Sculptures and monuments have become icons for cities and entire countries all across the world, but such developments are often inadvertent. Is it possible to actively create something that resonates in different ways for both residents and visitors? That was the challenge the city of Auburn, Washington, began to explore in 2017 when commissioning a sculpture for Les Gove Park.
Their endeavor to create a unique and highly recognizable piece of art resulted in the installation of Crow With Fries by artist Peter Reiquam. His work ranges from drawings and photographs to sculptural furniture and large-scale public art projects, which includes the 12 feet tall and 18 feet long Crow with Fries. He’s been successfully creating interactive, site-specific pieces of public art for over 30 years.
Installed in mid-May 2019, the large sculpture celebrates the park’s many resident crows and recalls the Big Daddy’s Drive-In restaurant that once stood at the location. While numerous city officials and audiences have highlighted how the Auburn community has actively embraced it, Reiquam’s process to enable this kind of acceptance is especially revelatory. In the interview below, he talks through that process, mentions the different kinds of experiences audiences can have with the piece, explains how “the Crow” has provided an identity to the park and much more.
Jeremiah Karpowicz: The history and setting of Les Grove Park clearly factored into the idea for Crow with Fries, but are those details you typically consider when pursuing a commission?
Peter Reiquam: This is always a part of my process and it actually begins before I am even awarded a commission. I belong to several public art mailing lists and receive calls-to-artists in my email almost daily. I comb through these looking for interesting potential opportunities.
The information contained in a call usually includes some history of the site, its culture and landscape and about the specific goals for the artwork being sought. These are important factors for me to consider and will determine whether a project interests me enough to apply. There are other factors too like budget, timeline, feasibility and so on, but the culture of the community and its relationship to the site are the most important things to me.
Did you actively engage with that culture of the community when developing the concept for Crow with Fries? If so, what did that look like, and how typical is this sort of interaction?
The level of community engagement varies from one project to another.
In the case of Crow With Fries, this exchange was primarily with a very invested selection committee with whom I met several times to talk about my potential concepts and approaches to the project. This group represented the Auburn arts community, the parks department and the residents of the community.
I also spent a lot of time exploring the community on my own; eating in nearby restaurants, visiting the historical museum and browsing the library next door to the site. This was an effort to get to know the community on a deeper level, not to solicit their opinions directly on what the artwork should look like, but to get a sense of what an appropriate artistic response would be.
When and how should an artist consider these factors when pursuing call-to-artists like the ones you mention? Should the stakeholders on the other side of those calls have expectations around what that should look like from an artist?
On some projects, I have attended community meetings and asked people to tell me what they feel are elements of their community that make it special or unique. A piece in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood evolved from this kind of community engagement in which the recurring theme that people of all ages cited was their love and admiration for a Seattle Police Detective named Detective Cookie who has become an iconic figure in this community for teaching kids to play chess as a way to occupy their time after school and as a metaphor for strategic moves and wise decision making. The resulting sculpture is a pair of chess pieces standing nine and ten feet tall representing a queen and king.
I have also made sculptures for fire stations and have spent time with the firefighters learning about their lives and work. The community of firefighters is a tight-knit family and a unique group to work with because they have an intimate relationship with the site. It’s more than a workplace since it’s also their second home. They literally live with the artwork that I create and so it is important to me to create work that resonates with them.
Let’s get specific around how all of that factored into the idea for what became Crow with Fries. The sculpture is both a celebration of the literal crows that frequent Les Gove Park but also has a direct tie to the Big Daddy’s Drive-In restaurant that once stood on that location. In what way do you think audiences appreciate or recognize this combination of the past and present of the area?
When the City of Auburn acquired the Big Daddy’s property they wanted to maintain some reference to its past so they kept the steel awning structure in place as a remnant of the site’s previous life. This is a classic old drive-in kind of structure recognizable to those of a certain age and attuned to a certain time in American pop culture. The angled steel poles, painted turquoise and capped with an open beam roof structure recalls a time when classic cars pulled in to be served burgers, fries and milkshakes on a tray hung from the lip of the driver’s side window.
Today this is the site of a Sunday Farmers’ Market during the summer months and the market organizers place a sign there telling visitors the story of the site’s past. The giant Crow stands nearby with his box of fries and a fry in his beak as a further reminder of the sculpture’s connection to the old drive-in. The Crow is a big attraction at the Farmers’ Market and a beacon guiding people to that spot.
How do you envision the light fixtures that illuminate the exterior of the piece at night impact how audiences engage with the piece when it’s dark versus during the day?
My intention was to create a soft glow of light over the surface of the sculpture to make it visible at night without being a hazard or distraction to drivers. Due to the faceted surface of the piece and the directional nature of the LED lights, the effect is not as much of a wash of light as I had expected and in fact, I am in the process now of experimenting with various light-diffusing materials to see if the effect can be improved.
There is also quite a bit of ambient light at this location so the sculpture is still visible at night, but I’m hoping to be able to enhance the drama of the blue wash. There is also a light fixture inside of the Crow’s head that illuminates the eyes after dark.
In the video, you mentioned that one of the goals of the project was to make the piece something that would compel people to take selfies. Has that happened?
The Crow is a natural selfie magnet. Whenever I visit the sculpture I see people taking pictures of themselves and their families with the Crow. Folks who work at the nearby Community Center, Library and Arts Commission have reported to me that the piece draws people to it and that the feedback they’ve received is overwhelmingly positive. Kids love to climb on the fry box and use it as a bench. They also like to slide down the Crows tail, but I’ve been told that when it’s explained to them that it’s not intended to be a play structure, it’s a piece of art, people tend to respect it more.
Has Crow with Fries provided an identity that Les Gove Park has been able to utilize? If so, what kind of opportunities has that created for Auburn?
Yes, the Crow has already become an iconic site marker for Les Gove Park. The colossal corvid sits in an open lawn area along Auburn Way and it is highly visible to traffic moving in both directions. As I mentioned, the sculpture has also become a focal point for the Sunday Farmers’ Market during the summer months.
In the past, people were told to turn in just past the drive-in. Now that the Crow has landed, it has taken on that role. Everyone knows where to find the Crow.
To learn more about artist Peter Reiquam, visit his site.