Seattle Center Sculpture Walk

Welcome to Seattle Center

Throughout the year, Seattle Center hosts temporary art installations across our campus, enlivening the grounds and offering the public a unique and suprising engagement with art. Currently, we have three art installation initiatives, The Monorail Column Mural Project, Celebrate Seattle Mural, and Seattle Center Sculpture Walk. Read more about each below!

Seattle Center is pleased to collaborate with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture to bring Seattle Center Sculpture Walk to campus as part of our Temporary Art Program. Yearly funding is provided by Seattle Center 1% for Arts Funds, Climate Pledge Arena and Seattle Kraken. Enjoy Seattle Center Sculpture Walk on our grounds, mid-August through April 2025. The three artists this year were selected through a competitive process to receive commissions at Seattle Center.

Title: Jack the Giant
Artist: June Sekiguchi
Location: kiosk by Mural Amphitheatre

Based on the children's game of jacks, this sculpture uses intersecting planes for structural form and is the largest iteration of the sculpture the artist has produced. The nostalgic incarnation of a super-sized jack located at Seattle Center is an appropriate setting as it is the epicenter of festivals, culture and play.
More info on artist.

Title: Crybaby
Artist: Nichole Rathburn
Location: Artists at Play Plaza

Scale, material and color turn a crying face into something more reminiscent of a carnival sign, reminding me of the precarious relationship between comedy and tragedy. Crybaby feels like a ludicrous representation of my (and maybe your?) insides.
More info on artist.

Title: What the F*** Just Happened
Artist: Gerardo Pena
Location: Fisher Pavilion eastside tower

Note: this installation will be on hiatus November 3 thru December 29, 2024.

A visual representation of the chaotic period that was the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and the lingering affects that have prevailed the years after, and in some ways, forever altered our way of life.
More info on artist.

June Sekiguchi: Jack the Giant

Nichole Rathburn: Crybaby

Gerardo Pena: What the F*** Just Happened

Artist Ronnie Hawkins was born in Granite City, Illinois in 1962. He attended the Art Institute of Seattle from 1991 to the end of 1993 where he received a degree in Applied Art. Graphic design allowed him to learn to add other elements to his portraits and he began to draw mural size works with backgrounds. After a residence in Tokyo for 13 years, the artist did several large pieces that took years to complete, along with earning a Bachelor of Science. Ronnie came back to Seattle where he noticed artists had done art pieces of The Waterfront, Pike Place Market, The Space Needle, Pioneer Square, landmark businesses, or one-off portraits of the famous, but no one had combined all these elements in one work of art. This mural is the 6-year result of the combination of all the elements of Seattle. It is also a reminder of the spectacular place that Seattle is. The artist wants to remind people of the spirit of Seattle as well as what Seattle has to offer the world. Installed in the Armory Food & Event Hall through the end of 2024.

Seattle's Picture Gallery

Seattle Monorail Services has partnered with Seattle Center and the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development to showcase local art on the historic Seattle Center Monorail guideway columns. The Monorail Column Mural Project is part of the City’s efforts to support the economic and cultural recovery of downtown Seattle by activating the 5th Avenue corridor. Artwork is located on 14 monorail columns along 5th Avenue between Broad Street and Pine Street. The monorail column murals were created by local linocut artist and instructor, Leslie Nan Moon. Moon’s murals highlight cultural activities, community organizations, festivals, and attractions at Seattle Center and around the city. To create learning opportunities for local youth, Moon built community partnerships and worked with Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle Print Arts, and YouthCare, conducting workshops for over 40 young people teaching them the process of making linocut art. Three of the monorail column murals feature collages of their work representing Seattle Center festival themes such as Bite of Seattle, Winterfest, and Bumbershoot.

More info at Seattle Monorail website