The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has commissioned artist Jeffrey Veregge for an artwork to honor Coast Salish culture at the Salmon Bay Pump Station project. Veregge will join the Salmon Bay Pump Station design team to develop artwork for the future SPU facility in the Ballard neighborhood. The artwork and pump station are expected to be completed in 2024.
Jeffrey Veregge is an award-winning Native American comic book artist from the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe in Kingston, Washington. His work uses Coastal Salish and contemporary graphic design techniques dubbed “Salish Geek” by his fans and peers. In addition to his work for Marvel, Valiant and IDW Publishing, his art is included in the collections of NIKE, Viacom, Museum of Pop Culture, Yale University, Washington State Historical Society, University of Washington and the Seattle Art Museum. His work has also appeared in numerous websites and publications such as Fast Company Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, io9, Seattle Magazine, Native Peoples, Cowboys and Indians and Wired Magazine. Veregge’s creator-owned six-issue comic series, Demicon, published by Native Realities Press, will debut later this spring.
Seattle Public Utilities and King County are working together to build an underground storage tunnel to reduce combined sewer overflows into the Ship Canal during rainstorms. This project is called the Ship Canal Water Quality Project and includes the Salmon Bay Pump Station (24th Ave NW and Shilshole Ave NW). The pump station will pump stored sewage and stormwater from the tunnel to King County’s West Point Water Treatment Facility.
Veregge was selected by a panel of artists, tribal and community members, city staff and consultants. The project is commissioned with SPU 1% for Art funds.
Photo: Jeffrey Veregge (photo: Rachel Ann Seymour)
Image: Red Wolf, digital drawing, 2015