Free Woodpecker Housing For All

Public artwork 2024 Pathways Park, Seattle WA

Woodpecker Housing For All is a multisensory sculpture installation that reveals the interior homes and lives of the animals that dwell hidden in the woodpecker tree cavities adjacent to Pathways Park. Co-designed by Kate Clark and Kristi Lin, the sculptures consists of two 8” x 10’ weathering steel tubes “trees.” Cast bronze steel sculptures of animal cavity nests embedded in the tubes reveal humorous and gentle moments of animals sticking their heads out of the cavity, and interior domestic scenes. Talking tubes connect the two sculptures for play and connection.

The pileated woodpecker is known as a keystone species, indicating the health of a diverse ecosystem. Woodpeckers dig 7-29 roosts a year, and with each new cavity, they provide secure housing to countless mammals and birds. Baby squirrels, for example, have a 50% better chance of survival when raised in tree cavities.