Originally published Sunday, January 2, 2000

By REGINA HACKETT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

One of Seattle's most beautiful community centers officially opened in 1997 in Lake City. Meadowbrook Community Center was one of five constructed with funds from an $18 million levy passed by voters in 1991.

Near the center is another art marvel: a unique, artist-driven storm water detention pond at 35th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 107th Street, completed in 1998.

Three notable Seattle artists contributed to the community center: Beliz Brother, Mark Calderon and Marita Dingus. For the lobby's north wall, Brother and Calderon worked with community youths to create a relief sculpture inspired by Northwest Coast Native American designs. Also in the lobby and main hallway, Calderon created 15 cast abstract forms, suspended from the ceiling, alluding to schools of fish.

On the north and east walls of the elevator shaft and stairwell, Dingus worked with children to make two oversized fish forms, the heads and tails in painted plywood and the bodies in juice can lids strung together. Cleverly integrated into the fish heads are images of children's faces.

Seattle artists Lydia Aldredge, Peggy Gaynor and Kate Wade sculptured the nine acres surrounding the Meadowbrook Pond into a series of landscaped surprises, providing a refuge from the surrounding city. Mosaic-embellished pathways wind through the site, making it well worth a visit.

The Meadowbrook Community Center is located at 10517 35th Ave. N.E. and is open Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call the center at 206-684-7522, or the Seattle Arts Commission, 206-684-7309 or 206-684-7171.