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Maleng Regional Justice Center

A significant collection of public artwork welcomes visitors and staff.

Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle. Blackbrids and Gulls, 1996. Forges steel. Maleng Regional Justice Center, Kent, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

The Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, WA, contains one of the most significant collections of public artwork ever commissioned by King County for a single facility. The collection includes architecturally integrated and site-specific installations as well as many diverse portable artworks— drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints—created especially for the site by Northwest artists.

Beginning with the garden path that leads to the building’s front entrance, artwork welcomes thousands of visitors and County employees who pass through the Justice Center’s corridors every day. Some artworks in the collection highlight the agricultural and social history of the White River Valley, such as photographs of the region’s Indigenous people, pieces that highlight significant crops like hops and strawberries, and pieces that explore the area’s logging past. Other artworks in the collection respond to the activities at the Maleng Regional Justice Center itself or, in the case of formalist or abstract works, offer viewers a respite.


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While the opportunity to create public artwork for this significant civic building was advertised nationally, most of the artists included in the collection are from Washington state. Collaborating with a citizen advisory committee made up of local residents, business leaders, and County employees, the artists developed works that celebrate themes of justice or reflect the history and character of the Kent Valley.