Local News

Sketched Dec. 24, 2012

Those were the colors of Christmas Eve in Seattle this afternoon. I found them all sitting on a bench by the Horiuchi mural at Seattle Center. Now I’m just hopping it will snow tomorrow to add some white to the mix. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sketched Aug. 21, 2012 [Click on sketches to see larger versions]
The Mercer Garage rooftop P-Patch, which opened in early June, is starting to yield some crops.
I tasted a tomatillo from Stephanie Krimmel and Craig Moore’s plot and it was pretty sweet. Who knew you could garden in a few feet of soil laid over concrete?
To help build the P-Patch, the Krimmel-Moore family put in 150 hours of labor — the most of all volunteers vying for a plot. That gave them first choice of the 98, 100-square-foot plots available. They picked one with great views of the garden’s terraces, not to mention the city skyline and the soaring Space Needle.
Being up here, you forget where you are, said Krimmel. “You barely see the cars. You barely hear the street. You are in your own little oasis.”

UpGarden, as the P-Patch is known, occupies about a third of the Mercer Garage rooftop parking space. The sloping ramp where cars used to park is practically unrecognizable. Instead, you see a swath of green surrounding an old Airstream trailer where the urban gardeners keep their tools. A lawn in front of the trailer is the main gathering space, and that’s where I sketched Stephanie Krimmel and Craig Moore as they enjoyed a picnic while their daugther, Bailley, napped.

Scott Mills, a 58-year-old retired truck driver, put in nearly as many hours as the Krimmel-Moore family to qualify for his plot, where he has been growing squash, broccoli and herbs such as basil. He also has built a cool birdhouse that makes his patch stand out. Mills said he doesn’t really eat much of the food he grows; he takes it to food banks instead.

Abbi Engel was eating a carrot when Mills led me to her plot. The 31-year-old biologist said her love for gardening comes from her farming family in Nevada and Idaho. The smell of the tomato plants at Engel’s plot reminded me of my dad’s garden in Extremadura, Spain.


An old purple Ford Galaxy has been converted into a planting bed. Moore, 43, said it is a “good reminder of what was here before.”

Next time you are in lower Queen Anne or park at the Mercer Garage, you may take some time to visit UpGarden. I’d like to know what you think.
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched June 16, 2012 [Click on sketches to view larger versions]
Habitat for Humanity volunteers are building the House of the Immediate Future on the grounds of Seattle Center.
The Seattle Urban Sketchers chose the project, which is part of the Nifty Fifty celebrations at Seattle Center, for their monthly sketch outing, so that’s where I headed last Saturday to draw for a couple of hours with my fellow sketchers.
The industrious construction process was really fun to watch up close. I sketched volunteers sawing and nailing wood studs and making concrete bricks.
Mike Jobes, the Miller Hull architect who is the lead designer of the project, said the house will be completed by early September and people will be able to take a tour.
I better plan for a future visit!

Sketched May 8 and 9, 2012
Dale Chihuly’s bright and colorful glass artwork, usually displayed in temporary exhibits around the world, has found a permanent home at Seattle Center, where the “Chihuly Garden and Glass” exhibition opens Monday.
I’ve been aware of Chihuly’s glass art since moving to the area six years ago, but I didn’t really know what to make of it. Like with any tangible creation, nothing compares to seeing it in real life to begin understanding what the artist is trying to do.
I was recently allowed to roam the exhibition while glass spires were still being unboxed and cleaners were mopping the floor.
As I wandered around, I remembered the Fun Forest rides that I sketched here just two years ago. Everything looks so different now — and also quieter.
The giant outdoor sculptures in the garden, even if only partially visible to people outside the enclosed space, add an exhuberant touch of color to a city that can often feel so gray.
One of them is a radiant sun that towers over a mound of black mondo grass. It brought to mind flashes of Joan Miró’s surrealist shapes and colors. The Catalan painter and sculptor wasn’t a favorite for me growing up in Barcelona but I later came to appreciate his work. Perhaps Chihuly will also grow on me over time?
The sun sculpture, which is 16-feet in diameter, was definitely my favorite among everything I saw. There is something magnetic about it that pulls you in. People outside the tree fence surrounding the garden were raising their cameras to photograph it. I even heard someone shout: “How do you get in there?”
In case you have the same question, here’s the answer: Tickets are $19 for adults, $12 for ages 4 to 12, $17 for seniors and $15 for adult King County residents.
Here are more drawings from my visit to give you an idea of what to expect:

The exhibition centerpiece is the glass house that connects the pavilion galleries with the outdoor gardens. What looks to me like thousands of red and yellow glass parasols hang from the ceiling and filter multicolored light into the room. As I knelt down to draw, some of my watercolors ended up making a mess on the floor. How timely, I thought, since I was sketching the cleaning crew in action.



Of all the wildly-shaped glass art that peppers the garden, I found the spheres particularly eye-catching. They mirror the looming Space Needle behind you, creating an image everyone will want to photograph — or even sketch.

A special treat from my early look at the galleries was watching how the glass sculptures are assembled. Chihuly’s staffers had to tie each piece individually to a metal frame, carefully positioning them to avoid gaps that would reveal the underlying structure. This chandelier previously hung over the canals of Venice, the city regarded as the European cradle of glassmaking.

Chihuly’s exhibit offers a walk-through of his entire career. Not being that familiar with his work, I appreciated the gallery that displays early works inspired by hand-woven Northwest Indian baskets.

This giant “Sea Life” sculpture stands out against the dark gallery walls, painted in what an exhibition representative described as “Chihuly Gray.” The Tacoma native, I was also told, has found inspiration from seaforms since combing the beaches of the Puget Sound as a kid.

Chihuly’s affinity with water themes is also present in this display, a wooden boat loaded with glass sculptures that reminded me of algae growing under the sea.

Chihuly’s love for glass is unquestionable, but who knew that he collected all sorts of stuff? Accordions, old cameras, ceramic dogs, bottlecap openers and other vintage items are on display at the exhibition’s restaurant, the Collections Café.

I spotted a familiar Spanish brand among the couple of hundred bottlecap openers on display in a vitrine at the entrance of the cafe. If my memory doesn’t fail me, the first beer I ever had was a Cruzcampo. I wonder if Chihuly actually used the opener to try one. They are good.

The vintage television sets at the exhibition store also seemed out of place until I was told they belong to Chihuly’s personal collection. The staff told me they will play videos about the artist.
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched Jan. 23, 24 and Feb. 13
The Seattle Monorail never became what its creators intended 50 years ago. After the World’s Fair, it was meant to be either expanded or dismantled; the concrete columns were bolted to Fifth Avenue so they could be easily removed.
In a way, it was a failed project. But consider the lives touched by the 1.2 mile ride between downtown and Seattle Center. Think of the fun it brings to nearly 2 million tourists every year and to those who commute on it every day. And think of what it means to the people who work there.
For Abraham Abei, David Guet and Joseph Deng, all in their early 30s, the monorail has provided jobs and a path to education — tuition assistance is a perk of working for Seattle Monorail Services. These three are among the thousands of “Lost Boys of Sudan” who escaped the atrocities of their country’s civil war in the late ’80s. Their reactions to the monorail when they first saw it: “I thought it would fall off,” said Deng. And now: “It’s the best thing I ever had,” said Abei.
Jayme Gustilo, 61, a cashier and a 23-year monorail veteran, said: So what if a ride on the monorail doesn’t take you very far; “The journey is more important than the destination.”

Originally from Minnesota, Eno Yliniemi, 34, came to Seattle to do a Ph.D. in biomechanics, thinking she’d graduate to a job specializing in equipment to treat neck injuries. Instead, a temporary consulting job to help assess the monorail’s mechanical problems in the mid 2000s led to her current job as chief systems engineer for Seattle Monorail Services.
General Manager Thom Ditty credits her work supervising an overhaul of the trains in 2008 with saving the monorail when everyone thought it was doomed following a fire in 2004 and a crash in 2005. Yliniemi, however, takes the compliment in stride. She attributes the monorail’s longevity to flawless design by German builder Alweg. She said she has yet to find an error when she browses through copies of the original blueprints.

Bill Humphreys, 65, above and below, calls the monorail “a bus and a train combined.” It’s powered by electricity, but it runs on 64 tires. Sixteen tractor-trailer size “load tires” go on top of the rail and 24 run sideways on each side, guiding the trains along the track. Humphreys, a native of Texas, said he’s worked for the monorail for 12 years.


The magic of the monorail is hidden under its shiny bumpers. Technician Ryan Menor was doing routine maintenance of the brake system while I drew this sketch, where you can see one of the tires that runs perpendicular to the concrete beam.

I met Russell Noe inside a windowless office at the monorail’s Seattle Center station. To celebrate the monorail’s birthday, replicas of the original ALWEG signs have been created and now grace both trains. He held one for a few minutes so I could do my sketch.

Driver Abraham Abei, 31, enjoys meeting tourists from all over the world and when the kids run to sit across from him in the front of the monorail. “I’ll let them play the horn and they love it.”

After four years of daily monorail commute Char Bagley, 44, said the drivers and cashiers have become family. “They’re always smiling. They’re always fun. You don’t get that very often.”

David Guet, 31, worked at the Space Needle and at the airport before joining the Monorail full-time last year.

Like his colleagues Guet and Abei, Joseph Deng, 33, also came to Seattle as a “Lost Boy of Sudan,” he told me during one of his late shifts as a cashier at the Westlake Center station. He loves his job at the Monorail because “they treat their employees like their own kids.”
“It’s like a big family,” said Deng, who is studying international relations at South Seattle Community College.

Operations supervisor Milete Haile makes sure the monorail trains run on schedule and supervises the crew of drivers and cashiers. The monorail makes about 75 round trips every day.

“Have you ever thought of expanding it?” “How does it get to airport?”
The things tourists ask monorail employees like Gustilo may sound funny to locals who lived through five votes on the monorail’s future. But they speak of that potential that never materialized.
Gustilo said the monorail represents hopes, dreams and regrets. “It’s a reminder of our imagination, our ingenuity … of our own ability to create new ways of mass transportation.”
World’s Fair Anniversary
I plan to do occasional posts related to the World’s Fair 50th anniversary over the next six months. I invite you to send me your suggestions of places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.
More Seattle Times coverage of the 50th anniversary at seattletimes.com/worldsfair.

Sketched Jan. 25, 2012
From Fun Forest to Glass Garden.
The transformation of the grounds west of the Space Needle is well under way since the outdated but beloved amusement park closed for good after Labor Day 2010.
The glass museum devoted to Dale Chihuly’s work, a project that drew a lot of criticism when it was first announced, is scheduled to open in the spring.
As an artist, I can imagine how much this might mean to Chihuly. What an amazing opportunity to have your artwork displayed at Seattle Center — the city’s living room, as some describe it — in such a prominent fashion.
Visitors will get a full retrospective of Chihuly’s career, culminating in a 100-foot-long assemblage of 1,400 glass pieces suspended from the ceiling of the garden’s centerpiece “glass house.”
Even Chihuly’s sketches will be on display, which makes me dream about my own Sketcher museum. My drawings are so little, they would all fit in a P-Patch!

Drawn to Seattle Center
Below are sketches of Seattle Center from my archives. The links will take you to the original posts where they appeared.
[View the story "Drawn to Seattle Center" on Storify]
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched May 10, 2:47 p.m. [Click to enlarge]
Meet Seattle Center’s own private DJ.
Capitol Hill musician James Whetzel has been selecting and mixing music for the International Fountain since 2000.
Whetzel said he’s done it for so long he doesn’t remember how many playlists he has burned. “A thousand maybe.”

Sketched May 10, 10:55 a.m.
Every week, he hands off a different CD to Bill Droege (below), the Center’s sound chief, who walks through a long underground tunnel to plug it into the sound system located amid giant water pipes about 45 feet below the fountain.

Sketched May 10, 11:32 a.m.
But that’s the easy part of making the music play. Whetzel, 30, spends hours to create timely mixes that combine good mood, diversity of styles and local artists. In the looping mix this week: Arabic pop reggae by Sabreen; Caribbean steel-drum music by the Toucans, a local band; and cinematic pop by DeVotchKa.
Whetzel said the fountain has become a gathering space, and the music has a lot to do with that. “The music is the soul … the color of the fountain.”
Web Extra!
Whetzel created this mix for Festál. It’s one of ten water-choreographed performances coming on when the big water jets go off every half hour. His and other nine 7-minute “big shows,” as Whetzel called them, were programmed by a Las Vegas-based company called Wet Design. Whetzel said it’s very expensive to program the water to follow the music, that’s why only one customized “big show” has been created so far. Here it is:
James Whetzel’s Seattle Center Festál International Fountain Big Show Mix (2006) by JamesWhetzel
And here are links to some of the tracks from Whetzel’s mix playing at the fountain this week. Whetzel’s playlists play on an infinite loop except during the “big shows.” (Full list of artists on his blog.)
“We’re Gonna Make It” by Devotchka and Myckael Danna from the soundtrack of “Little Miss Sunshine.”
“Mambuloo” by Mo’ Horizons, a Latin jazz and funky band from Hanover, Germany.
“Chinook” by Loscil, an ambient electronic artist from Vancouver, BC.
“Nawari, (The Gypsy) Instrumental” by Sabreen, a Palestinian group from Jerusalem.
“Grasshopper (fest. Erik Sumo)” by Easy Life Natural, a Nu Jazz group from Veszprem, Hungary.
“Martin Rochford’s/Green Gowned Lass” by Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill (from the album “Live in Seattle”).
“Can’t Help This Feeling (Instrumental)” by The Herbaliser.
Whetzel’s music talent goes beyond his responsibilities as Seattle Center’s musicologist. He sings West African and Indian folk music and plays a fretless lute called sarod –that’s why he keeps his fingernails so long, he said. You can learn more about his music on iTunes and SoundCloud.
Coming up
One week every month, I take my sketchbook to a different community following suggestions from readers. Where should I go next? Send me your ideas via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

June 2, 1:03 p.m. [Click sketch to view larger]
On a rainy morning this week, the empty popcorn cart at Seattle Center struck me as a sad symbol of the beloved community space. The only people I saw here were school groups coming in and out of the Pacific Science Center and a few families walking around with their kids. Why is this fabulous space in the city so often empty, I thought.
Kalon Brown of Sammamish said the city should hire Disney as consultants and build a big amusement park. “This place would be flooded if they had entertainment here,” he said as his kids ran next to the Horiuchi mural.

June 2, 3:21 p.m. [Click sketch to view larger]
As I continued my stroll in the rain, I came to the area north of the monorail where the Fun Forest’s biggest rides used to be.
Local artist Todd Lown said he has been putting in long days to brighten up a new playground which will open here on June 15.
The redesigned ticket booths will be used to store basketballs, jump ropes, hula hoops and other play equipment that kids will be able to check out. The playground will also include a maze painted on the asphalt, a tent for concerts and picnic tables.
It’s no amusement park. Since it’s only temporary, I continue to hope that Seattle Center will improve as a family-friendly destination.
With proposals now submitted for the South Fun Forest, which will be dismantled by the end of the summer, there is a real opportunity to brighten the entire space.
By Monday, proposals will be announced at seattlecenter.com.

Sketched March 31, 10:49 a.m. [Click on sketch to see larger]
Seattle Center’s Fun Forest rides felt a bit dated when I first saw them, but they made a big impression on my kids. It was the first time my son drove a bumper car and my daughter loved spinning around the Snow Convoy track.
The small amusement park, which opened soon after the 1962 World’s Fair, will be fully dismantled after Labor Day and the city is considering what to do with the space. Some people advocate for more grass and open space with a playground, others are pitching a museum with Dale Chihuly’s glass art.
After many more enjoyable moments here, part of me agrees with Charles Fedd. “They are taking away family time,” he said as daughter Jaedyn, 8, waited impatiently to use up her ride tickets.
The other part of me likes the idea of a Chihuly museum, but the question is, can I make sure my kids won’t break any of the glass?