, at 6:30 PM. Hanukkah is a celebration of freedom, resilience and triumph of light over darkness.

Fremont Public Art: Dinosaur Topiary

Posted on by fremont

Bought for $1 a piece from the downtown Pacific Science Center, which no longer wanted them, the five-ton, 66-foot dinosaurs were found to be only temporarily stuffed with greenery after they were moved to their new home by community volunteers in 1999.

With the help of Fremont Rotary, more volunteers cleaned out the frames, fitted them with plumbing and electricity, and then planted an estimated 7,000 ivy plants to cover the iron frames. The mother and child dinosaurs now look out at the Burke-Gilman Trail from their leafy home at the intersection of North 34th Street, Phinney Avenue North, and North Canal Street.

Fremont Public Art: The Medalist Statue

Posted on by Valarie

The Medalist is an eleven-foot-high figure created from partially-fused medals donated by runners.

This artwork was created to celebrate that the Brooks Running Shoe Store moved its headquarters to 3400 Stone Way in Fremont. About 1,073 race medals were donated and each donor filled out a form telling when and where they received the medal and the story of their participation in that race. The donation forms were collected into a book which is on display inside of the store.

The Medalist was designed by artists and then Larry Tate of Fabrication Specialties did the metalwork, completing the statue in 2014. The Medalist conveys the joy of running and the sense of achievement of personal goals.

Fremont Public Art: The Berlin 1936 Crew Racer

Posted on by Valarie

The Data 1 office building at 744 North 34th Street was completed in 2017 and has outdoor artworks on each side of the building. At one side, underneath the Aurora Bridge, is a fragment of the Berlin Wall which tells of the triumph of the human spirit when Communism fell in 1989.

At the other corner of the Data 1 building (on the left as you look at it) is a metal sculpture of a man holding an oar, labeled Berlin 1936. This is a reference to the Olympic Games of that year, when the crew racers from the University of Washington in Seattle went to Berlin and came out of nowhere to win their race. The story of Seattle’s hardscrabble crew racers has inspired Fremont folks to nickname this metal sculpture, “Joe Rantz” for the main character in the book, The Boys in the Boat (2013).

Fremont Public Art: The Space Sculpture

Posted on by Valarie

At the Fremont Space Building, 600 North 36th Street (northeast corner of Evanston Ave North) planetary orbs hang like lanterns and a sidewalk mosaic of paint & glasswork depicts the galaxy. The artist is Jessica Randall & the Fremont Arts Council for work at this building owned by Brian Regan, wo also owns the Saturn Building at 3417 Evanston Avenue North.

Fremont Public Art: Saturn and The Rocket

Posted on by Valarie

The corner of North 35th Street & Evanston Avenue North contains two art installations in an outer-space theme.

The Saturn building is topped by a twelve-foot-tall fiberglass replica of the planet Saturn. The planet is illuminated at night by solar panels in its 24-foot-diameter ring. The orb was created by Brian Regan, the owner of the Saturn building at 3417 Evanston Avenue North.

The newer (2013) Saturn complements the older art piece across the street, the Fremont Rocket at 3420 Evanston Avenue North. The Rocket, installed by the Fremont business association in 1994, bears the Fremont crest and motto “De Libertas Quirkas,” which means “freedom to be peculiar.”

The Rocket is purported to be made of genuine military surplus parts including the tail boom of a Fairchild C-119 transport aircraft. The Fremont Business Assocation bought The Rocket for $750 from an army surplus store in Seattle.

Fremont Public Art: The Berlin Wall Fragment

Posted on by Valarie

The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany and was torn down by its citizens on November 9, 1989, during the collapse of dictatorial rule of the Communist countries of Eastern Europe.   We remember this significant historical event at the Berlin Wall and what it represents, the freedom of self-rule.

The Berlin Wall was completely demolished at that time, and fragments were carried away as mementos. The fragment which has been installed as public art in Fremont, is located on Troll Avenue at North 34th Street, underneath the Aurora Bridge, at 744 North 34th Street.

The Fremont fragment of the Berlin Wall is twelve feet high and four feet wide.  It was originally installed in Fremont in the year 2001 close to the spot where it is now.  It was put into storage while the present building was under construction in 2016-2017, then was set up on the sidewalk.

The plaque explaining the fragment says: “This piece of the Berlin Wall arrived in Fremont in 2001 to commemorate the role of Seattle and Boeing’s C-47 in the Berlin Airlift of 1948.” The Berlin Airlift was the efforts of American, British and French cargo planes to supply the portions of the city which had been blockaded by the Soviet Union.

Fremont Public Art: The Lenin Statue

Posted on by fremont

In 1981, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia commissioned Bulgarian sculptor Emil Venkov to create a statue that portrayed Vladimir Lenin as a bringer of revolution.  Briefly installed in Poprav, Czechoslovakia, the 16-foot bronze statue was sent to a scrapyard after the 1989 fall of Communism.

The statue in the scrapyard was discovered by Lewis Carpenter, an English teacher from Issaquah, Washington, who was teaching in Poprav and knew the artist.  Purchasing the statue with his own funds, Carpenter mortgaged his house to ship it to the USA.

But the City of Issaquah refused to display the statue of Lenin and, after Carpenter’s sudden death, it was sent to a foundry in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, to be melted down.

The statue of Lenin was saved again, this time by the foundry’s founder, Peter Bevis.  He convinced the Fremont Chamber of Commerce to display it until a buyer could be found. The statue was unveiled in 1995 and moved to its current location, 3526 Fremont Place North, in 1996. It remains controversial, however, its hands frequently painted red to symbolize the blood on Vladimir Lenin’s hands.  Other people admire the irony of a symbol of oppression which is now looking out over the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle where the motto is, “the freedom to be peculiar.”

Here’s more about “what was there before” Lenin:  a gas station.