Sofa Issues Spring 2025
Public Art is Dope
Nina Vichayapai with Elisheba Johnson
“Art should be for everyone… Public art is for everybody. It’s outside. There’s no hours. It’s so radical.”
In 2020 I had the pleasure of being introduced to the world of public art through Elisheba Johnson. At the time, Elisheba managed a free training program available to Seattle Area artists, called Public Art Bootcamp. As an artist, public arts manager, and the curator and co-founder of Seattle’s Wa Na Wari gallery, Elisheba brings a uniquely expansive approach to the field of public art. I continue to be inspired to engage with the public sphere in resourceful and community-minded ways of working, both of which were encouraged by Elisheba through Bootcamp. The following conversation was an exciting opportunity for me to return to my public art roots while also learning about the influences and experiences that shape Elisheba’s enthusiastic dedication to the public arts.
Nina Vichayapai: Could you start by giving an overview of what your experience has been from your own background as an artist, and then into public art management?
Elisheba Johnson: My dad’s a writer and there was definitely art all around me growing up. But I never thought I would be an artist. I really did think art was just for white people, you know? I started making art in my senior year of high school. My teacher introduced me to the work of Romare Bearden. It was then that everything just made sense to me. I could hear the jazz and see the movement in the work. It was culturally relevant. It was transformational.
So I went to college at Cornish in 2006 and soon after I started a gallery in Capitol Hill called Faire Gallery Cafe. The gallery was inspired by the idea of salons and experimentation. Cornish was one of the only interdisciplinary art schools west of the Mississippi. A lot of my friends were in theater or music, so I wanted a space where artists of different disciplines could work together.
But the mortgage crisis happened in 2008 and it was just a bad time for everybody. So I closed the gallery in 2012. Soon after, a job came up with the city of Seattle. I had the opportunity to work with my dear friend, Randy Engstrom. He would be my boss there. He was so different from what I saw in government, so I wanted to work for him.
Nina: What was your time there like?
Elisheba: One of the first projects I got to work on with the City of Seattle was a project called All Rise, which was in an empty lot by City Light. Construction wasn’t going to happen for a year so they decided to hire curators and to activate it. It was fucking dope. They had temporary dance performances, film screenings, all this stuff. It was also really cool because normally City Light would have had to pay security to secure that site. But instead we were able to pay artists to come in and activate it.
That really opened me up to what public art could be. I’d met public artists before who just made bronze stuff. I had never thought it could be like ALL RISE. Art should be for everyone. So when I worked with the city, I was like, oh, shit. Public art is for everybody. It’s outside. There’s no hours. It’s so radical.
So, that’s why I got into public art. I feel like it’s a really great way to represent communities. I get to support communities to have artworks that represent what’s really important to them.
Nina: Public art is so important as a way to mark time and place for communities. It’s awesome that you get to support that. How long were you with the City of Seattle? And what is your position in public art now?
Elisheba: I worked at the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture for six years. I was managing the arts commission for two and then I moved into public art. Now I am an independent public art consultant.
Nina: Something I’m curious about is how you balance it all. You’re so active in supporting public art projects, you’re an artist yourself, you started Wa Na Wari and do so much programming for that gallery too… What’s it like to manage all of that?
Elisheba: I mean I don’t feel like I have any balance. I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m so bad at self-care. I am totally transparent about that. I’ve always been a workaholic. I used to say I have small business owner’s disease. There is a certain level of busy I like to be. But since I have a chronic illness I discovered that I had developed a couple of years ago, learning to slow down is much needed. I’m still fighting it.
At work I joke around and say that I have the binder of the artists of color. So I’m the person people call when a building is getting made and the community says we should hire a person of color. I’m working with three artists of color right now for one developer and it’s all their first public artwork. So that part is cool. But being an administrator can feel like it’s all just paperwork. At the end of the day I’m writing contracts and processing invoices and checking in with the artist while they get to do the creative part.
I got into making public art when I was managing projects with the City of Seattle. I’d see projects and think about how I would be doing this or that. I thought maybe I wanted to be a public artist. I started a public art practice with a collaborator who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago. So I’m trying to figure out how to move forward as a solo public artist.
Nina: That’s tough. And it seems like having any balance as an artist and arts worker definitely seems like a challenge across the field.
Elisheba: I think that as artists and administrators we have to figure out some type of balance because it really is soul killing to be that close to the art and not be making. I think I had told myself for a really long time that I’m not an artist. I’m a gallerist. But now I feel differently about it and I wish it didn’t take me this long to go back. So I’m trying to find ways to bring in my own practice without it feeling like it’s nepotism or something.
At Wa Na Wari almost all our staff are artists. And so, for Walk the Block, our big festival, we let everybody make artwork for it. I want to do community based public art with folks that don’t have a bunch of resources. I also want to get much more intentional about having less clients so that I can really focus on other stuff.
Nina: Definitely. I dream of someday being able to say no to an opportunity. It’s nice to have space in your life to just work on the things you find personally meaningful.
Elisheba: That’s what happened with Barbara Earl Thomas. She’s a really dope artist in Seattle and she used to be the executive director of the Northwest African American Museum. She’s always made art and had shows and stuff. But then she quit and now she’s a full time artist. I keep telling her, “I want to be like you.” I’m going to do this administrative thing and then I’m going to be a full time artist.
Also, women artists actually peak way later than men. Most of them are like 50 or 60 years old when it happens. So I got time.
Nina: You do! That’s really uplifting to hear as a woman too, sounds like something to look forward to.
What about the public art bootcamp program, when did you start that?
Elisheba: So my mentor, Marcia Iwasaki, started it 20 years ago when she saw that in the 70s and 80s there were these white guys who could self-finance making public art and they just had a lock on it. And so she created this program as a response. It was a six month program that met one day a week for several months. They went on field trips and they had meetings with fabricators and all that. The program eventually stopped running but when I learned about it I thought, wow, that’s what we really need for artists of color.
So after talking about it with Marcia and my boss Randy we decided to reinvent her program with an attention to racial equity. It was really successful. We made sure the artists in the cohort had access to getting selected for a real project. At the time, we had six community centers being remodeled that needed art. I think in a lot of ways that was the most important part. We’re not just talking about budgets and contracts and fees. There’s a real chance to actualize the learning.
I’ve seen several people who went through the early boot camp who are just straight up public artists now. The program has been expanded to Redmond, too. I’m no longer involved in it but it’s still really important to me.
Nina: It’s an amazing program. If it weren’t for that program, I’d have no idea about how to even get started making public art. And the fact that the program is free and not being provided by some kind of higher learning institution is really amazing too. It’s so important for artists to have access to that kind of specialized knowledge.
And you also have a background as a poet, is that correct?
Elisheba: I’m an artist and poet. I did my MFA in poetry. I’ve been writing poetry since I was 12.I have a text based practice.
Nina: What’s it like working as a poet in public art?
Elisheba: I have a funny story. I applied for this public art project from Vulcan. It’s on Jackson and 23rd, in the Central District of Seattle. There were eight artists they picked. They wanted traditional African symbols or something. I was trying to do that and it just didn’t feel right and it was not me. So I was like, fuck it, I’m just going to write a poem. That’s me.
So I sent it in. The project manager even checked with me to make sure it was what I meant to submit. But later it turned out that they liked it and I was selected. So if there was ever a lesson to just be yourself, that’s it!
Nina: I love that! I’ve totally felt that one of the tricky things about making public work is feeling the pressure of what others are expecting you to make. Should you do something true to yourself, or that satisfies what the board is looking for?
Elisheba: Yeah it’s hard, right? I think sometimes artists get so overwhelmed with community feedback that they lose their own voice. But when the art comes out and you’re excited about it, that is such a good feeling. I’m never going to stop loving public art. It’s dope.
Nina: So what are your hopes for the future of public art? Anything you’re excited about, anything you’re hoping to bring into it?
Elisheba: That’s a good question. I think we’re just in a weird moment. One of the problems with public art is everybody is super risk averse, right? Sometimes you put an artwork out there and the community hates it and they’re all mad at you. So I get it. Sometimes you just want to do something safe and not cause any waves. But I think there’s so much opportunity for really incredible stuff. So I think we just need to be less scared as a field. Also, most public art isn’t federally funded so we don’t need to play it safe.
I’m also interested in how we can make public art more accessible for different folks to get into. Marcia always talks about how public art in your city is like a library. You wouldn’t want the same book from the same author. You want many books from many authors. And I feel that way too.
Nina: That’s all so important. It’s cool to hear that you support artists taking risks and finding their voice on these projects. I’ve definitely felt constrained in public art projects and like I need to tone things down. But to have a working relationship with someone who supports your vision would be so rewarding.
Elisheba: I do think most project managers are artists or went to art school. So they want to do cool projects. We want to get excited. I think that there are people out there willing to support those risks in public art. And who knows, I might be one of them. I feel like my last job might be running a public art program. I could do that for like five years and then retire or something. I think it’d be fun.
Nina: Didn’t you say the golden years for women artists is 60 or 70? You could do that in your retirement!
Elisheba: Well maybe in my pre-retirement, I’ll be a full time artist by then!
Nina: That sounds like a solid plan. Well thanks so much, I learn so much every time I talk to you and this was the perfect conversation to have right now as I think about making some public art!
Nina Vichayapai makes art that explores what it means to be at intersecting margins. Her interdisciplinary work includes soft sculpture, public art, pie making, guerilla gardening, dog petting, and eavesdropping. Nina’s art has been exhibited in places such as the Bellevue Arts Museum, the Henry Art Gallery, and on telephone poles and bulletin boards. Her work can be found in the collections of the City of Seattle and in gardens across the Pacific Northwest. Nina was born in Bangkok, Thailand and graduated from the California College of Arts in 2017. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.
Elisheba Johnson Elisheba Johnson is a curator, public artist, administrator, and disruptor. Feeling left out of the traditional art world, Johnson has dedicated her career to building bridges for artists of color to grow and thrive in our local arts community. Johnson, who has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, was the owner of Faire Gallery Café, a multi-use art space that held art exhibitions, music shows, poetry readings and creative gatherings. After closing Faire, Johnson went on to work at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture on capacity building initiatives and racial equity in public art. Johnson currently co-manages Wa Na Wari, a Black art center in Seattle’s Central Area that uses the arts to build community and resist displacement. Johnson’s personal art practice examines the beauty and triumph of Black life in America through mixed media and poetry.