Located in an area of rapid gentrification and displacement of the historic African American community, this project required extensive public outreach community meetings. The initial engagement unearthed a community feeling of concern that their presence was being erased, leading the project team to seek a way to integrate the vibrate history of the neighborhood. An integrated art plan was created, including site works into the paving and landscape benches, exterior art galleries, a five-story mural, metal moveable screens, interior sculpture, paintings and a quilt by the Seattle African American Quilt Society to ensure a cultural presence in perpetuity.
Tapestry is a multifamily apartment building with ground-floor retail spaces for local businesses, located at the gateway to Seattle’s Central District neighborhood. The Seattle Curtain Building previously on the site was a multi-generational family business that predominantly hired Asian and African American seamstresses. Fabric from this business was donated to the Seattle African American Quilting Society, who are creating a quilt for Tapestry’s main lobby. Heavy timbers were also salvaged from the building and are being re-purposed for exterior landscape benches. Artists Marita Dingus and Lisa Myers Bulmash salvaged items from Seattle Curtain for their respective sculpture pieces.
Designed as a “Cultural Placemaker”; an anchor that stimulates activity, creates visual interest and enhances the neighborhood identity, this project celebrates the multicultural story by creating a streetscape of meaningful and inspiring cultural placemakers.
Link to documentary of the artists: https://vimeo.com/728152485