Olympic Sculpture Park

I wrote about the problems I got into photographing my trip on the Washington State Ferry Walla Walla. That was only part of the things to do last Sunday. The second was Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park, part of the Seattle Art Musuem in downtown Seattle. This park was built into a few blocks of land in the northwest corner of downtown. It was designed to be a park where the public walks around the sculptures with a view of the Puget Sound and the distant Olympic Mountains.

Well, on Sundays parking is free and easily available in the morning hours. You can spend a few hours walking around the Park and taking photos (see photo gallery). They don't allow "commercial" photography and videography, but they don't define what that is, so one day I'll have to ask as I will want to take the 4x5 camera some day. I did see a photographer with a tripod so they allow them with your photography.

The art is also interesting, but the problem is that it's quite confined in the park and surrounded by the development outside the small park. It's hard to get a good background, so you have to live what what the scene and light offers. But it's a good park for the people, especially kids where there is a lot of open space and things to do and see. Simply burn a lot of energy and see a lot of cool stuff.

It's also along the waterfront so you can just walk out of the park into the normal tourist stuff along the waterfront, Pier 70. It's a long walk to the Pike Street Market and the rest of downtown, but you can catch a short taxi or other readily available conveyance.


My only complaint about the art? Well there is this concrete bench with the description, which says, "His design solution is a two-sided all-weather outdoor seat that could be extruded in a limitless number of lengths without losing its recognizable universal silhouette." Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't consider any concrete bench comfortable. Some art really makes you wonder, "What is the artist thinking?"

Anyway, it's still a cool park for everyone, and if you plan to visit Seattle, it's worth the walk through the downtown to the Park and the waterfront.