Jite Agbro is a Nigerian American print artist who grew up in Seattle, Washington. Her colorful figurative work integrates layered patterns, sharp contrasts, and fabric-like textures. Agbro is currently represented by Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle, Washington.

She has received support and funding from the following institutions; Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, MAD Art Studios, Shunpike, 4Culture, The Neddy Foundation, Artist Trust, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and The James & Janie Washington Jr. Foundation. Agbro studied fine art at Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, WA) and California College of Arts (Oakland, CA) before completing a B.A. in Environmental Design at Evergreen State College and an M.S. in Design and Engineering at the University of Washington.

Jite has presented solo exhibitions and large-scale installations around the Pacific Northwest, including Deserving at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (2019) and Skap-got at 4Culture Gallery (2018). Notable group exhibitions include the Gates Foundation 20th Anniversary at the Gates Foundation Discovery Center (2020) and Edwin T. Pratt: A Living Legacy at the Northwest African American Museum (2019). She has received support and funding from Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, The Neddy Foundation, 4Culture, Artist Trust, Shunpike, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and more.

Future Perfect, 2023
Acrylic, aerosol on brick (mural)

Featuring the likeness of artist, performer, and activist Adé Cônnére.

Adé Cônnére is a living symbol of intersectionality in creativity. One of Seattle’s most creative performance artists and singers, Ade grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she lived until age 25. She moved to Seattle in 2004 and began performing in local theaters and clubs. Ade’s in the know for her style, a unique blend of glamorous and over-the-top looks reminiscent of everything from classic Hollywood to early jazz and rock ‘n roll. Her beautiful performances inspire viewers to rethink what’s common and her presence in the community symbolizes grace and elegance.

Believ, 2023
Acrylic, aerosol on brick (mural)

Featuring the likeness of disc jockey and radio personality Riz Rollins.

Riz Rollins embodies subversive creativity. He grew up in Chicago, where he lived until age 25. Riz moved to Seattle in 1980 and has been helping to define the city’s musical culture ever since. Riz’s ability to connect with local audiences and online listeners globally has helped to create and strengthen a community centered around a shared love of music. Riz uses the radio waves to help people find solace, celebrate their identities, and share their stories. His presence on air is a symbol of empowerment and resilience that inspires others to embrace their true selves and embrace diversity.

Artist Statement

The act of creating, particularly painting, is a necessary form of meditation and the serenity I seek.

My work is an on-going exploration of abstraction based on forms both found in nature and those conceived by human ingenuity. Memories of sights and sounds of my Caribbean origins always play an integral part in my creativity.  I am influenced by the organized balance, pattern and symmetry found in nature as well as that of architecture that lives in harmony with the natural world.

In recent years I have had the opportunity to create both studio work and public art projects. This has enabled me to challenge preconceived notions about the acceptance of art by the general public and the capability of the solitary studio artist engaging in collaborative ventures. As a believer that art has the ability and artists the responsibility to inspire social well being, I welcome the balance between the introspection necessary to formulate ideas in the solitude of the studio and the gift of sharing some of the benefits with society.

Freddies, 2023
Stainless steel and sandblasted concrete

My work at Tapestry, the Freddies, is meant to conceptually wrap the building and harmoniously commingle with the other artists’ work.

At the time I was selected as one of Tapestry’s artists, I had started working on my Baranda Project, an on-going series of works inspired by the railings my father designed and fabricated for the home where I lived as a child in Cuba. Just as the railings wrapped my childhood home, I developed a design I could adapt to implement on what literally wraps around the building: the sidewalk.

Wanting to create an artwork using a new medium, I thought of embellishing the sidewalk with a combination of stainless-steel inserts and a compatible sand-blasted pattern.

While the tribute to my father is personal, I also wanted to honor the history and diversity of the Central District and my favorite artist, Wifredo Lam (1902-1982). Lam was a Cuban-born artist whose father was a Chinese immigrant, and his mother was the daughter of an enslaved Congolese woman. His paintings of hybrid cultural symbols, particularly of African spirituality, gained him recognition in Europe and beyond. He embodies the idea of a cultural tapestry. As a gesture of appreciation, I respectfully borrowed some of his more recognizable shapes and added them to my own designs.

Lawrence was born in the Central Area of Seattle. Just as other children growing up, he was looking for an identity and visual art became that mystical vehicle. After receiving his AA degree, Lawrence transferred to the University of Washington into the School of Art where he began to cultivate his artistic talents under the direction of the renowned artist Jacob Lawrence.

Upon completion of his BA in Fine Arts, Lawrence quickly learned that self-expression was a key to creative cultivation. So, in the fall of 2015 he decided to bridge the gap between his government career and his artistic passion and enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts Leadership Program which he graduated from in June 2017 at Seattle University.

Personally, Lawrence sees his artistic endeavors as self-expressions depicting life experiences, which includes struggles, joy, and his love of life. Lawrence seeks to understand the process of creativity in the way a theoretical physicist seeks to understand the universe. His selection process is a spiritual layering which, when you step back seems to float within the universe we live in. He calls this process natural “intelligence”. It is a key aspect of Pitre’s philosophy as he explores different art forms, styles and unique works of art.

We Are One, 2023
Prints of original paintings (acrylic on canvas)

When I was six my parents gave me something that changed my life.  Painting by the numbers, they called it. Art is creativity and expression; my mother would say. And with that in mind, I found myself in a world where process not product became my instrument for life. In retrospect, my present application derives wholly from an inner need to continue building on my earlier endeavors.

Personally, I create visual art to evoke the mind, body and soul, which calls upon memories related to our past, present and contemporary life. Within this scope I probe links between our union, separation, parallels and contrasts. My current 34-piece series “We Are One” which was created and driven by the context of urban renewal, the relationships of personas, and the displacement related to the Central Area of Seattle.

Each canvas started with an open mind by using a variety of colors and different techniques to create uplifting backgrounds. Research is then applied based on the historical records of ethnic groups living during the periods of 1840 to 2018. This time-period was selected to show unification and timelines which connect our history as one people. Using a unique style to create people, places and architecture, I then question the concepts about the role of current traditions, the nature of family and our spiritual connection to the earth.

Exercising my own personal experiences of growing up in the Central Area, I remind myself that our city was built on the backs of immigrants and those who migrated to our great city. Lastly, the paintings I create are placed in the canon of modernist art, in hopes of underscoring the problem and solutions to countless boundaries while exposing the limits of tradition. My hope is that you too can explore the importance of diversity and why it’s so important.

June Sekiguchi was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Studio Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  She works primarily with scroll cut wood in her studio practice making sculptures and site-specific installations. Her current work is in the public art realm.

Sekiguchi is an arts activist and advocate co-founding and participating in several non-profit and artist run spaces in the Seattle area.  Sekiguchi’s interests involve social justice issues, cultural exchange, mental health, and elder communities.  She is currently an independent art curator for Era Living and curates for the gallery at Asia Pacific Cultural Center in Tacoma, WA where she serves on the board. Sekiguchi is a recipient of a GAP grant and Fellowship from Artist Trust and five 4Culture grants. She has participated in residencies in the Pacific Northwest including Willapa Bay AiR, Vashon Artist Residency, and the James and Janie Washington residency, as well as abroad in Cambodia and Laos.  She has exhibited extensively in the Salish Sea area including San Juan Islands Museum of Art, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Vashon Center for the Arts, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and Bellevue Arts Museum. She lives in Tacoma and is represented by ArtXchange Gallery in Seattle.

Born in the Philippines, Romson Regarde Bustillo is a Seattle based artist. He is an interdisciplinary artist working in printmaking, mixed media, and space coding. The tools we use to process information and the moments tied to our understandings help shape his visual vocabulary. He has spent extended periods of time working on his art in the Philippines, S.E. Asia, Central America, Spain, and Mexico. He maintains an art studio in the Pioneer Sq. District of Seattle.

Walking Portraits Series 1 of 7, Kikisoblu (Princess Angeline) (1820 – 1896), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 2 of 7, Dr. Blanche Sellers Lavizzo (1925 – 1984), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 3 of 7, Ruby Chow (Mar Seung Gum) (1920 – 2008), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 4 of 7, Aki Kurose (1925 – 1998), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 5 of 7, Carolyn Downs (1953 – 1978), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 6 of 7, Dorothy Laigo Cordova (b. 1932), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

Walking Portraits Series 7 of 7, Babette Schabacher Gatzert (1836 – 1908), 2023
Mixed media monoprints, collage from prints

We pay tribute to the remarkable women who have played pivotal roles in shaping the history of the Central District and surrounding neighborhoods with these stylized “portraits”. These names are not only familiar to long-time residents; they represent essential chapters in the Central District’s narrative and the broader story of Seattle itself. The legacies of these inspiring women extend beyond their lifetimes, firmly anchored in the spaces and social service institutions they helped establish, some of which bear their names. As you explore the area around 12th and Yesler, you’ll encounter living monuments to their contributions, such as the Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park Amphitheater and the Children’s Water Feature at Edwin T. Pratt Park, the Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center, and the Filipino National Historical Society Archives, founded by Dorothy and Fred Cordova further up on 18th and Columbia. Ruby Chow’s groundbreaking Chinese restaurant, the first outside of Chinatown, once stood at Broadway & Jefferson, while Neighborhood House, initially founded as Settlement House in 1906 first led by Babette Schabacher Gatzert, continues to provide vital community support from its offices on S Weller St.

Kikisoblu (Princess Angeline), daughter of Chief Si’ahl leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Indigenous tribes, who’s Anglicized name the city of Seattle is named for is buried in Lake View Cemetery in nearby Capitol Hill. She lived on what is now Western Ave, between Pike and Pine Street. As you explore, consider how peace activist and educator Aki Kurose was deeply influenced by the rich diversity of her upbringing in the Central District Area and her family’s unlawful removal from her community and incarceration because of Executive Order 9066 during WWII.

These art works invite you to walk in the footsteps of these extraordinary women, reminding us of the enduring power of resilience, vision, and community.

Lisa Myers Bulmash is a collage and book artist who works primarily in acrylics, paper and found objects. Informally trained, Myers Bulmash began her career making handmade cards. After her father’s death in 2006, the artist felt compelled to take more personal risks in her creative life.  Questions of identity, trust and the imperfect memory now drive most of her work. The artist aims to nudge the viewer into recognizing our shared stories, especially those narratives that are usually experienced in isolation.

The Washington Post, Seattle TV stations and Seattle Times have reviewed and featured Myers Bulmash in their arts coverage. Her collage work resides in three municipal art collections: Seattle, Shoreline, and the Seattle Public Library’s Special Collections. The city of Seattle’s collection includes art by Barbara Earl Thomas, Dale Chihuly and Kara Walker. Myers Bulmash has also been awarded grants from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and other arts benefactors. Her work and commentary have been highlighted in five books as well.

Myers Bulmash exhibits her work in group and solo shows throughout the Seattle metro area. On the East Coast, Myers Bulmash is represented by Morton Fine Art Gallery in Washington, DC.

Grab the Brass Ring, 2023
Assemblage sculpture, materials salvaged from Seattle Curtain building

The Central District is best known as the traditional heart of Seattle’s Black community, but it has also been home to Indigenous people as well as Japanese, and Sephardic Jewish immigrants. All four communities are represented in the vintage photos set inside the weathered suitcase. The wheels on the suitcase suggested motion to me, so I conceptualized it as a rocket flying amongst the brass ring stars.

The title “Grab the Brass Ring” suggests striving to seize an opportunity or desirable prize. The metaphorical prize might be a job, a home, or the chance to reinvent yourself in a new city. No matter how close the prize seems, however, there’s no guarantee of success. With that in mind, I saw Seattle’s waves of immigrants as risk-takers whose opportunities were— and are still—influenced by their skin color. I hope the CD’s newest residents learn its history and recognize the privilege of living in this neighborhood.

A native Seattelite, Jonathan Clarren works with a wide range of materials and processes. He has been practicing large scale site specific sculpture, painting, and glass design for nearly 20 years. He collaborates with artisans and technical professionals in diverse industries to create unique and individualized works. Jon’s initial art training was primarily studying the human form then formally trained in sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design. His passion is building and creating, which he is most likely doing at this very moment out of his shop in NE Seattle.

A Curtain of Change, 2023
Powder-coated perforated steel (sculpture)

In Honoring the Family of Raphael “Ralph” Capeluto and Rachel “Rae” Alhadeff also The Workers of the Seattle Curtain Manufacturing Co., this art work is placed as a marker to give homage to the facility that was once here.  This company at this location housed generations of laborers as well the trade served generations of business and residential customers here in Seattle and beyond with the textiles that were furnished and manufactured here. The Art is Transparent and Reflective to symbolize that though the past is no longer with us, in some way it still is here. We are nothing without our ancestors and the work is a symbol for that form of reflection.

June Sekiguchi in collaboration with Jonathan Clarren
Cultural Ancestry, 2023
Powder-coated steel (sculpture)

Residents who historically occupied the Central District around 12th & Yesler are depicted in this sculpture symbolized on geometric panels through patterns from the Duwamish original keepers of the land, Jewish, Japanese, and African American cultures.
The rail pattern and cuboctahedrons on the featured wall are in a Japanese textile folk pattern representing the artist’s ethnic heritage and honoring the former function of the building as a curtain manufacturer.

Northwest artist Marita Dingus is an African American feminist and environmental artist. She is a mixed media sculptor who uses discarded and recycled materials. In her own words, “My approach to producing art is environmentally and politically infused: neither waste humanity nor the gifts of nature . . . The discarded materials represent how people of African descent were used during the institution of slavery and colonialism then discarded, but who found ways to repurpose themselves and thrive in a hostile world.”

Dingus received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and both a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from San Jose State University in California. She grew up in Auburn, Western Washington, and still lives and works there. She received the 2018 Twining Humber Award for lifetime artistic achievement.

Buddies, 2023
Oil paint, materials salvaged from Seattle Curtain building (vinyl window shades, curtain beads and hangers, metal wire, fabric) (sculpture)

Marita Dingus’ artwork of two boys stand on the plinth made from repurposed timbers from the former Seattle Curtain Building. The “BUDDIES” sculptures themselves are made entirely from materials salvaged by the artist from Seattle Curtain building, including a circle hoop that hangs from the ceiling with silver curtain chain beads like rain washing down over the two boys. Marita’s theme for BUDDIES is the “joy of life force that flows from children,” and the connection to Baily Gatzert elementary school and other youth programs where Marita has taught art in in the Central District.

Jeffrey Veregge is an award-winning Native American Artist & Writer from the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe near Kingston, Washington. He is best known for his use of form-line design with pop culture inspiration which his fans dub “Salish Geek”. He has over 100 comic book covers working for Marvel, IDW, Valiant, Dynamite, Boom! & Darkhorse Comics.

His story and works have been featured in The Huffington Post,  Fast Company Magazine, Wired Magazine (Germany), Entertainment weekly, Seattle Times and Magazine, Evening Magazine and many others.

Along with his comic work, gallery shows, and public art works, Jeffrey had a 15 month solo exhibit in 2018 that featured his favorite Marvel characters at the Smithsonian in New York City called; “Of Gods & Heroes: The art of Jeffrey Veregge”. The end result being 2 50ft murals that was purchased for the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.

Jeffrey Veregge in collaboration with Jonathan Clarren
Grace, 2023
Powder-coated steel and aluminum (metal sculptures adorning building corner at 12th & Yesler)

Inspiration for Jeffery Veregge’s “GRACE” screens: “When setting out to design the concepts for the 12th & Yesler (TAPESTRY) Gateway Lantern screen project, I used the following sentences as my guide:

• I want my art to give people a daily dose of hope to inspire and refresh their spirits.
• A visual reminder that each day is a new day, a gift that can be better than the day before.
• To communicate that the dreams and hopes of a better today and tomorrow are both alive and always in motion.

It was my desire to visually capture the essence of those words in my artistic style that honors my Tribal ancestry, while giving both the tenants and the general public who view the art a feeling of hope and warmth in a way that can surpass any sense of the inclusiveness that one may feel with Tribal art.

For research I started within my own culture to establish the framework that would allow me to incorporate like-minded concepts of hope from other ethnicities.

When approaching this concept, I wanted to capture the mostly universal concept of the cleansing power of waterfalls. The idea of rejuvenation, the release of emotion and washing away the troubles of the past.

Locally the idea of waterfalls represents a connection to Heaven and the creator, taking this a step further, I add the idea of the Bluebird which is the messenger to the heavens for many local Tribes that carry the prayers of its peoples to the creator. By combining the concept of the cleansing power of the waterfall and the idea of sending prayers to heaven, I give the viewer a chance to feel refreshed, renewed and above all hopeful about the new day.

The design itself was inspired by tessellation art (A tiling or tessellation of a flat surface is the covering of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps.) Using a repeating motif that blends the images in a way that allows one to see both the waterfalls going down to the earth and the Bluebirds flying up to the heavens simultaneously. Taking the Waterfall concept I combined the use of formline with Salish basket weaving patterns gives a visual flow from any direction.”

Members of the Pacific Northwest African American Quilters Guild
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, 2023
Hand and machine applique and embroidery on cotton fabrics

PNWAAQ was asked to create a quilt to commemorate the history of Seattle’s Central District (CD). Sheila Holmes accepted the daunting task of managing the 3-year project. LueRachelle Brim-Atkins proposed that the quilt feature representations of the many groups who have inhabited the CD—from Chief Sealth, the indigenous people and William Gross who bought the land for black people to settle. Over the late 19th and 20th centuries many different ethnic people inhabited the area.  Some chose to relocate, some displaced by gentrification, higher taxes, and Red Lining.  We wanted to show how even oppression and segregation this community made its mark on the city. The changing diversity of the neighborhood is depicted by the flying geese pattern that borders the quilt.

Mitchell Morris contributed the concept of an old fashion quilting bee with community leaders sitting around the table creating a quilt about CD residents and institutions.  Oneda Harris rendered the drawings and made repeated revisions to capture our ever-changing ideas. Her drawings became the foundation upon which our creativity flowed.

All members were asked to contribute fabric and work on the quilt with recognition that members had different skills.  Committees were formed to tackle the work.  The Flying Geese committee was chaired by Wadiyah Nelson, with contributors Lynn Lambe, Toni Bush, Claudia Webb, Iris Franklin, Lue Rachelle Atkins-Brim and Christine Jordan-Bell.

The four cornerstones depicting the CD’s religious institutions were beautifully created by Luana Langford. The individual figures were created by different members and were often embellished and meticulously hand appliqued by Chritine Jordan-Bell. Mary Johnson contributed the work on many of the quilt blocks, driving 30 miles to meet with the group and never missed a meeting. Cheryl Haskins provided all of the embroidery.  Bernetta Branch and Vera Patterson could be counted on to show up and give support to the project.