On the eve of Mother’s Day, 2006 a crowd gathered in the sunlit parking lot of The RE Store to welcome a colossal artwork inspired by neighborhood sustainability. Created by hundreds of hands spanning 3 generations and financed by businesses from every sector of our local economy, this endeavor struck the heart of what it was after; Bringing people out and together to make connections and form relations.
Beth Dunn of Art Books Press planted the seed for a mural in 2005 after making contact with Karen Kosoglad, art teacher at Summit High School, and Marty Brennan of The RE Store. The three teamed up to write a Department of Neighborhoods grant around art, ecology and community. The Three Davids followed: David Wright, co-founder of Sustainable Ballard, David Benzler, an artist based in San Francisco and David Entrikin, a photographer, all joined as project partners. Everything else fell into place.
The design of the mural involved diverse communities beginning with Ballardites who volunteered time to produce 5 urban plans of their ‘sustainable neighborhood.’ Summit H.S. students took those ideas and knowledge from Sustainable Ballard to generate hundreds of sketches and 15 urban plans combining green roofs, water catchment, solar panels, hospitals, skate parks, concert halls, homeless shelters, urban agriculture and a lot more… The draft design emerged in the form of a Goddess with an Earth eye and a forest growing out of her hair. Over a week students and community members volunteered to mix colors and paint the goddess vision into reality. She was decorated with vignettes of sustainable economies and a community thanks. She now lives on permanent display at The RE Store as Ballard’s Goddess to Sustainability. |
Many thanks to our partners in this project:
 
  
.
|
Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Brennan
Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Brennan