Stadium art: Deep crossing patterns

By Bud Withers
Seattle Times staff reporter

	ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES
	On the west side of the stadium, fans can view "Colossal Heads," a multi-cultural series of images by Claudia Fitch. Her art is among the works of 12 artists displayed around the stadium.

If you plan to hang out around Seahawks Stadium, it's probably to see whether Chad Brown can still lay the lumber, or whether Shaun Alexander is about to become the NFL's next great running back.

Thus motivated, you might not fully tap into Romson Bustillo's canvas-mounted, large-scale paintings celebrating contemporary and historic Filipino culture, or Claudia Fitch's half-dozen "Colossal Heads," 6-foot, idiosyncratic interpretations of cross-cultural images and icons. But hey, it's there for you among the zone blitzes and vertical routes, an eclectic mix of artwork generated by 12 artists whose works lend an imaginative complement both to the stadium and the mayhem to take place inside.

"This is such a huge facility," says Pablo Shugurensky, art manager for First & Goal Inc. "What I like is the variety of expression. It was very important to us that the stadium was not only for activities that happen inside."

There is enough outside to pique interest: A set of 120 imbedded "runway lights" contributed by Beliz Brother; Bob Haozous' earth-based themes on a set of four painted steel disks, 24 feet in diameter at the north entrance; Robert Yoder's whimsically painted sidewalk shapes on the south side; at the west, Peter Shelton's granite boulder and its provocative nearby "shadow"; David Russo's eight-minute video on outdoor boards that marries human endeavor with natural processes; and the tree grates and bas-relief bronze sidewalk inlays contributed by Susan Point.

Seahawks Stadium has a "variety of expression," says Pablo Shugurensky, art manager for First & Goal Inc. "It was very important to us that the stadium was not only for activities that happen inside."
FIRST & GOAL INC.

Shugurensky recalls how Point was puzzled at the trace of an arc at the north end, where her celebration of world cultures is an inlay on the walkway.

"She kept saying, 'What is that curve?' " said Shugurensky. "It's basically the old line of the Kingdome."

Inside, there's plenty more, including the works by Bustillo and Fitch; Glenn Rudolph's series of 10 photographs of area watersheds and their evolution, a reminder that the stadium is built on former marshland once part of the mouth of the Duwamish River; James Lavadour's vibrant paintings of deserts and mountains, "Standing Among Ghosts," in his homeland in northeastern Oregon; Juan Alonso's painted panels of stylized flowers in the south club lounge; and Cheryl dos Remedios' inkjet banners on the Occidental Avenue concourse.