Artwork copyright Romson Bustillo. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Artwork copyright Romson Bustillo. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

The Ginger Root Prince, 2001

Romson Bustillo
(American, born 1970)

Location: Summit Trail Middle School, Ravensdale

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Romson Bustillo created The Ginger Root Prince by combining several different media into a patchwork of intersecting imagery, pattern, and color.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Tahoma School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Romson Bustillo is a printmaker and mixed media artist. He creates layered artworks that explore how we process information and move through different environments. His art is tied to his Philippine lineage, South Seattle and Pacific Northwest upbringing, and research travels to Southeast Asia, Latin America, Western Europe, and Africa. In his own words, “I populate spaces with images and concepts that question and explore how place, context, and visual cues modify, enhance, and divert meanings. I make art to claim presence; revisit truths; and to break constructed designations of place.”

Born in the Philippines, Bustillo's family immigrated to Seattle in 1978 when he was eight years old. He has taught print and mixed media arts for over twenty years at the Pratt Fine Arts Center, the University of Washington’s Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) program, and Seattle Art Museum (all in Seattle). He was awarded the Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award in 2021. He is based in Seattle.