Artwork copyright RYAN! Feddersen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2024.

The Supervisors, 2024

RYAN! Feddersen
(American | Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Okanogan and Arrow Lakes Bands, born 1984)

Location: Newhouse Building, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

The Supervisors by RYAN! Feddersen is a four-part artwork that honors endangered, threatened, and at-risk animals and plants. The artwork gives them a special vantage point, peering into the conference and work rooms of the Newhouse Building, where elected representatives do their work. Organized by ecosystem, the North Entry features our Mountain (NE) and Maritime (NW) habitats, while the South Entry features our Prairie (SW) and Shrub Steppe (SE) habitats. By re-centering the land and species of this place, the artwork recognizes the value of the life forms with whom we share Washington State. The animals' gaze (with glass eyeballs) is a reminder of the legacy of our actions and offers symbolic oversight of how we carry on into a shared future. RYAN! Feddersen invites you (the viewer) and all people to consider our relationships to history, culture, the land, and our non-human kin.

The artwork's style is inspired by Plateau Pictorial Beadwork. Feddersen has adapted the style to emphasize bold graphic silhouettes that are realistic but also simplified. This part represents our Mountain ecosystem of Northeastern Washington with a Crested Shield Fern, Fisher (mammal), Monkeyflower, Woodland Caribou, Larch Mountain Salamander, and Skinny Moonwort (fern).

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Department of Enterprise Services.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

RYAN! Feddersen (Okanogan and Arrow Lakes) creates site-specific installations, public artworks, murals, and more. She wants her artworks to start conversations about a broad range of subjects, by offering opportunities for interaction and self-examination. She does this by using historical research, digital tools, and traditional Indigenous Plateau storytelling applied to contemporary issues.
Feddersen grew up in Wenatchee, Central Washington as a part of a creative family with multiple cultural perspectives. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle in 2009 and also studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, from the Okanogan and Arrow Lakes bands, and is of mixed European decent.