About Longfellow Creek and Meet Your Creek
Beginning in Roxhill Bog in West Seattle, Longfellow Creek flows under a shopping plaza, next to schools, in back yards, and through open space and natural areas. The Creek goes underground for the final feet of its length before it empties into the West Waterway of the Duwamish River and then to Elliott Bay. The watershed of Longfellow Creek is urban, home to diverse human communities. It is also home to many non-human species: beaver, coyote, crayfish, kingfishers, many other bird species and riparian plants and animals live here. In the fall, a few salmon still swim up the creek to spawn, despite the alterations to the landscape that make this historic habitat inhospitable to them.
Walkers are frequent along the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail with several organizations providing formal tours and stewardship opportunities. Volunteers and community groups conduct water quality surveys and salmon surveys. Many schools in the Watershed participate in environmental education and other programs that connect to the Creek. At the same time, many who live in the Creek watershed do not know about this riparian habitat and the creek that flows through their neighborhood and collects the waters that drain from surrounding areas. While Longfellow Creek gathers the rainwater from many homes, streets and parking lots, many people are unaware of their connection to the Creek.
Meet Your Creek is a participatory public art project by Vaughn Bell. It connects public art, place-based learning and ecological literacy. Over the course of 2018, beginning with a kick-off in November 2017, a series of participatory community events is unfolding around the Creek. Art events will occur in tandem with community events sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Watershed Action Plan.
We are creating unique, hand-made Postcards from the Creek. Participants make their own postcard based on their own observations and understanding of Longfellow Creek. They are then invited to either mail the postcard to a friend or loved one, or to donate it to the postcard archive, which may be exhibited at a local venue. When we think of sending a postcard, we often imagine a scene of spectacular natural beauty, inspiring awe in national parks or famous sites. By creating postcards from our own backyards, we find an opportunity to observe more closely the processes happening all around us. Mailing the postcard and sharing the images online offers a chance to share knowledge about our own local place and its inhabitants.
Funding for this project is provided by Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art Funds, administered by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.
Walkers are frequent along the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail with several organizations providing formal tours and stewardship opportunities. Volunteers and community groups conduct water quality surveys and salmon surveys. Many schools in the Watershed participate in environmental education and other programs that connect to the Creek. At the same time, many who live in the Creek watershed do not know about this riparian habitat and the creek that flows through their neighborhood and collects the waters that drain from surrounding areas. While Longfellow Creek gathers the rainwater from many homes, streets and parking lots, many people are unaware of their connection to the Creek.
Meet Your Creek is a participatory public art project by Vaughn Bell. It connects public art, place-based learning and ecological literacy. Over the course of 2018, beginning with a kick-off in November 2017, a series of participatory community events is unfolding around the Creek. Art events will occur in tandem with community events sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Watershed Action Plan.
We are creating unique, hand-made Postcards from the Creek. Participants make their own postcard based on their own observations and understanding of Longfellow Creek. They are then invited to either mail the postcard to a friend or loved one, or to donate it to the postcard archive, which may be exhibited at a local venue. When we think of sending a postcard, we often imagine a scene of spectacular natural beauty, inspiring awe in national parks or famous sites. By creating postcards from our own backyards, we find an opportunity to observe more closely the processes happening all around us. Mailing the postcard and sharing the images online offers a chance to share knowledge about our own local place and its inhabitants.
Funding for this project is provided by Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art Funds, administered by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.