A fort made with windows and scrap from local construction waste. I built this by carrying the scrap from the sites to my old house on Lakeview Blvd. in Seattle, than from my house to the site via a hidden trail my friend Tom had blazed that ran from the backyard to the Cathedral. The site for the fort appeared in a dream just prior to moving into that house around 1996. The site has two trees in parallel along the hill slope, they perfectly frame the space needle which is how I recognized the particular spot from the dream.
The fort was originally built for the purpose of painting during a phase in which I was totally fascinated with acrylic gel medium on glass. The "paintings" produced in the fort were peeled from the glass to hang free form. The pigment was mixed directly into the paint on the palette and included dirt and vegetation from the greenbelt.
I moved from the house in 1999 and didn't visit the fort much afterwards.
I came back years later and to my dismay found heroin needles in it. The structure had been designed to not be large enough to lay down in. Recently (April 2006 (on my 30th birthday)) I visited the fort again and took the photos here. A fellow was living there whom recited the list of past residents at the fort, including a fellow to whom he reffered as being like a "rat" wearing many layers of clothes which doubled as his bedding. The fort was much expanded, to the point that the current resident had pitched a tent within it, the original windows were also either broken or removed completely. He was quite friendly and delighted to meet the person that he somewhat jokingly called "The Founder", he also said it was like meeting "God", which tripped me out even more. The current resident, amazingly, had been making efforts to clean up the fort area, removing broken glass and carrying it out to dumpsters on the street by foot.
St. Marks Cathedral Greenbelt is owned and maintained by the Cathedral and the City of Seattle. It is situated above I-5 and Lakeview Blvd. and below 10th Ave. E., North of Prospect St..
Materials:
Glass, wood, fasteners
Dates:
1996-1999
Location:
St. Marks Cathedral Greenbelt, Seattle, WA
The fort was originally built for the purpose of painting during a phase in which I was totally fascinated with acrylic gel medium on glass. The "paintings" produced in the fort were peeled from the glass to hang free form. The pigment was mixed directly into the paint on the palette and included dirt and vegetation from the greenbelt.
I moved from the house in 1999 and didn't visit the fort much afterwards.
I came back years later and to my dismay found heroin needles in it. The structure had been designed to not be large enough to lay down in. Recently (April 2006 (on my 30th birthday)) I visited the fort again and took the photos here. A fellow was living there whom recited the list of past residents at the fort, including a fellow to whom he reffered as being like a "rat" wearing many layers of clothes which doubled as his bedding. The fort was much expanded, to the point that the current resident had pitched a tent within it, the original windows were also either broken or removed completely. He was quite friendly and delighted to meet the person that he somewhat jokingly called "The Founder", he also said it was like meeting "God", which tripped me out even more. The current resident, amazingly, had been making efforts to clean up the fort area, removing broken glass and carrying it out to dumpsters on the street by foot.
St. Marks Cathedral Greenbelt is owned and maintained by the Cathedral and the City of Seattle. It is situated above I-5 and Lakeview Blvd. and below 10th Ave. E., North of Prospect St..
Materials:
Glass, wood, fasteners
Dates:
1996-1999
Location:
St. Marks Cathedral Greenbelt, Seattle, WA
