Contact:
Shannon Hays
Communications
Shannon.Hays@snoco.org
425-409-7916
Call for Artistic Concepts: Oso Slide Memorial Design Components
Submittals due July 10, 2019
EVERETT, Wash., June 25, 2019 – The Snohomish County Arts Commission is requesting two different artistic concepts: a “memorial beacon” and for individual memorials. Both are planned to be installed at the SR 530 (“Oso”) Slide Memorial. A vision has been created for the Oso memorial site which includes a memorial beacon and an area where memorials to individual victims will be located in the larger overall site plan. Concept submittals are due July 10, 2019 to the Snohomish County Arts Commission.
Slide Memorial Beacon – Call-for-Concept HERE:
The current site plan includes a gathering area in the memorial which will be used during important events as well as by groups visiting the site to learn about the tragedy. Within this gathering area, a beacon is planned, which will be visible from anywhere in the memorial and will be placed so as to cast a shadow on a focal point on March 22nd, 10:37 a.m. of each year.
A preliminary concept for this beacon has been designed which includes forty-three branches to represent the forty-three victims of the slide. The ultimate design for this piece has not been determined and this call-for-concepts is planned to be used as the basis for commissioning the piece.
Individual Memorials – Call-for-Concept HERE:
Individual memorials will provide places for families to come and remember their loved ones and leave personal items. It is important to the family members that their loved ones be remembered as loved individuals and that the memorial area not be reminiscent of a graveyard. It is the desire of the family members that lost family groups be honored together in a single memorial panel.
A preliminary concept for the individual memorials has been designed, which is envisioned to be created out of curved corten steel to represent the “embrace” of the community. The concept includes cutouts to represent the missing individual(s) and also to allow for light and shadow to be created by the panels. There is the intent to personalize each of the panels with quotes, pictures and names, as well as plantings around the memorial panels.
In total, twenty-six panels will ultimately be created which will be placed to reflect single victims lost as well as family groupings of up to six individuals. The panels will be personalized to represent the victims, but a general style should be consistent throughout the space.
Submittals Due July 10:
You may submit to one or both Call-for-Concepts. After following the instructions in the Call-for-Concepts closely, deliver entries to: Jeremy.Husby@snoco.org, or by mail to: Snohomish County Arts Commission, Attn: Jeremy Husby, 14405 179th Ave SE Monroe, WA 98272. More at SnoCoArts.org
Oso Slide Background:
On March 22, 2014 at 10:37 a.m., forty-three lives and an entire riverfront community was lost as mud and debris rushed from the adjacent mountainside and deposited in the nearby valley. Leaving deposits up to seventy feet thick, the event destroyed forty nine homes and took the lives of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, siblings, grandparents and friends. Termed the “Oso” slide, this disaster has been identified as one of the single deadliest landslides in United States history. The emotional toll of this event has been enormous, not only for those who lost loved ones, but also for those who stepped up to assist with rescue and recovery efforts and those who heard about the tragedy and were touched. Five years later, the scar is still deep and individuals are working to deal with the loss. Snohomish County has been working with the families of those lost in this tragedy to plan a memorial to honor the individuals and community lost, the survivors, the response effort and to provide information about the event.