黑料福利社

A massive new outdoor art installation by is a welcoming ripple of color and light amid the many shades of gray at Seattle鈥揟acoma International Airport.

"Migration," a public art project commission for the airport and the Port of Seattle, was installed the week of May 3.聽Viewed mostly from vehicles, it greets visitors and passengers as they approach the terminal at the departures level. It鈥檚 right at the entrance of the terminal. The artwork, which covers about 200 feet of a 460-foot-long concrete wall, is also visible from the Link Light Rail platform.

The piece is the result of an artistic collaboration between Ed Marquand of Tieton and Angelina Villalobos, a Seattle-based muralist, painter and illustrator.

Tieton Mosaic contracted with 聽for the design, which features four curving shapes, with 20 copies of each shape. Tieton-based聽Patriot Companies, formerly located in Wapato,聽fabricated the fiberglass shapes.聽

"They did a terrific job," Marquand, who established Tieton Mosaic in 2012, said of Patriot Companies.

The mosaic studio collaborates with artists, designers, public art programs and agencies, architects, developers and planners to create and fabricate mosaic murals and signage systems, according to its website, . "Migration" was a聽nearly two-year-long project, Marquand said.

"We were trying to complete it before" the FIFA World Cup matches in Seattle, he said.

"Migration" was a little unusual for Tieton Mosaic because most of the shapes were coated with various colors in an epoxy paint, rather than being covered with the small glass pieces that make up mosaic artworks.

"That's because you can only see it from a distance," Marquand said. But a few of the shapes are partially or completely covered in golden mosaic tiles for sparkle, he noted.

Villalobos had worked with Tieton Mosaic previously, as one of six artists whose designs were transformed by the studio into mosaics displayed in for Seattle's Sound Transit Redmond Station. Villalobos also聽juried a exhibition in Tieton in 2024.

Villalobos designed the color scheme for the shapes created by Patriot Companies, one of which she affectionately dubbed "the mighty SLUG!" in a social media post. The wall鈥檚 gradual completion revealed more options. The Tieton Mosaic team and staff with the Port of Seattle contributed as the design of "Migration"聽grew and evolved over several months, and project participants finessed the installation.聽

This is the second public artwork Tieton Mosaic has completed for Seattle-Tacoma airport. The first is a vivid three-part mosaic with an image by Sarah More that greets passengers as they enter the Alaska Airlines terminal. A recently completed third project, in the new C Terminal, was celebrated at a small private reception on Wednesday, June 10, Marquand said.

And work continues on a mosaic mural for the new humanities building at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Tieton Mosaic continues to seek commissions throughout the United States. "We're promoting ourselves, speaking at trade shows," Marquand said.

"The mosaic studio is doing really well," he said.