Artwork copyright Peggy Hitchcock. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Peggy Hitchcock. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Five Rides: Salt Water Tails, 1984

Peggy Hitchcock
(American, born 1951)

Location: View Ridge Elementary, Everett

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Five Rides: Salt Water Tails is part of a five-panel mural by artist Peggy Hitchcock comprised of imaginary landscapes created from surprising combinations of microscopic and scientific imagery, surreal objects, and natural forms. Salt Water Tails creates the illusion of a coral reef on the ocean floor, using imagery of a leaf fragment enlarged by 1000 times through a scanning electron microscope.

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

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Northwest artist Peggy Hitchcock creates paintings and wall sculptures that explore pattern and form. In most of her artworks, she uses silkscreened and photocopied images based on books, magazines, and other media. She has a library of hundreds of screens that reference history, decorative patterns, the natural world, and much more. Hitchcock explains that part of the beauty of art is that it is "language for our eyes." She grew up in Ohio and has lived and worked in Seattle since the early 1980s.