Artist selected for SeaSk8

In what hopefully hopefully becomes a normal part of Seattle skatepark development, the team behind the latest iteration of SeaSk8 has undergone a process to select a skate-friendly artist to design art for the new park.

As you may already know, Seattle has a public art ordinance that requires 1 percent of the funds for large construction projects to go to public art of some kind. Usually that means a cool fence or worse, something totally without function.

However skateable art has been something that the SPAC has been pushing for over the course of the last few years, not only in reference to the skatedot initiative, but in every single skatepark that is built in Seattle moving forward.

The artist selected for SeaSk8 might already be familiar with some Seattle area skaters. Perri Lynch has already created one of the most skateable pieces of art in Seattle history. Pictured above, the North Seattle spot is often skated and is known not to be a serious bust as most of the people working in the surrounding buildings are public officials who realize it was essentially designed for “interactivity”.

This is a really positive step forward for SeaSk8, as well as for all future Seattle skateparks. Let’s hope that more skateboarders step up and start designing some skateable art so that we can direct some of these skatepark funds back into the skateboarding community. Skateable art would be a great inroad into skatepark design for a budding designer.

Perri Lynch Bio:

Perri Lynch is a Seattle-based artist. Her work examines the relationship between human perception and sense of place. Issues of navigation, intuition, and physical proximity are key components of these investigations. She received her MFA in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2001. In addition to her studio practice, Perri performs with the Seattle Phonographer’s Union and is a public artist. In 2005, she completed her first permanent public work, “Imbrication” located at the Lake City Library. Her second commission, “Straight Shot” was installed last winter in Seattle’s Magnuson Park. Perri is the recent recipient of an Artist Trust Fellowship grant for Interdisciplinary Arts. She has served as a visiting artist at many colleges and universities and leads undergraduate study programs on sustainable design in Southern India. Perri is currently a graduate mentor through the Transart Institute, Linz, Austria and lecturer at the University of Washington. Her favorite instrument is a hand-held compass.