Submerged Light I, a watercolor painting from my Imaginative Observations series, has been accepted into King County’s Here and Now public art collection. This initiative, led by 4Culture, focuses on acquiring works that reflect the complexity, vitality, and evolving identity of the Pacific Northwest in the northwestern United States, a region I call home.
For some context, 4Culture stewards the King County Public Art Collection, which for nearly fifty years has brought original works of portable art into civic spaces across the region—courtrooms, health clinics, offices, and community centers where people live, work, and connect. With the first acquisitions dating back to 1975, the collection now includes approximately 2,000 works installed across nearly 200 publicly accessible county facilities. It has become a kind of living record of artistic practice in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, reflecting both individual perspectives and broader cultural shifts over time. I’m especially looking forward to seeing how this piece will live within that context once it is installed in King County.
Submerged Light I, watercolor on paper, 30x21cm
Submerged Light I, is part of an ongoing body of work that explores the sensation of being immersed, both physically and perceptually, in a fluid environment. Developed through close observation while swimming, these works attempt to hold onto the fleeting and shifting qualities of being underwater: the distortion of light, the presence of forms just beyond clarity, and the quiet sense of anticipation that comes with moving through an unfamiliar space. Through layered washes and fluid marks, the work leans into memory rather than direct representation; something sensed, rather than fully seen.
Dropping off the painting in downtown Seattle, June, 2026.