Excitement was palpable during Tuesday’s art unveiling for the Lynnwood Link light rail extension. Community members, Sound Transit employees and public officials buzzed around the center promenade as they took in the sights. Thanks were given to those who made the works a reality, including the Lynnwood Arts Commission and Sound Transit arts team as well as many individual contributors. Artists Claudia Fitch and Buster Simpson talked about the inspirations that brought their art to the light rail stations.

SoundTransit Deputy Director of Public Art Barbara Luecke embraces Claudia Fitch

Lynnwood is not new to Fitch; She created a pair of two beacons, Shift, for the city’s transit center in 2003. She lived in the city from 2012-2016 and gained an appreciation for its mountainous views and eye-catching neon signage that once lined Highway 99. The signs and appreciation for nature inspired 2024’s City Hummingbird and Kitchen Window Curtain, which stands confidently in the center of the Lynnwood City Center Station. Fitch said she aimed to reflect both the natural and domestic charms of Lynnwood, hoping her works would ” transform the station plaza into an enormous backyard on a warm Northwest summer afternoon.”

Preston Singletary is the artist of glass murals located on the Lynnwood Link’s boarding platform. He was unable to attend due to a prior engagement. His work, Generational Confluence, was inspired by his Tlingit heritage and family, and influenced by his father’s recent death.

“As you enter the station, my parents are presented as welcoming figures with arms extended,” wrote Singletary. “My father is depicted in red with a closed mouth (being a man of few words) and belly full of salmon. He was an avid fisherman and loved the Stillaguamish River. My mother is opposite him, depicted singing, and in her belly is a baby Killer Whale, representing me and drawing the connection to my musical heritage by utilizing imagery from my band Khu.éex’.” Singletary’s bold use of color and traditional styles creates a striking work for deboarding passengers.

Simpson’s work, located outside of the Shoreline South/148th Link Station, is a functional work designed to quietly draw attention to environmental features and beauty.

“You are standing at the crossroads where the Thornton Creek headwaters and Sound Transit’s light rail system meet—where the flow path of water and the flow path of people converge. This sculptural installation is an active demonstration of sustainability. Collected rainwater from the garage roof watershed feeds two fountains that, in turn, irrigate two wetland landscapes before flowing on to join Thornton Creek,” Simpson remarked of his work, Flow.

In addition to these bold works, Lynnwood’s City Station will feature rotating temporary artworks on banners attached to the columns upholding the rail. The first two artists are Lynnwood locals Long Geo and Sam Trout. Each has created a series of five tail-track banners that will hang along the pedestrian promenade.

–Story and photos by Jasmine Contreras-Lewis