By Corvo Rohwer, Puyallup Tribal News
Fifteen new public artworks now adorn the streets around Pioneer Square in Seattle, one of which is a mural completed by Puyallup Tribal artist Chris Duenas.
The exhibition stems from a collaboration between the nonprofit public art project, Forest For The Trees, and SeattleFWC26. The pieces feature themes of soccer, cedar and culture. These murals are located a short distance north of Lumen Field, where the Seattle World Cup matches will take place.
Duenas’ piece is titled, dukʷibəɫ yəxʷ tiiɫ x̌payac – Changer and the Cedar Tree, drawing inspiration from Puyallup creation history to create his mural. The artwork prominently features the Changer’s face with a cedar branch in the eye, along with a large hand that Duenas said symbolizes work.
“The creation history is dukʷibəɫ going along doing his work, and I always associate hands with work,” Duenas said. “The elements that are in the background and in the front, those are the songs that he’s singing as he’s going along doing his work.”
The bold greens and light blues throughout the piece were color-picked from Duenas’ own drone footage of Mount Rainier. He said the detail in the eye represents dukʷibəɫ coming across the cedar tree during his work.
While Duenas is a seasoned digital artist, this was his first time creating a hand painted mural. With the piece being a daunting 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide, he said it was a challenging experience, but one that helped him grow out of his comfort zone as an artist.
“Coming from digital where you have an undo button and you can zoom in and out, one of the biggest challenges for me was figuring out how to get the image onto the canvas board and keep proportions right,” Duenas said. “I essentially threw myself in knowing that I have friends and family who do this, and I can tap into that world to learn something new.”
Taking just more than two days to complete, Duenas said he was happy to have the opportunity to tell a story that he is passionate about within his artwork.
“I love that it’s a nod to our creation history,” Duenas said. “I love when people get to see and hear and be around our creation history.”
If you’re interested in seeing the artwork in person, the dukʷibəɫ mural can be found on South Jackson Street in Seattle, between Nord Alley and Occidental Avenue South. For the full map of the exhibition and to learn more about the artists, visit the Forest For The Trees website at www.fftt.space/.
