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EPISODE THREE: The Welcome Figure at Isthmus Park · Talk Thurston to Me

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Talk Thurston to Me.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're discovering the new welcome figure whose name is the Mother of Restoration at Isthmus Park in downtown Olympia.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: But this isn't just a conversation about the artwork, it's about what it represents to visitors coming to our community.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Annie Sisson, and joining me to help tell that story is Andrea Wilbur Saigo, the artist who created the Mother of Restoration.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Andrea, welcome to Talk Thurston to me.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you being here.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited to talk about this particular piece of art.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's such a beautiful way for visitors coming to our community to feel welcome and connected.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just dive in.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've got some questions and we'll see where this conversation takes us.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds great.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I would love to know what's one thing you'd like our listeners to know about what the mother of restoration represents, both to the indigenous people on whose ancestral land it stands and to the wider community.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's there to represent all of us.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: She's there to bring awareness to our surroundings, not only issues that we are dealing with, with cleaner water, with the underwater world that we don't necessarily always see, but that affects every single one of us.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then she's there to protect all of the above.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: She's there to protect not only the underwater world and this land world, but also the sky world and protect the upcoming generations and keep us remembering where our roots come from, remembering exactly who stood and thought for everything we are doing and capable of doing and are doing right now and that we're going to do in the future.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: She represents the person that got us here and is going to see us into the future and is going to look over us at all times.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a beautiful sentiment.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I really appreciate that it's not just looking at where we are now, but also thinking about where we're going in the future and representing that.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, as you were creating this, what is it that you want people to experience when they stand in front of the mother of restoration?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, when you stand in front of her, I want you to find peace.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's her job is to help you get through your day or your moment.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's just that one minute that changes everything.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I would hope that she does just that, that she helps you find peace.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: With peace brings love, brings wealth, brings happiness, brings everything.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: So if she does just that, she then is going to do the rest of her job because it's going to bring us to a space within our community that we can work together to have that healthier environment.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: But if we're not in that sense of peace, we can't get along, we can't do our job, we can't prosper.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as she's doing that, everything else will fall in line.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's perfect.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with everything you just said.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: If we start there, hopefully all of the other things will follow.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sure you have many projects to choose from.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: What was it about this particular project that you wanted to be a part of?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So this is my home.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I am from the Squawks and Island tribe.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also from several tribes here in Washington State, but this is home.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is where my grandparents came from.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is where my roots came from.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And without those roots, I wouldn't be me.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: So to be able to help teach people in a gentle way of who we are as people, not who we necessarily were, because sometimes we get mixed up in the fact that it was something of the past and it's just not.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: We are still here.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going anywhere.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Our story is just continuing to grow.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're continuing to be an asset to this community.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: We've always been here.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Since time immemorial, we've been here.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: So to be able to do that, represent my tribe, our community, you know, and as a young artist, I always had dreamed it was gonna actually be on the Fourth Avenue Bridge.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really funny when we were picking out spaces and kind of went full circle to that moment of being a 20-year-old, going, one day I'm gonna do a piece here, you know, and she's right there.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you jump forward 30 plus years, and I guess it also teaches people that as long as you dream it, eventually it happens.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually things happen.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And to do it in a way to bring that awareness to the estuary that we're all working so hard on, the connection between our two communities as one, couldn't ask for a better opportunity, to be really honest.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fun watching the entire Olympia surroundings start metamorphosing into something that is old and new and yet still coming to see.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's pretty amazing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I just love that you actually had a vision of creating a piece of art so near to this, like literally decades ago, and to watch that dream come to life, oh how beautiful.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that there were several sites that were you know available for for this particular art piece.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, I don't know if you specifically chose the location or if it was a group decision.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Why was the Isthmus Park chosen as the location for the mother of restoration over the other sites that you were looking at?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I was the person that got to choose, and I did have multiple sites and I drove around looking at them, and every one of them, there was reasoning that I could do it at that spot, and they're beautiful.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, this is a space where when we were working on the Bolt decision and working on our treaty rights, there was a lot of history at that space.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of fissions that we had to have there.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I was also thinking about what is the story behind her?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: What is she representing?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: What is she trying to do?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: What type of awareness am I wanting her to bring to our people?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I happen to be watching Fish Wars, and here's Billy Frank standing in that spot, and he's pointing out at the water.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I went to that spot and I'm like, that's it.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, because straight ahead is our island, straight ahead is, I hate to say was, yeah, it's known to be one of the largest kilt forests in Washington state.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're working on restoring and making sure that we can get that as healthy as possible.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's so there's just so many factors.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then later on, I come to find out it's like the southern, the most southern spot in the Puget Sea on in all the Salish season.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, didn't even think of that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm not even going to Google that and find out if that's the truth because the person that came up with it, he's amazing.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: T O and Sestetis, who is the way from this.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, nope, nope, Tim is correct.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: He I I don't even have to question it.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: He probably definitely Googled it himself to tell me this information.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So there's just like all these factors that fell into line.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And growing up, it's really funny.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: We all knew it as KFC.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: What a better thing than to fix a parking lot and beautify a space that people can now enjoy and spend that time.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: So there isn't just one factor to it, there's multiple, but the history behind it, you don't get any deeper than that.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then guess what?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: She's right at the entrance of the new estuary.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: When I was working on this project, I had just got approached if I could join the team to start doing the ideas of the artwork for the estuary.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so my brain was over there too, and what we're doing, and how the art worked, and how the story and how many stories that so many people don't even realize.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people get hooked on a half a dozen good stories of our people, but there's so many more out there that we want to tell and things as small as our berry picking combs.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like these little things that mean so much to us that now we can put into this big space and then combine that with the convention center that we're getting ready to build.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like it all connects, it all brings one big story and a future story that we're building.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So again, it connects the past with the present with the future, and that's what it's all about.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the location is perfect, and I totally got goosebumps as you were talking about.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: All the little, all the little pieces that came together to make that the perfect spot for her.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's start wrapping this up.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody's visiting Thurston County for the first time, where else can they find your artwork?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in Lacey area, there is the East Side Bridge, is what I know it is.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right over there, there's a couple house posts over there.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: There's going to be five new pieces that are going to go into Kaiser Park here.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: What's now known as a different park, but it's always been known as Kaiser Park.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're doing a bike trail.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working on, I just got the design approval through council a couple weeks back.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: So they're going to be five new pieces that are going to go in there.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the process of going into contract with Tumwater Falls Park.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be a couple pieces that are going in there.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you can start venturing up to our neighboring cities that have several pieces too.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Along with that, we have the Squawkson Island Museum.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a board member there for 25 years.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: My goodness.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Been a board member for many, many years.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And we have an amazing museum.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're in the process right now of doing some new story panels, making sure that we're jumping forward into technology a little bit.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have a mammoth project that's coming in.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we always are doing some cool new exhibits.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a Veterans Memorial that's there, along with our casino, has several pieces.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just got word yesterday that I will be working on several different pieces that'll be going into our new hotel that'll be on 101.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can always get me on Facebook and kind of follow what I'm doing.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've got like three or four new parks going in.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of spaces that hopefully can do what she's doing.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Again, she's in my home.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is ultimately my home and always will be in my grandchildren's home.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I hope everyone enjoys her.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You are going to be very busy.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have no doubt you are going to create so many more beautiful things for this community and others.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I cannot wait to, I'm going to have to find a little map and go see them all because oh, you do that is incredible in the process of having my kids start doing is we're going to put together hopefully a map that has QR codes that can tell you not only the story, but the location of the closest one.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've been thinking about that for about five years over the whole COVID thing.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah, this technology thing's kind of cool.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So soon we will have that where you can start finding where the pieces are and get the story and interviews, maybe even like this, you know, can connect to these things.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So wonderful.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely let us know when that is ready because that would be wonderful for visitors to have and to be able to take that trail and see all of your beautiful art.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then just one final question What is it that you hope never changes about this community?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Our openness to change, our openness to being okay with who people are and and how we are as people and working together with that.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is the grounding to make us a community is being okay and accepting everybody the way they are and letting us tell our story.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: If we were to ever lose that, we are going to lose a sense of ourselves.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think we'd be a healthy community because of that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna do great things.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the things I love the most about this community.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So warm and welcoming and accepting.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Andrea, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story, the story of the mother of restoration.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited to follow more of what you are doing.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we've talked about it, you've heard the story, gotten a taste of what makes it special, and hopefully you're ready to discover it for yourself.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the mother of restoration at Isthmus Park in downtown Olympia, and that's just one of the many reasons to explore Thurston County.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Ready to see what else is waiting for you?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Head to experienceolympia.com and meet Ollie by Gali, your guide to discovering more places to go, things to do, and adventures to find throughout Thurston County.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the best adventures aren't the ones you planned, they're the ones you discover.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, talk Thurston.