PAST / Pier 58
About Past
While watching the shifting landscape along the waterfront, Friends of Waterfront Seattle’s Artist In Residence, Takiyah Ward, reflected on the histories and stories this site holds.
Takiyah and the Friends of Waterfront Seattle’s Community Engagement team reached out to local community members with a focus on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) elders.
“We hope to gain knowledge and truth to better understand how we can successfully navigate our present circumstances.” — Takiyah Ward
Takiyah, along with three other local artists, created murals as a visual meditation and framing of our histories and the stories we share.
The Murals
"An offering plate for the ancestors," 2020, Scott Méxcal, digital art
"History X Sneke," 2020, Sneke One, digital art
Artwork by Damon "Creative Lou" Brown, 2020, digital art
Artwork by Takiyah Ward, 2020, digital art
Meet the Artists
Photo by Jake Hanson / @trulybugus
DAMON "CREATIVE LOU" BROWN (HE/HIM)
I am a Seattle-based artist who, from an early age, knew I loved art and to create new designs. I drew inspiration from comic books as I spent countless hours exploring different images and heroic storylines which opened my eyes to artistic creation. As my imagination grew, I began to study various art movements, illustration styles, and urban art. This, in turn, taught to me how things like color, shape, story, and texture can manifest into something so vivid for people to feel and see.
SNEKE ONE (HE/HIM)
Sneke One is a legendary fixture of Seattle, Washington’s graffiti art and hip-hop scene. Not only has he left his indelible mark on the Pacific Northwest (along with his crew, DVS), but he’s also established himself in cities throughout the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Canada, Geneva Switzerland & Paris France. Known for “style writing,” Sneke has been delivering dynamic, aerosol murals (transforming a variety of shapes, symbols and letters into colorful bursts of abstract magnificence) for over 20 years. In the last several years he has moved to a multimedia platform, creating contemporary urban-inspired pieces with canvas, vinyl, foam core and layered wood.
Scott Méxcal
SCOTT MÉXCAL (HE/HIM)
Scott Méxcal is a visual artist and arts educator. Scott currently lives in Seattle and exhibits work throughout the Seattle area. Born and raised in New Mexico, Scott’s passion for art first emerged as a young man where he was active in the local art scene as a graffiti artist, lowrider, and tattoo apprentice.
TAKIYAH WARD (SHE/HER)
Takiyah is Friends of Waterfront Seattle’s 2020 Artist In Residence. Artistically known as T-DUB Customs, she credits her Seattle upbringing for the many outlets for self-expression from ballet to tap, basketball to custom sneakers. With formal training in architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, Takiyah continues to blend her skills and talents across platforms and communities. Through T-DUB Customs, Takiyah hopes to be an outlet for all-artistically inclined or not, as it is her belief that our ability to ‘stay creative’ is humanity’s greatest asset.
About the 2020 Future Forward: Artist‑In‑Residence Program
Friends of Waterfront Seattle, in partnership with the City of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects, welcomes you to experience the multimedia experiences created through our 2020 Future Forward: Artist-In-Residence Program.
This project was led by our first-ever Artist In Residence, Takiyah Ward, who envisioned the waterfront as a backdrop to explore the notion, “What is the Truth?” With the conceptual framework of Past, Present, and Future, Takiyah gathered a community of multi-generational storytellers and artists from diverse communities to share their unique experiences and perspectives. We invite you to reflect on these prompts that Takiyah shared with the artists: remember, learn, discern, determine, imagine.
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