Downtown Puyallup has a giant glass mural by a Native artist. Here’s where to find it
Light is all that is needed to witness Shaun Peterson’s artwork come to life. People will have a chance to see that when they pass by the sky bridge that is still being constructed near Fifth Street Northwest in Puyallup.
Peterson, whose Native name is Qwalsius, is a member of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. One of his most recent pieces features elements connected to his upbringing and culture, and was installed near the city’s Sounder station in late September.
Construction near the station has been ongoing since November 2020, when Sound Transit began its two-year, $79 million project to build a five-level parking garage and additional surface parking spaces near Fifth Street and Third Avenue Northwest.
The sky bridge, which is a part of the project, was installed during the first week of August and is not accessible to the public yet, The News Tribune reported. Sound Transit expects to finish construction by the first half of 2022.
Peterson’s art is fused into clear tempered glass panels and will be attached to both ends of the sky bridge. There will be elevators on both ends, so people will be able to see his art as they ride up and down.
“As the light changes through the day you’ll be able to see it differently,” Ashley Long, art program project manager for Sound Transit, said. “It’ll be illuminated at night both from inside and from the outside.”
Peterson said certain aspects of his art touches on things that are important not only to his culture but also to others living in Puyallup. On one end of the sky bridge, people can expect to see an image of two paddles in front of a river coming from a mountain.
“The paddles and the river coming from the mountain is symbolic of the many journeys of the salmon, the journeys of our people,” Peterson said. “We always had canoes … that have been here for a long time.”
When Peterson finished high school, he started working with artists such as Greg Colfax from the Makah Tribe and George David, who is of Nuu-chah-nulth descent. Working with Colfax and David helped lead him to his journey as an artist, he said.
Other than the Sounder station in Puyallup, Peterson also has artwork installed in other parts of Pierce County, including a totem pole in the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity for my work to be seen as the connection of the people who are protecting our histories and our stories and our mythology and language — for me to be able to make that into something,” Peterson said.
