Murals by Sarah Folden (Cowlitz) found on our Promenade Pop-up kiosks. Photo by Growing Boy Media.
Public Art at Waterfront Park
About Art at the Park
Waterfront Park showcases a dynamic collection of public art that highlights Seattle’s cultural richness and diversity. Permanent installations, such as statues and fountains, enrich the park’s ambiance, creating spaces for reflection and inspiration. Complementing these are temporary art pieces by local artists, organized in partnership with Friends of Waterfront Park. These temporary artworks and installations act as opportunities for local artists to show work and celebrate the area’s traditions and cultural tapestry, fostering a vibrant environment where community stories and artistic expression come together.
Mural by Bill Pfeifer Jr. (Tlingit) seen on our Promenade Pop-up kiosk. Photo by Growing By Media.
Turbulent Times mural by Peter Boome. Photo by Jordan Somers.
Photo from Vivid Matter Collective's Subway Cypher installation at Occidental Park. Photo by Berhanu Wells.
Photo of flags on display at Pier 62, created at a workshop led by Raven Juarez. Photo by Jordan Remington.
Seasonal Art
Friends of Waterfront Park partners with local artists to bring beautiful, temporary art installations to the park. These installations honor the rich traditions and cultures of the Seattle community, reflecting the region’s diversity. By working with artists to publicly showcase their work, we are contributing to a Waterfront Park where stories are shared, history is interrogated, and art is valued.
Seasonal Art on Display
-
Celestial Waves art installation can be viewed nightly from 4-10 pm January 15, 2026 through February 15, 2026 at the Spring Street Social Intersection.
About the Art
- Along the light path we enter the Celestial Waterways, nested among the stars. Step into a light path that cascades from above, to the land beneath our feet. Surround yourself with water, stars, and interwoven shape-forms. Connect to your Ancestors as you step through the experience in meditative remembrance of those before you. This exhibit is in honor of those who light the way for us, as a memory system of our lived futures.
- In the Ancestral Walkway Experience, Marisa interweaves aspects of her own Ko-Kwel (Coquille) heritage, mementos of Elders including her beloved Grandmother Toni Ann Brend, along an immersive path lighting our way to the future self. The immersive experience includes stylized visual waterways. A symbolic artifact connecting waterways, river stones, and beaches within our memory systems, as well as starry night skies showing those looking down to us from above.
About the Artist, Marisa Erven
- Marisa Erven is a Ko-Kwel (Coquille) artist whose current practice focuses on the exploration and reflection of memory systems. How culture, ancestry, and legacy continue through us. How we shape our lens through artifact moments as we pause to be present, observe, and better connect with ourselves and others.
- She uses media intersectionality of art and technology to carry forward questions in honor of those who create the path before us. To service those our heart speaks to in the quiet spaces. In remembrance and reflection of those times, and people, who helped enable us to live within a vibrant, visible, and creative Indigenous future.
- Marisa works in games and technology, and via Siren Cove Studios, has contributed to Native American art and projects focused on wayfinding, storytelling, and curating visual connections to our authentic selves.
-
The art exhibition at Stadium Plaza features rotating artwork by local Indigenous artists and are selected by Friends in collaboration with the Pulling Together Committee and Friends’ Indigenous Advisory Committee, ensuring fresh art throughout the year.
-
Learn more about previous installations that we’ve commissioned from different local artists by following the links below:
- Turbulent Times by Peter Boome
- We Are Water Installations
- Vivid Matter Collective’s Subway Cypher
- Promenade Pop-ups
Photo of Norie Sato's "Unfurling a Gesture (The Persistence of Nature)" at the Union St. Pedestrian Bridge by Jo Cosme.
Oscar Tuazon Artwork. Photo by Jo Cosme.
Buster Simpson's SeaBearer sculpture found outside Pioneer Square Habitat Beach. Photo by Jason Merges.
Permanent Installations
Discover the stories behind Waterfront Park’s beautiful permanent art installations! Visit the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Project’s (OWCP) Art page to learn how these artworks celebrate Seattle’s vibrant culture and community, contributing to the park’s role as a place of reflection, connection, and inspiration. Arts and culture are central to the park’s design, offering sculptures, multiuse infrastructure, and more for visitors to enjoy and interact with.
Installed:
- Pier 62 – Land Buoy Bells by Stephen Vitiello
- Union Street Pedestrian Bridge – Unfurling a Gesture (The Nature of Persistence) by Norie Sato
- Pioneer Square Habitat Beach – Migration Stage by Buster Simpson
- Seawall – Seawall Strata by Haddad|Drugan
- Park Promenade – Structures by Oscar Tuazon
- Overlook Walk – Kinetic artwork by Ann Hamilton
- Park Promenade – Sculptures by Qwalsius-Shaun Peterson
Upcoming:
- Overlook Walk – Sculpture by MTK Matriarchs
- Pike + Pine Corridor to Waterfront – Visual language by Derek Bruno and Gage Hamilton