current, 2005

Bellevue City Hall, Bellevue, WA
SRG Architects

The artwork is composed of a subtle shifting of the colors of a river, with water greens that shimmer with colored and iridescent glass chips inset into a undulant rhythm of silver lines throughout the floor. Lengths of glass cane, semi-precious stones and beads, shells and lustrous mother of pearl abalone chip swirl in the rhythms of this river, creating a luminous organic field of color. “Current” recalls the underground river close to City Hall, and references the river of infrastructure that is elemental to the workings within City Hall.

“Current” is defined as the flow of an electrical charge, the steady and smooth movement of a river current, and also, as that which belongs to the present time, now is progress. As the interior artwork, within the building, the floor becomes a refined conduit that connects the artworks of Dan Corson, the massive upturned root system of old growth, and the growing twisting energy of the reeds and boat, with the articulated navigational artwork by Alan Storey. The four artworks all bring a sense of organic systems and organized thought into the site.

From the old growth roots to the reeds in the quiet waters, through the silver threads in a shimmering river, and out to the viewing compass, the artworks create a pathway of transformation and connection of source to system. There is a current revealed, one that rewinds, reweaves and respects the flowing energy of life.

“You could not step twice into the same river, for other waters are ever flowing onto you”
— Heraclitus 540-480 BC