Family, the Cedar Figures on the Seattle Waterfront, Is Finished: Dedication Today

If you have walked the new Waterfront Park promenade in the last year, you have probably stopped to look up at three tall carved cedar figures across from Pier 58. That artwork, Family by Puyallup artist Qwalsius-Shaun Peterson, is now finished, and the city is holding a free dedication today, Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m., with a chance to meet the artist afterward.

What changed

Peterson installed the figures on the waterfront in 2025. What was missing were the final pieces for their bases: each figure stands on its own uniquely shaped concrete pedestal, and those pedestals have now been fitted with powder coated aluminum panels cut with patterns drawn from Coast Salish imagery. With those in place, the city calls the work complete.

What you are looking at

The three figures represent a mother, a father and a child. Each stands 10 to 12 feet tall, not counting the base. They share one streamlined form, with small differences that give each its own character, and the chests carry textured, incised and painted patterns of diagonal lines, chevrons and a dot. Peterson carved the bodies and heads separately and then joined them.

Notice which way they face. The figures look out across Elliott Bay toward the gravesite of Chief Sealth, the city's namesake. The city says the work marks the waterfront as Coast Salish homeland. In his artist statement, Peterson says the figures are not totems or welcome figures.

Peterson, a member of the Puyallup Tribe, has been making art since 1996 in wood, glass, metal and digital media. Family is one of nine public art commissions on the rebuilt waterfront, paid for through the Central Waterfront 1% for Art program.

The dedication

• When: Saturday, Nov. 14. Remarks at 1 p.m., then a meet and greet with the artist at 1:30 p.m. The city lists the event as running until 2:30 p.m.
• Where: Waterfront Park promenade, 1401 Alaskan Way, across from Pier 58 at Union Street
• Cost: Free and open to everyone

The National Weather Service gives downtown a 50 percent chance of light rain before 4 p.m., so bring a hood.

Getting there

Take the 1 Line to Symphony Station on Third Avenue. Using OpenStreetMap's locations, we measured the straight line distance from the station to Pier 58 at about a third of a mile, downhill toward the water, so it is an easy walk down and a climb back up.

Make an afternoon of it

Stay on the waterfront after the dedication. Friends of Waterfront Park lights a big wood fire at the Pier 62 Firepit Social from 3 to 6 p.m. today, with hot drinks from a local vendor and pier games. It is free, a short walk north along the promenade, and may be called off in bad weather, so check Waterfront Park's social accounts before you go.