On the eve of the president’s visit to Seattle, the woman behind the Obama mural and its subsequent transition into an image of the Arthurian legend, the Lady of the Lake, has spoken up to explain why the mural at 12th and John was changed.
As we reported late Friday night, President Barack Obama will be visiting the East Precinct on Tuesday as part of his planned 270 minute stop in Seattle. And, just to be clear, by East Precinct, we mean the area of east central Seattle stretching from 520 to I-90 and between I-5 and Lake WA. Not inside the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine. Though that would be more fun to cover than a lunch for big donors at tech exec Rob Glaser’s Madrona home. About as excited as we can get about that part is Central District News reporting that traffic in the CD will probably suck on Tuesday.
Monday, Shelly Farnham added her message to the CHS comments about why the mural was changed and some of the meaning behind the new imagery. She also has invited ideas for what the mural should be changed to next:
It’s my garage, here’s the story
Hey, it’s my house, and we’re not mad at Obama, we still like Obama. I still like him more than any of the last several democrats in office, and i’ll vote for him again.That said, we decided a while ago we should put up new images every now and then, since the garage frequently gets “tagged” anyways. It’s been tagged a couple of times since Obama was put up, I repainted it once, and some very kind anonymous neighbor sanded the last tagging off (thanks neighbor!).
We decided it was time for something new. My friends and muralist artists Kathy Kim and Jeff Larson teamed up to put up lady in the lake (they’re still working on it) — Kathy’s idea was it was time to have a symbol of more feminine power…The Lady in the Lake is known for giving excalibur to King Aurthur, but also for extorting all of Merlin’s knowlege from him by withholding her love.
Six months to a year, I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next project! Would love to hear any ideas…
So, there you go CHS neighbors. Any ideas for what change comes next?
I think I see Farnham’s theme emerging: Charming fantasy.
Ideas for the next mural? Hmmm. Let’s see, we have Obama the Agent of Change and the Lady in the Lake. I know: how about a mural of a hardware store located on Cap Hill? Or maybe a depiction of Broadway without any Save the Children canvassers?
You can use those ideas for free, Shelly!
Motherhood.
Poverty.
Joyful children.
Flowers.
Evergreen.
Space.
…hasn’t been paying attention. What a fraud. Nothing but a trail of broken promises, and what little he has delivered is far less than we all deserve. Speak up Obamaites! If there isn’t a strong left willing to make demands then the only people he’ll be listening to are on the right!
Oh noes! How dare you speak ill of our dear leader and piss in the kool aid of his followers. You shall be punished for an eternity! Can most people say they are truely better off today then they were before he took office? Can you really say you enjoy that customer service job after going to college after 4 plus yrs? And about those who haven’t found a job and have been looking for over two yrs. Oh yes he has given us so much. So much lip service and nothing else. Vote both the repiglcons and dumbocrats out!
YES! i am so glad you guys took this discussion about a mural to bitch and blame the president for anything going wrong in the world!
I’m going to play the rhetorical question game too: Did you really think everything would be perfect in less than 2 years? With a follow up question: Are you five years old? If so…does mommy know you are using the computer?
You want the government out of your life, but you want the government to ‘fix’ the economy (instantly right?). You want to lower the budget deficit but you don’t want to raise taxes.
Wah wah wah I work a shitty customer service job. At least you HAVE a job. I bet you have benefits too.
:)
While no one expected Obama to be make everything better immediately, here are a few things he could change:
Stop endless devotion to Wall Street – http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/188551?RS_sh
Stop escalating a pointless war that has taken many US soldiers lives as well as thousands of Afghani citizens lives.
How about Obama stops claiming presidential power in assassinating American citizens without due process? – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01
Maybe he could stop abusing habeus corpus rights, or maybe, just maybe, he could have take more interest in prosecuting those in the former administration who tortured innocent detainees than he does in attempting to prosecute whistle blowers.
At the very least, he could have called a moratorium on enforcing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Of course, doing those things would involve him ACTUALLY fulfilling his campaign promises, something we all know is completely unreasonable.
To bring the comments back on topic I like the new painting on the garage door and the way the concrete frames it like a picture frame. There see I can play nice.
How about the Milky Way or some galaxy?