The Balance of One Order Within Another

Claudia Fitch

Eastgate Park & Ride

Arranged like temples or miniature formal cities, three groupings of silver columns punctuate a retention pond at King County Metro Transit’s Eastgate Park & Ride, where a five-story parking garage serves commuters traveling through the I-90 corridor linking Bellevue and Seattle. Together, the columns comprise Claudia Fitch’s The Balance of One Order Within Another, each of them topped with a kinetic sphere that moves in the wind.

Fitch refers to the linear set of columns as a “chorus” and the circular displays as “coronas.” She was inspired by both the natural beauty of the greenbelt in Eastgate and the ordered form of the human-made freeway. With two groupings of columns integrated on the banks of the pond and another on a small island in the middle of it, the artwork creates a geometric rhythm amid the organic rhythm of the surrounding plants and the pond itself. At dawn and dusk, lighting illuminates each of the columns forming a constellation of lanterns for passing commuters.

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Based in Seattle, Fitch is a sculptor known for her imaginative use of classic forms. Her studio and installation work has been exhibited across the United States, and her public artworks can be found throughout Seattle and Western Washington as well as in Florida, Maryland, and Alberta, Canada. Other 4Culture commissions include Water Carry at the Interurban Pump Station in Tukwila.