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Laser artist Dan Corson. Photo by Clara Ganey, the Spectator

In a paved-over, fenced-in empty lot that most people consider an eyesore, local artist Dan Corson saw an opportunity for eye-catching art.

The lot on Broadway Avenue between East Denny Way and East John Street has been transformed from a black pit into a feast for the eyes, a huge 65-by-125 feet field of fluorescent green and orange fiberglass poles with multiple beams of laser light shining through. The end result is a trippy, constantly changing spectacle that can be seen every night from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. until Thanksgiving.

The art is aimed at giving the lot some character in advance of construction for the new light rail station, which will begin in a few months. Sound Transit and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce reached out to local artists to try to find something to fill the space, and Corson jumped at the opportunity to bring to life an idea he’s had for a while.

“This is a project I wanted to do and has been on my back burner for a while,” Corson said. “It kind of afforded me the opportunity when I had the scale, the dark contrasting asphalt, and because it’s completely isolated…you can’t have people and lasers in the same space.”

He began by drilling thousands of holes in the pavement for the fiberglass poles and then with the help of volunteers hammered 3,300 poles into the ground. The poles range in height from two feet to eight feet to create an undulating field, and when the lasers move up and down through the poles, beautiful effects are created.

The whole process took Corson four months—from the initial planning stages of programming the lasers and getting all of the necessary permits required to ordering the parts and installing the piece.

“There were lots of hoops—getting electricity to the site, getting access to the site, allowing us to drill over 3,300 holes in the ground,” Corson said. “All sorts of approval processes—there’s a lot when you’re working with an agency like Sound Transit.”

The project suffered some other bumps in the road as well. The first shipment of poles weren’t the right sizes, so Corson actually created two different versions of the project: one that was up over Halloween weekend with smaller poles that Corson compared to a “lawn” and the new one that’s on display now with poles twice as tall.

“This is kind of the lawn on steroids,” Corson said.

The final version of the field was installed last week during what Corson called “terrible conditions.” But the pouring rain, wind and cold didn’t stop the project, and it was ready to go for the scheduled opening Sunday.

Overall Corson said the project went very well, and he is pleased with the result.

“Sound Transit, while sometimes a big organization that can be very challenging [for artists to work with], they were great,” he said.