“On the Fence” by Will Schlough

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Department of Transportation celebrate the city’s newest public artwork located along East Marginal Way. On the Fence, by artist Will Schlough is installed along the 1-mile corridor section between S Holgate and S Horton Street adjacent to the newly built protected bike lanes.

Will Schlough is a Seattle based public artist whose artwork is site-specific and informed by the community.  With a broad portfolio of murals and public sculptures throughout the country, Will aims to create work that is surprising, playful, and thought-provoking, providing moments of playful reflection for passersby.

Intended to beautify and enhance the long corridor, On the Fence is an ambitious panel-based mural inspired by the surrounding environment and designed to visually wrap around the fence to which it’s attached. While on its surface the artwork is a collection of scenes that play out as an illustrated storybook, the work is designed to reflect on our relationship with the landscape, our use of natural resources, and ideas of beauty and value in the context of human industry.

Bicyclists and other visitors will experience a series of vignettes or installations along the corridor. The individual installations are thematically and stylistically connected, presenting flora and fauna that thrive in disturbed and urban areas, as well as human-made elements that help develop an engaging and evolving narrative.

It’s such a long corridor… I knew right away that I wanted to approach the project in a way that activates as much of the space as possible. By creating a narrative that unfolds throughout the corridor, the hope is that even the uncovered areas still read as distance traveled or space within the story. -Will Schlough

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s Public Art program commissions artists to integrate artworks across Seattle in partnership with City capital projects. 1% of eligible city capital improvement funds are dedicated to commissioning public art informed through a community process. On the Fence is funded through Seattle Department of Transportation % for Art Funds. The East Marginal Way Corridor Improvement Project – North segment is complete and is a major connection for people who bike between the West Seattle Bridge Trail, downtown and the SODO neighborhood. The corridor is also a major freight corridor that provides access to the Port of Seattle terminals, rail yards, industrial businesses and is designated a Heavy Haul route.