Artwork copyright Barry Herem. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Welcome, 2002

Barry Herem
American (born 1941)

Location: Lakewood Middle School, Marysville

About the Artwork

Non-Native artist Barry Herem created the sculpture Welcome by cutting the design from weathering steel using a high-powered jet of water. Indigenous Northwest Coast art inspired his design. He notes that the artwork's "thick fingers and narrowed eyes associate it in particular with an ancient form of Tlingit-style human depiction. While being distinctly modern, it is an immemorial image of a particular place, style, and history."

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

About the Artist

Northwest artist Barry Herem creates sculptures inspired by the forms and symbolism found in the Native American artistic traditions of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Herem is a non-Native artist. He was born in Michigan, grew up in Portland, Oregon, and has lived in Seattle since 1964.