Artwork copyright Sara Siestreem. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Sara Siestreem. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Everything Time Studio, 2021.

fish dreams, 2012

Sara Siestreem
American | Hanis Coos (born 1976)

Location: North Hill Elementary, Des Moines

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

fish dreams by Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos) is an abstract painting based on observations of Nature. She explains that “As I create a visual noise through improvisation [in the act of painting], I am looking for basic forms from nature to emerge. When something elemental shows itself to me, I refine the picture plane to support that event. My hope is that in the same way we receive an energetic charge from contact with the land, other animals, or a natural event, these paintings will affect the viewer.” This artwork is part of a curated collection by Asia Tail for North Hill Elementary, in Des Moines, Western Washington, in July 2021. The local art selection committee wanted art that reflects their diversity, their values as a sustainable green school, and the 5th grade experience of growth, togetherness, and transitions. The artworks show us that everything is connected. Asia Tail notes “Just as people shape the land, the land shapes us. How we treat our plant and animal relatives matters now and for all the generations that come next.”

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

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos) is a master artist from the Umpqua River Valley on the south coast of Oregon. She mainly works in painting, but she also works in photography, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, video, traditional Indigenous weaving, and and large-scale installation. Her art practice branches into institutional reform, as it relates to curating and education about Indigenous Fine Art. Siestreem comes from a family of professional artists and educators and her training began at home. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University, Oregon, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Art Institute in 2007. She created and runs a weaving program for the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw people. She teaches studio art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and Portland State University, both in Portland, Oregon where she lives and works.