Seattle Pride 50th Public Artwork
‘NOW!’
This triptych, “NOW!” is a digital artwork designed by six queer identifying youth artists, who also represent Black and Indigenous communities. With the support and guidance of Teaching Artists, Bailey Taylor and Ricky Reyes, they explored queer Seattle history through media, readings, conversations with Seattle’s LGBTQ Center (formerly Gay City) and Seattle Pride and class visits to Cal Anderson Park and the Aids Memorial Pathway.
Each panel features a central figure that represents a facet of the queer Seattle stories; Past, Present and Future. A pair of youth worked on each panel, using Procreate, a digital illustration tool, collage methods, and archival news clippings. Alixx Horton and Zac Osuna were inspired by the gay history of Seattle for the background and Keith Haring for the main figure when creating the Past. The Present designed by Shoshana Barnwell and Quincy Schmidt draws inspiration from drag queens, ballroom scenes and dance styles such as voguing and whacking, and the colorful and bold outfits that bridge elegance and formal work wear. As they worked through the Future Jones Bene and Quincy Saulter-Edwards, drew inspiration from album covers like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles Abbey Road, ballroom and voguing poses, as well as magazines.
We hope you view these works and experience moments that allow you to be reflective about the past, a sense of awe that encourages you to embrace your boldness in the present, and feelings of hopefulness, despite the uncertainty of the future.
Teaching Artists
Bailey Taylor (they/she) is a teaching artist and trans woman from Poulsbo, Washington. In their career, Bailey aims to expand access to arts education through leading public art projects in classroom settings. Their personal artistic practice is a love letter queer performance art and camp aesthetics which is explored through explored through experimental digital and print media.
Ricky Reyes (he/him) is a Seattle-based oral historian, arts administrator, and audio artist. Trained in oral history through Seattle’s Black Spatial Histories Institute, Ricky’s research, writing, art, and work focus on cultivating community care, liberation, and contributions to collective memory using individual, audio-recorded stories. He is also interested in developing sustainable partnerships with diverse stakeholders—from municipal agencies to grassroots leaders—to ensure inclusive representation in gallery programming, public art, public events, and policy advisory roles.
Youth Artists
Quincy Schmidt (she\it, 9th Grade) uses many mediums to create many beautiful pieces of art whether a doodle or painting they show her progress and soul in them. She said “ I joined this project to show others my art and meet more people in the artist community.
Jonah “Jones” Bene (he/him, 8th Grade) usually works with pen and paper or draws with his finger with Ibis Paint X on his phone. Jones joined this project to expand his horizons and make something larger than himself.
Quincy Saulter-Edwards (they/them) is a self taught black queer artist from the CD, whose art is primarily inspired by the manga they read. Some of the most important things to their art are upending gender norms and stereotypes within art, and representing black queer people. They joined this project because they wanted to make a contribution to queerness in Seattle, and to meet other queer people of color.
Zac Osuna (he/him, 10th Grade) was in charge of the collage on the “past” section of this project. Archiving newspapers (preferably Seattle-relevant) from the early 2000’s and before then and cutting them out on procreate. This project was challenging for Zac as it required quite a bit of research, skirting around paywalls and a lot of quality checks. Zac typically makes traditional and digital art for character design, so this was also a new challenging avenue of creativity for him. However this was still a rewarding experience to have, and Zac is proud in his collaboration with Alixx to have this artwork presented.
Shoshana Barnwell (she/her, 6th Grade) is an artist and student who enjoys painting, collage, drawing, and making digital art. She was excited to join Pride in the Park to meet other local LGBTQIA+ youth. She is proud of the group’s positive contribution to making their community beautiful. Our panel was inspired by forms of dance in the LGBTQIA+ community and how they represent moving towards the future. We hope the viewer leaves feeling inspired and wanting to create something of their own. Our group used Procreate and pencil sketching to complete this work.
Alixx Horton (they/them, 10th Grade) dabbles in all mediums of art, from watercolor to cinematography, and is always looking to try new things. Alixx joined this project because they tried to join the main Youth Committee for Pride in the Park, but they couldn’t get in so they did this instead. Alixx hopes to expand knowledge of neurodivergence in the HealthCare field as a soon-to-be Medical Major in college.
