The City of Olympia is in the process of erecting five art panels, carved by young Squaxin Island Tribe carvers, across Marj Yung Park.
The five pieces were designed by Squaxin Tribal artist/carver Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, who recently created the “Mother of Restoration” Welcome Figure for Olympia’s Isthmus Park.
“This project was really exciting. We’ve been working on it for some time now,” Wilbur-Sigo said of the Marj Yung Park art installation during an Olympia City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
At that meeting, Wilbur-Sigo and Olympia Art Program Manager Stephanie Johnson presented the concept design for the art installation to the Olympia City Council for approval.
The approved design will go back to the Olympia Arts Commission on Sept. 10 for development of a final design, refined work plan and technical details involved in creating and installing the art pieces.
The idea for a Squaxin Island Tribe art project in Marj Jung Park started when the City of Olympia learned it needed to remove several cedar trees within the park, according to Johnson.
While the trees ultimately turned out to be unsuitable for carving, the City of Olympia and Squaxin Island Tribe continued conversations about an art project in Marj Jung Park, and eventually settled on the current proposal for five carved panels — each measuring 5-feet tall by 18-inches wide by 3-inches deep — placed along the park’s bicycle and pedestrian path.
“The panels can first be discoveries, and later landmarks for trail users,” Wilbur-Sigo said. “We want you to be enjoying that space, enjoying the trails, and just come across one.”
Wilbur-Sigo collaborated with Squaxin youth, including her own grandchildren, to come up with the subject matter for the panel designs.
They chose to feature elements of nature that they felt had often been overlooked: octopus, bees, butterflies and frogs.
The salmon, a well-represented and essential feature of Squaxin artwork and storytelling, is also featured.
“We wanted to bring attention to some of the smallest in our family and some of the largest creatures,” Wilbur-Sigo said.
Wilbur-Sigo and the tribal youth selected a story to pair with each panel. Those stories will be accessible to trail users via a QR code on each panel.
“We want that curiosity to stop and maybe want to learn more about the story,” Wilbur-Sigo said.
Working with the children to develop the panel designs and select the stories to pair with them made this project unique, Wilbur-Sigo said.
The Squaxin’s next generation will have further opportunities to bring the art project to life, as the tribe will select several up-and-coming carvers to do the actual carving of the panels.
“I think the most exciting part is watching the next generation take their spots and being part of a project that they’re going to be able to appreciate and teach with for years to come,” Wilbur-Sigo said.
The panels will be fully carved and painted on both sides, with patterns created using a tribal weaving technique.
The art pieces and the stories they represent are intended to metamorphose and generate new meanings as people interact with them and form memories around them, Wilbur-Sigo said.
“It’s going to become a memory, it’s going to become a story of the future.”
Overall the art project is intended to connect Squaxin Island Tribe youth to the tribe’s stories and artwork, and to encourage them, and the greater Olympia community, to interact with those stories.
“From our creation story to the stories that keep us magical, we have a responsibility to teach our children to dream larger than we do, and together, all dreams and wishes will come true, if we remember to be kind, respectful and hardworking humans,” Wilbur-Sigo said. “I feel that that’s for all of us. If we can make all decisions with our heart, all decisions knowing that we’re making a better and brighter future, then we’ve done our job.”
Members of the Olympia City Council thanked Wilbur-Sigo for her work on this project, and on the “Mother of Restoration” Welcome Figure that was unveiled in June.
“I’m just so excited to see your artwork all over this city,” said Councilmember Dani Madrone.
Wilbur-Sigo has carved several Welcome figures in the Olympia area, including the “Steh-Chass” Man just south of Squaxin Park and “Bigger” at South Puget Sound Community College.
The “Mother of Restoration” Welcome Figure has been doing her job well over the last couple months, Wilbur-Sigo said, welcoming visitors of all ages from across the community and sharing a story of the Squaxin Island Tribe.
“She definitely has been doing her job … and that’s exactly what we need to do,” Wilbur-Sigo said.
