Public art · 2023Completed commission
Creek Keeper
An illuminated guardian for Waller Creek: part animal, part landscape, and part local legend.
90,000Reported Creek Show event attendance
Outdoor + illuminatedDesigned for weather, service, and heavy public use
Source → promise → proof
Visitors meet the creek as a shared guardian, not a background condition.
Weather-ready illuminated public art within a 90,000-attendee event context.
World-building idea
Creek Keeper translates environmental memory into a civic-scale character. The work had to feel immediate and generous while surviving weather, crowds, public-park conditions, and the technical demands of an illuminated outdoor installation.
01The civic brief
Give the creek a guardian people can approach.
For Waterloo Greenway’s Creek Show, the central idea became a creature with the presence of public sculpture and the invitation of a theatrical character. Its silhouette reads from across the site; its glowing interior pulls visitors closer.
02Character as infrastructure
Folklore carried by engineering.
The design joined form, lighting, diffusion, power, mounting, waterproofing, and serviceability. The technical system was not separate from the idea—it was what allowed the creature to become a dependable part of a heavily used public event.
03Public encounter
Built to hold attention at festival scale.
Creek Keeper appeared within Creek Show 2023, which reported record event attendance of 90,000. That figure describes the event context, not direct engagement with the installation.
Jake can turn civic meaning into an approachable public landmark while directing the technical realities of outdoor delivery.