Described as ‘a love letter to the Salish Sea’, cascadia draws attention to our collective relationship to the local environment. Entering the park under the expansive shade structure, visitors are greeted by a suspended liefeboat sculpture and a super-graphic seawall mural. As a duet in form, pattern and color—lifeboat and seawall bring viewers into an esthetic dialog between light and shadow, biota and habitat, civilization and wilderness that speaks to a deep sense of place.
Striking a balance between iconic universality and locational uniqueness, the artwork alludes to Edmonds’ vibrant downtown Creative District and extensive green infrastructure within a larger context. Close examination of lifeboat reveals various flora, fauna and microbes woven into the hull’s patterns, while seawall surveys the terrain it inhabits. Highlighting riparian settlement overlays as they relate to a web of life, the installation encourages viewers to contemplate a sense of belonging to a larger bio-region and caring for our shared environs.
