Subject to Impressions in Seattle: Do all Americans Put Their Wallets in the Refrigerator?

Traveling can be a funny thing for a lot of reasons, one being the brevity of experience and the impressions or insights left by these encounters such as: a conversation with a taxi driver, the seemingly eccentric local person giving you directions, unexpected smells, irregular foods or foods that produce irregularity. Funnier still when you're not quite at your best.

On Thursday last week, I woke up with the feeling that sickness was sticking to me, annoying, gum-like in its persistent attachment, and most of all exhausting. I was happy to have a meeting with Dale Cummings at the Seattle Transit Route Facilities to give purpose and intention to my morning through the thick veil of sinus pressure. On my walk to Dale's office, I was inspired and increasingly geared up for our meeting as I passed a myriad of decorated bus stops. Dale and his team are largely the masterminds behind the city-wide program to bring art to the bus stops, and therefore throughout the city's many neighborhoods. If the concept sounds cool, the result is even more impressive.

It was great to finally be meeting Dale, I felt I already knew him to some degree from our emails and from his help in connecting me with other important contacts throughout the city. We started our conversation by going on a neighborhood tour of some bus stops in close proximity to his office. Heading down the block past wall-murals and decorated park trees, Dale began to explain some of the history and process of their program. Started in 1989, the mural program first partnered with high school groups to produce paintings for some of the shelters. What they found was that with the installment of murals, tagging and graffiti incidents dropped, and the community loved the art represented in their neighborhoods. By involving the community and youth in the process of creating the art, they found that their was a propriety interest and investment in the bus stops. In this way the program offered not only beautification of the streets, but a way for a neighborhoods and youth to take ownership of a commonly shared and used space. As acclaims and support grew for the program, so did funding, and eventually it was incorporated at the county level.

As we walked and talked Dale showed me some of the examples of recent growth in the mural program. While there are still paint kits available to community groups and youth to decorate stops, the program also commissions professional artists. At many of the bus stops there was a design on the glass as well as the base of the shelter. Artists were commissioned to come up with a design for the glass back boards, and then this design is printed in mass and used frequently throughout the city. One of the newer developments in the program is the use of photography around the base of the shelters. These photographs are professionally printed on the base board and then installed as repairs and refurbishing is done the the stops. I also got to see some of the painted shelters, and one that had images printed on tiles depicting the history of Japan-Town before and during World War II. Just in a few blocks it was evident that this program has and continues to make its mark on the city. When we got back to the office, Dale showed me images of work throughout the city demonstrating the many art forms used to decorate the shelters. There were images made of tiles, transparencies, lazer-cut steel, mosaics, terracotta, photography, and the painted murals. As we scanned through the multitude of images, it occurred to me that this was a special kind of gallery exhibiting community and professional artists' work displayed together throughout the city. What a very cool way to bring the show outside so that it can be a part of so many people's everyday life!

So....Madison bus-stops? I talked with Dale about how to possibly get something like this started from the outside in, for example if you're a Becky who doesn't work in the Metro Department. His advice was to start by gathering information and closely examine the layout and design of our shelters, looking at the logistics of where the images would go and if they would obscure vision for either passengers or bus drivers. In addition to the logistics of the shelter design, it would be important to gather information about material cost and application, as well as finding out as much information as possible about current assembly and refurbishing practices. The easier it is to incorporate into current systems of maintenance or assembly, the better for the program's acceptance and success. The next step would be to find who it is I should be talking to and presenting a well informed and researched pitch for the program. Then, when getting the go ahead, start by doing a few projects that are successful and easy to get excited about and build from there. I was already scanning my brain for images of Madison bus stops, and getting excited to go on some extended bus rides in December. I was already day-dreaming about a city wide competition at each of the Madison Area High Schools, and the winning contestants from each school creating a design for a shelter near their school. We said goodbye with wishes to stay in touch, and for this idea and art to grow successfully in our communities. I was so thankful for his positive energy, time, and helpful insights. The wheels are going, thanks Dale.

Wrapped up in the meeting and fascinated by what we had been talking about, I hadn't realized how much my body was telling me it was time to go to bed. I swung by the local market to get veggies and rice noodles at the nearby Indonesian grocer, knowing I would not want to go out later once I had given in to resting. I got back to the hostel, threw the bag of groceries in the refrigerator, and fell fast asleep for my early afternoon nap on my bunk-bed. People came in and out and I kept sleeping until dazed and slightly drugged feeling I felt I should wake up and make myself something to eat. Stumbling a little on the way to the kitchen, I opened the refrigerator and pulled out my bag. Yup, it was all still there, pepper, onion, carrots, wallet, noodles, pad Thai sauce...wallet? I stopped and had to smile, imagining one of the many international roommates I'd had in the last several days walking in at that moment. I couldn't help but wonder for them from the outside, do all Americans keep their wallet in the refrigerator? There I was, the strange lady from Wisconsin, outgoing, constantly napping, and keeping her wallet with her food. In that moment I encouraged myself to remember going forward that our interactions with most people are so brief, to be kind, and understanding, and judge only so far as we want to be judged.....in the moments we have lost our usual wits and kindness.

More to come about Monday's meeting with Coyote Central and Urban ArtWorks, two organizations shaking it up with artistic action. For now, thanks for reading!