Tacoma Art Installation

A group of Tacoma teenagers will see the fruits of their summer labor installed at 10 A.M. Friday August 3, 2001 as part of Sound Transit's public art program, STart. This temporary public art display will be installed along Commerce Street, at South 17th Street near a portion of Sound Transit's Tacoma Link construction project.

This project is being presented by Sound Transit's Tacoma community office, in conjunction with Start and Gary Merlino Construction Company—the contractor hired by Sound Transit to build the Tacoma Link light rail line. Tacoma artist Peg Tysver organized and worked with the teenagers to create the temporary artwork entitled "Now and Then."

The finished display will be an interactive wall of historic downtown Tacoma photographs, each with an overlapping present-day photo of the same area (a "now and then" display). Passersby will be able to flip the new photos up and see the old photo. Each photograph will be set in a concrete-formed frame made by the teens. The individual shapes of these frames will be taken from the immediate area's architectural elements—a pediment, a frieze, cornice, etc.—to maintain the historic theme of the display.

The artists are 13-16 year-olds attending the Tacoma Metro Parks Department's Titlow Lodge Teen Camp. The project introduced the participants to a variety of artistic, scientific and trade/vocational skills relating to concrete, streetscape construction and public art displays.

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