Seattle Garden

Seattle Garden is a 1988 painted steel sculpture by Ann Sperry, installed in Seattle, Washington. The work is approximately 4 ft, 5 in tall and 334 ft long. It runs along two sides of the Seattle City Light Union Street Substation, on Post Alley between Union and University Streets.^[1]

In 2003, Stewart Oksenhorn of The Aspen Times wrote, "What might be [Sperry's] most impressive work was designed as functional art. In the mid-'80s, Sperry won a competition sponsored by the Seattle Arts Commission Percent for Art Program, which resulted in 1988's Seattle Garden, a 334-foot long installation bordering a downtown Seattle power substation. The aim was to prevent kids from climbing onto the substation grounds. Sperry's sharp-edged, flower-inspired metal work not only served the purpose, but also beautified the neighborhood."^[2] According to Sperry, the artwork has not been subject to much vandalism because of its appearance. She has said, "If it were New York, they would have put up chain-link fence. Because it was Seattle, they had an art competition."^[2]

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