Pantopol - Ted Jonsson

Where is it?

Concourse A

Jonsson's piece is found near the Mountain Room Bar in Concourse A.

About the Art

The sleek silver design of Pantopol is intended to soothe anxious travelers. Jonsson attempts "to structure scintillating visual experience with purely visual relationships."

The Details

Artist

Ted Jonsson

Date

1972

Medium

Sculpture (curvilinear stainless steel tubing)

Dimensions

8' 6" wide x 5' x 4'

Did you know?

The term "pantopol" is a combination of the Greek word "pan" meaning "all" and the word "topo(logy)" meaning "mathematical study of surfaces."

About the Artist

Producing public pieces on a grand scale in terms of both volume and number since the early 1970s, Jonsson is no stranger to the challenges in the world of creating art. He produced a sculpture for the University of Alaska at Anchorage in just sixteen days. The sculpture, made of oil pipeline, weighed sixteen tons!

"The difficulty in viewing most art is always the confusion between what we know and what we see […] Art must reach beyond this level and speak with a universal language." – Ted Jonsson

Short Bio

A native of California, Jonsson obtained his B.F.A. from the University of California at Davis. He later completed his M.F.A. in 1965 at the University of Washington, studying sculpture and architecture. He fell in love with the Pacific Northwest while serving as a courier pilot in the U.S. Army, flying planes from Fort Lewis to Yakima. His work spans the country and has been loved by collectors and art enthusiasts alike.

Similar Artwork

Work by Ted Jonsson

- Chimera: a fountain piece completed in 1975 with beautiful jets of water that blast from its two curved stainless-steel pipes can be found in the SoDo District at the Seattle Public Operations Control Center.

- The Kennely Commons Fountain: a water feature made of Zimbabwe black granite is located at Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington.

At the Airport

Since 1969, Sea-Tac Airport has allocated a percentage of its construction and repair budgets to the incorporation of art. Jonsson was one of the artists commissioned in the early 1970s. Visit some of the other pieces that became part of the Port of Seattle collection in the same decade. Click on the STQRY links below to view works by Robert Maki and John Wharton.

Pantopol - Ted Jonsson

Ted Jonsson's sculpture at Sea-Tac is a smaller relative of the stainless steel fountain at Seattle Public Utilities offices on Airport Way South.