Artwalk features Penguins on the March

This month’s Greenwood-Phinney Artwalk features 50 Penguins on the March, which will make their way from the Space Needle to three Seattle neighborhoods before being auctioned off.

“Deep Sea Diver” by the students of Matheia Elementary School. Photo by Ric Brewer, WPZ.
Artists from The Greenwood Collective, at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., have been helping 62 amateur and professional artists paint and decorate fabricated penguins to promote Woodland Park Zoo’s new Humboldt penguin exhibit. Fifty penguins will be unveiled Friday morning at 10 a.m. at the base of the Space Needle, and 30 of them will appear again later from 6-9 p.m. at The Greenwood Collective, as part of the artwalk.

“The Penguinator” by illustrator Doug Keith. Photo by Ric Brewer, WPZ.
John Osgood from Bherd Studios will be painting a penguin mural live during the Space Needle event. The mural will also be shown at The Greenwood Collective that night. Beginning June 15, the penguins will migrate into Ballard, Fremont and Greenwood-Phinney, where individual penguins will be prominently displayed in front of neighborhood businesses in July, August and September.
At the end of their migration, the penguins will be auctioned off to benefit Woodland Park Zoo’s field conservation program, including the Humboldt Penguin Conservation Center at Punta San Juan. Auctions will be at Woodland Park Zoo’s Jungle Party (invitation only) on July 10, at The Greenwood Collective (open to public) on August 14, and at Piper Village’s Grand Opening (open to the public) sometime in September.
About two dozen businesses in Greenwood/Phinney will stay open from 6-9 p.m. Friday to host various artists for the monthly Art Up/Open Up artwalk. Here’s a map of participating businesses, and here’s a list of all the artists and mediums.