Oscar Tuazon’s new permanent artwork spans from Columbia Street to Spring Street and will feature carvings by Randi Purser, Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson. Photo credit: City of Seattle.

You may have recently spotted some new elements stretching across three blocks along Seattle’s waterfront. Oscar Tuazon’s new permanent artwork spans over the bike path, from Columbia Street to Spring Street.

In consultation with the Suquamish Tribe and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Oscar Tuazon initiated a project to honor a uniquely Salish form that combines architecture and sculpture: the living tradition of carved house posts. This collaborative project with carvers Randi Purser (Suquamish Tribe), Tyson Simmons (Muckleshoot Indian Tribe) and Keith Stevenson (Muckleshoot Indian Tribe) invites visitors to learn from the longhouse and envision Indigenous futures on the Salish Sea.

Prior to the arrival of settlers from other parts of the country, the original inhabitants of the region built structures along the shore, including in what is now Seattle. Drawing on the architectural forms used by local Coast Salish tribes, artist Oscar Tuazon designed a three-block-long sculptural installation. This installation is made up of 22 pairs of sculpted Douglas Fir post-and-beam structures, along with six individual posts, spanning over the planting beds and protected bike lane set to open early next year along the waterfront. The wood has been sourced from a local lumber company and was milled in Quilcene on the Olympic Peninsula. The wood has been detailed, treated and constructed to withstand the marine environment along the waterfront.

The artwork also includes two cedar carvings which will be installed on the west side of the beams, facing the Park Promenade and Elliott Bay, in early 2025. Tuazon has envisioned that the remaining west-facing posts provide an opportunity for additional artists from Coast Salish tribes to be commissioned for future carvings.

Randi Purser’s carving is a figure of Chief Sealth as an infant in the arms of his mother, Sholeesta. This carving has a counterpart on Bainbridge Island, a welcome pole depicting Chief Sealth’s father Schweabe, commissioned by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation for the South to Olympics Trail. Purser’s carving on the waterfront will be installed on the northernmost post.

Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson’s carving, for the southernmost structure, is in the form of a house post and honors a warrior, representing “strength and honor for the people.”

Stretching across three blocks with a rhythm of burnished fir posts, forming a scaffold for carvings by Coast Salish artists, this newest public art project will define space and will remind visitors that Indigenous peoples and cultures are an integral aspect of the waterfront and Seattle, as they have been since time immemorial.

About the Artists

Oscar Tuazon was born in Seattle and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Tuazon is a student of the Lushootseed language, learning from Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert, Lawrence Webster, Thom Hess, Zalmai ʔəswəli Zahir and the Puyallup Language Program. His artwork draws on different construction methods; based in minimalism, conceptualism and architecture, the artworks engage both the viewer and the site. His artwork has been exhibited throughout the world in solo and group shows, including the Henry Art Gallery and Bellevue Arts Museum locally, and the MSU Broad Museum, the Hammer Museum at UCLA, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Le Consortium in Dijon, France and at galleries internationally. He has received public commissions in Boston, New York, Paris, and Belfort, France. He was also represented in the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Randi Purser is a Suquamish tribal member, with family roots in Skokomish, Cowichan, Lummi and Makah. Purser carves for herself in Salish style, but she is versed all traditional NW Coastal Styles. For Purser, the great pleasure in carving is being completely present in the moment. She first carved with Michal Pavel in 2008 which led to learning from Ruth and Andy Peterson which also directly led to apprenticing with Duane Pasco in 2009. Her artwork is represented in public, corporate and private collections. In 2019, she was artist-in-residence at the Suquamish Museum where her artwork was featured in a one-person exhibition.

Tyson Simmons is a member of the Muckleshoot Indian tribe and a Coast Salish artist who carries on the long tradition of Salish artists from the region. He bridges the traditional with the contemporary, and by tapping into the history and teachings of his people and merging them with his own approach and experience, is able to create something entirely new. Simmons explores a range of media, from metalworking, creating his own carving knives, rattles and spears, and carving canoes and story poles. He trained with, and was mentored by his people’s last-remaining master carver of dugout river canoes; he has been influenced, informed and inspired by the strong traditional knowledge and influence of his traditional people and homelands shape and inform his approach and style. He takes advantage of both traditional and contemporary tools, carving cedar with an ages-old adz, or using cutting edge and contemporary digital imagery to realize an image. Simmons carries on the long tradition of Salish artists from the region, representing a unique worldview and expression developed, over thousands of years and hundreds of generations, in the Salish Sea region, and sharing the Native American perspective and point of view.

Keith Stevenson is a Coast Salish artist and a member of the Muckleshoot Indian tribe. His work spans a diverse approach and perspective. His vision merges the cultural teachings and tradition of his people with a unique and exciting contemporary point of view. He carves large scale work – canoes and story poles and creates fine scale work as well – rattles and spears. Working in various media, Stevenson works primarily in traditional natural resources and is a well-respected and recognized figure of the Pacific Northwest Native American carving and artistic movement, and at the same time has mastered and uses contemporary and cutting-edge tools and resources such as digital technology and imaging software. He aims to reflect the Native American experience in the 21st century, and he work for his people and with neighboring communities throughout the Pacific Northwest region, up and down the coast. A self-taught artist, Stevenson finds inspiration in his ancestors and ancestral lands casting their shadow and influence throughout history, since time immemorial. As is customary with the traditional teachings of his people, Keith Stevenson passes on the knowledge and teachings of this vitally important and spiritual work.

This artwork was commissioned with Seattle Department of Transportation Central Waterfront 1% for Art funds and administered by the Office of Arts & Culture and the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects. The 1% funds are derived from city sources, Friends of Waterfront Seattle philanthropy, and Waterfront Local Improvement District funds.

This is a blog post from the Seattle Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.

Arts and culture play a central role on the waterfront. Responding to the history of the site, its ecology, economy and communities, permanent art commissions help to create a sense of place that invite residents and visitors alike to visit the waterfront. Learn more about arts and the waterfront vision.

There are 9 permanent artworks planned for the waterfront. Read our other posts about the completed pieces.