Artwork copyright Norie Sato. Original 2002 installation. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Norie Sato. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Dialogue: Dogwood Parentheses, 2002

Norie Sato
American (born 1949)

Location: University of Washington - Bothell and Cascadia College, Bothell

About the Artwork

Dialogue: Dogwood Parentheses is part of artist Norie Sato's three-part installation at the campus that is shared by Cascadia College and the University of Washington Bothell. The artwork uses books and punctuation as symbols to represent the dialogue and partnership between the two educational institutions. This part of the artwork originally included twelve Dogwood flowering trees and stone walls that formed two parentheses-liked curved shapes, at either end of the campus. Sato planted the trees and built the stone walls to frame the border of the campus. They also frame the on-going conversation and relationships between students, faculty, and the two institutions. 

Sato planned this artwork as a pairing with her book-shaped plaza and bronze book sculptures at the same site. The three-part artwork represents the essential intersection and partnership of Cascadia College and the University of Washington Bothell.

Due to construction in 2007, the trees were moved to other locations around the campuses. The stones are temporarily in storage.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with University of Washington.

About the Artist

Sato moved to Seattle in 1972 to study and earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Washington. She was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award in 2014. She received the 2013 Twining Humber Award for lifetime artistic achievement and the 1997 George Tsutakawa Award for Advancement of Public Art, among many other awards.