Sunny Skies Shine in Westlake Park All Winter Long

A new art installation in Westlake Park, housed completely in a shipping container, helps rid Downtown residents, workers and visitors of wintertime blues.

Seattle (Jan. 7, 2016) — The Downtown Seattle Association understands that sometimes the typical Seattle winter weather gets people down. The rain, wind and grey skies can be depressing. Sometimes people find themselves dreaming of a vacation, anywhere with blue skies. Well, save some airfare and come get some blue skies and “sunshine” in Downtown Seattle.

Westlake Park is now home to Blue Sky Passage, a new art installation. The installation was designed by DSA employee Erica Bush and installed by Darren Edwards. It is constructed inside a rented shipping container. The interior of the container is outfitted with backlit plexiglass panels printed with summer photographs of Goat Peak, an Eastern Cascades mountain, taken by photographer Gregg M. Erickson.
All of the materials including the container, the printed panels, the plastic panels, the lighting and the lumber were provided by local companies.
Park visitors walking through the free exhibit will be transported to a sunny day, if only for a moment. Blue Sky Passage will be in the park through Saturday, Feb. 6.

“The shipping container that houses the piece is symbolic of a seasonal time machine. The piece itself accentuates the stark contrast between the seasons here in the Pacific Northwest — subdued and dreary in the winter and full of bright boundless skies in the summer months,” said Bush. “We hope that this installation brings to mind the brighter sunny skies that are just around the corner in our beautiful Northwest Region.”

The exhibit is the first of many temporary art installations coming to Westlake Park and Occidental Square Park in Pioneer Square, as the DSA leads an effort to enhance these spaces year-round, including during the colder months of the year. Art installations like Blue Sky Passage in Westlake Park are a part of the Urban Parks Activation Partnership.

The DSA and City of Seattle signed the partnership agreement last summer, placing the DSA in a management role over two of Downtown’s most visible public spaces — Westlake Park and Occidental Square Park. The DSA works in partnership with the Metropolitan Improvement District, Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Seattle Parks Foundation, Alliance for Pioneer Square and Friends of Waterfront Seattle to enhance the experience of visiting these parks