Friday, August 10, 2007
Genuine art
One of the challenges we used to all know about in Lakewood - but rarely discussed publicly - was finding an entrance to town that you can take with a newcomer without being embarrassed. There are many breathtakingly beautiful and many more simply gracious areas in Lakewood, but you have had to pass some seedy spots to get to them.
Imagine, then, how nice it is to see improvements at Bridgeport and I-5 like a new entrance to town coupled with the new Lakewood Fort and La Quinta.
The quarry on another end of town has given way to the Wal-Mart, which of course is a hot topic in and of itself. But the nearby entrance from University Place on Bridgeport has only become more attractive thanks to the bridge and the art there.
Here's something else that will add a lot to the attractiveness of that entrance. You have driven on the highway and seen concrete walls with various geometric patterns. What our Public Works staff came up with is a variation on the idea involving a concrete wall that will be going up on Bridgeport near the creek and by Flanagan Road.
The retaining wall will have engraved concrete patterns that form a nature scene. In other words, we will have some actual art at an entrance to Lakewood - just like so many cities around us.
Monday, the Lakewood Arts Commission recommended the first design of the two designs that you will see on this sheet. You will see three panels in Option 1, but the designs will actually be laid end to end on the roadway. So as you are driving past and if you are heading north, you will first drive past the panel with Mount Rainier, and then the final panels will be of the water and the fish.
Considering that there had to be a retaining wall there anyway, this was an economical way to add some public art to Lakewood and to avoid a blank, ugly wall. Well done.
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Imagine, then, how nice it is to see improvements at Bridgeport and I-5 like a new entrance to town coupled with the new Lakewood Fort and La Quinta.
The quarry on another end of town has given way to the Wal-Mart, which of course is a hot topic in and of itself. But the nearby entrance from University Place on Bridgeport has only become more attractive thanks to the bridge and the art there.
Here's something else that will add a lot to the attractiveness of that entrance. You have driven on the highway and seen concrete walls with various geometric patterns. What our Public Works staff came up with is a variation on the idea involving a concrete wall that will be going up on Bridgeport near the creek and by Flanagan Road.
The retaining wall will have engraved concrete patterns that form a nature scene. In other words, we will have some actual art at an entrance to Lakewood - just like so many cities around us.
Monday, the Lakewood Arts Commission recommended the first design of the two designs that you will see on this sheet. You will see three panels in Option 1, but the designs will actually be laid end to end on the roadway. So as you are driving past and if you are heading north, you will first drive past the panel with Mount Rainier, and then the final panels will be of the water and the fish.
Considering that there had to be a retaining wall there anyway, this was an economical way to add some public art to Lakewood and to avoid a blank, ugly wall. Well done.
