It was 93 degrees outside and felt like almost the same inside my house. Needing to find someplace cool I headed for the Link light rail, only thinking about the stations inside the downtown Seattle tunnel and forgetting that more than half of the stations were above ground. It didn’t matter though, because all of the discoveries were so beautiful, creative and informative about each neighborhood in which the art was found.

The Sound Transit public art program (STart), is similar to those in many cities around the country, including Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Portland among others, but unique to Seattle and to the neighborhoods represented. Artists are both nationally known as well as emerging public artists, many of whom live in the Pacific Northwest. Their work represents a diverse range of style, scale and perspective that are created specifically for each station.

1% of Sound Transit’s construction costs, excluding tunneling, is allocated to art, as identified in each voter-approved capital initiative, to bring a human scale and thoughtful detail into the large transportation infrastructure that Sound Transit builds. These projects give selected artists an opportunity to work with the architects, engineers, communities and staff to design each transit facility.

I found very helpful information about the art and artists in the Wikipedia entries for each station as well as on the Sound Transit Guide to Art.

In this post I am highlighting a sampling of the works throughout the region that are featured within or outside the stations . I hope that one day you’ll hop on the train, get off at some or all of the stations, and find your way through one of the most unusual and creative art collections our region displays.

University of Washington