4Culture is excited to announce the selection of four artists who will elevate themes of connectivity, empowerment, sustainability, and biophilia at King County Metro’s forthcoming South Annex Base (SAB) in Tukwila.

Mobility is a human right and Metro is committed to getting people where they need to go—safely, equitably, and sustainably. As part of its transition to a 100% zero-emissions fleet powered by renewable energy, Metro is working with Jacobs to expand capacity at its South Campus and house approximately 250 new battery electric buses. When complete, SAB will function as a stand-alone bus base with maintenance and operations to support its fleet.

Haddad|Drugan (Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan) joined the SAB design team in 2023. In addition to creating their signature artwork and influencing the overall look and feel of the facilities, they helped conceive of three opportunities for other artists to lend creative thinking to the project: a collection of community tables to inspire gathering and connection, a low-relief artwork to activate the lobby’s feature wall, and two graphic surface treatments to add color and interest to the dispatch hallway and break room. 4Culture would like to thank Haddad|Drugan as well as the other selection panelists—artists and arts professionals from across the county, Tukwila community representatives, and members of the Metro and Jacobs staff—who reviewed hundreds of applications and identified commission recipients whose distinct practices complement one another and the goals of the SAB public art program.

Dan Webb will design and build ten functional and conceptually linked tables for interior and exterior SAB locations. Currently represented by Greg Kucera Gallery, Webb has over two decades of exhibition experience in galleries and museums and has contributed significantly to the field of public art. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Glass, Tacoma; New Museum, New York; Portland Art Museum; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; Seattle Art Museum; and Tacoma Art Museum. Webb was a finalist for the Neddy Award and received the Betty Bowen Award, Pollock Krasner Foundation Award, Stranger Genius Award, and Washington State Artist Fellowship.

“There are two things that draw me to the community tables opportunity,” Webb says. “The first is the focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship. My work and designs will be deeply impacted by starting with this approach. The second thing is to make tables that will occupy lots of different contexts, from the meeting rooms to the shop and the places in between. I look forward to making things that fit logically into many different spaces and provide a throughline to connect them all. Working in collaboration with Metro, the architects, and Haddad|Drugan, the goal is to make tables that will be useful, memorable, and long-lasting.”

Andrea Wilbur-Sigo will create artwork for the entry wall in the administrative building’s lobby. A member of the Squaxin Island Tribe and the SteChess family, Wilbur-Sigo is the first documented Indigenous female carver in a multigenerational artistic lineage. Her practice encompasses different art forms of Coast Salish culture, including beadwork, welcome figures, house posts, and baskets, among others. In addition to showing her work in numerous venues, Wilbur-Sigo facilitates workshops and community outreach programs to empower individuals to connect with their heritage through art.

“Together with Metro, I am eager to create an artwork that not only beautifies the lobby but also instills a sense of pride and responsibility in those who engage with it,” Wilbur-Sigo states. “My goal is to ensure that every person who enters the building feels uplifted and inspired, leaving them with a renewed appreciation for the environment around us. In this way, the lobby feature wall will become more than just a backdrop; it will be a testament to our shared values and a reminder of our commitment to preserving the natural world for future generations.”

Romson Bustillo and Lara Kaminoff will develop distinct but complementary site-specific surface treatment designs for walls in the base’s dispatch hallway and break room.

Bustillo integrates an interdisciplinary practice with a mixed media printmaking foundation. He has earned the Artist Trust Fellowship, Artist Trust Artist Innovator Award, Conductive Garboil Grant, Northwest Film Forum Collective Power Fund Award, and Seattle Print Arts Larry Sommers Art Fellowship, and completed residencies at AADK Spain; Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, Indonesia; Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle; and Museum of Glass, Tacoma.

“My work examines how context and visual cues shape, enhance, or divert meanings, with the goal of engaging viewers as active participants in reconsidering references based on inherited knowledge, lived experiences, and ideas of privilege,” Bustillo says. “This collaboration with Metro is very much in line with my belief that public art contributes to our understanding of place and community.”

Kaminoff is a freelance illustrator, educator, and cartoonist. Her graphic novel How to Pick a Fight (Nobrow Press, 2021) demonstrates her passion for visual storytelling through children’s books and public art. Kaminoff believes that creating and witnessing art can inspire people to imagine bigger, kinder stories for themselves.

Kaminoff adds, “It’s rare to see such positive and impactful climate action being taken and unbelievably exciting to be a part of it, especially alongside Haddad|Drugan and the stellar team at 4Culture. Also, as a non-driver, I’m so grateful to Metro and its dedicated operators for getting me where I need to go every day; I’m looking forward to working for them for a change!”

Amid the daily bustle at the Burien Transit Center, many passengers come and go on the RapidRide H Line, traveling between Burien and Downtown Seattle on one of King County Metro’s busiest routes.

The H Line debuted in 2023, and as part of the project, Metro partnered with 4Culture to commission a public artwork that would uplift and enhance the transit center streetscape. Artist team Elisheba Johnson and Kristen Ramirez were selected in 2021 to create the work—and on October 10 the community will gather to celebrate its completion at a dedication event during the evening commute.

Why We Have to Work was inspired by a Nigerian folktale about the sky. Made largely of etched and mirrored steel, the sculpture invites passersby to connect with nature and each other while also referencing Burien’s agricultural history and its evolution as an important link between Seattle and Tacoma. This permanent artwork marks the latest in a long line of collaborations between Metro and 4Culture, including several recent projects tied to the RapidRide expansion program.

Please join us! The free dedication event will include music as well as cupcakes, beverages, brief remarks from Johnson and others, and a poetry reading from Burien poet Mercedes Garcia, whose work is featured in this year’s Poetry in Public, which celebrates local voices on Metro buses and Sound Transit light rail.

As King County Metro transitions to a 100% zero-emissions fleet, they are expanding capacity at their South Campus in Tukwila to make room for approximately 250 battery electric buses. The South Annex Base (SAB) will be Metro’s first new permanent base in generations. Like the electric buses, the facility itself will prioritize sustainability in its design and building principles, including a large solar installation and net zero energy consumption.

4Culture and Metro have a long history of working together on public art projects. For SAB, both agencies collaborated with lead artists Haddad|Drugan (Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan) to develop three distinct art opportunities—all of which focus on developing artworks that represent and inspire both the surrounding community and the staff who will work at the base.

“We envision artworks integrated into a variety of sites, some more iconic from distant views and others more nuanced and experiential,” Haddad and Drugan have said. “We are excited about the potential for art to weave together stories about innovative sustainable practices, including electrification of the buses and restoration of Riverton Creek, to create a strong sense of place while also inspiring awareness about how the energy of transit can empower us.”

We encourage you to explore and share these opportunities! Applications are due Thursday, Sept. 26 at 4:00pm PDT.

Surface Treatments: This first opportunity is for two individual artists based in King County. Each artist will be asked to develop a distinct but complementary site-specific surface treatment design for one of two interior walls at SAB. This is a unique opportunity for emerging or mid-career artists who want to gain experience in the field of public art, bridging the gap between studio and public practice by translating their two-dimensional work into permanent media on a large scale. Learn more >>

Lobby Feature Wall: For this opportunity, we are seeking an individual artist or team of artists from Washington or Oregon to create an original surface treatment or low-relief artwork for the prominent feature wall in the lobby of the SAB administrative building. Learn more >>

Community Tables: Individual artists/designers or collaborative teams of artists and designers residing anywhere in the United States are invited to apply to develop a collection of functional tables that comfortably accommodate conversation and various collective activities at SAB. Learn more >>