The Memory of Stones - The Transformer Story Carved Into Stone
Artist
Roger Fernandes
MediumGranite rocks
Dimensionsa, Star Baby: 40 x 57 x 23 in. (101.6 x 144.8 x 58.4 cm)
b. Thunderbird: 29 x 42 x 27 in. (73.7 x 106.7 x 68.6 cm)
c. Sto Qual Buwk: 18 x 49 x 32 in. (45.7 x 124.5 x 81.3 cm)
d. The Face of Sto Qual: 42 x 56 x 40 in. (106.7 x 142.2 x 101.6 cm)
e. The Dog Salmon People: 27 x 50 x 46 in. (68.6 x 127 x 116.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineSeattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds
Artist Statement: There are five stones there. They all refer to Moon the Transformer Story, Snoqualmie version.
So there are versions of Moon the Transformer all around Puget Sound. The variations depend, in my opinion, on the environment you live in. The Snoqualmie people have the one I heard many years ago, and that is the one I used as a source for these carvings.
Snoqualb is the Moon. Snoqualmie people is an English pronunciation of Snoqualbutlh. So they call themselves people of the Moon.
There are different episodes. Each one has its own identity.
• The largest one, this one is the face of the Moon. So that is Moon the Transformer’s face.
• Another one is called Thunderbird stone.
• Another one is the sisters and the star people. The story starts with two sisters looking up at the sky and wanting to marry stars, and returning with a baby that is a star baby. Human and star. And so there’s a big stone that refers to that part.
• There’s another stone that has the journey of the Transformer. There are plant designs carved into it, as well as the canoe as it is coming down the river.
• The other is salmon, salmon stone. It’s got designs of salmon and they have certain human attributes given to them as well because in the story the dog salmon people kidnapped him when he was a baby. Bluejay finally found him when he was a young man. The first act of the Transformer was to put the dog salmon into the river. And he told them that they would be food for the people to come. He said, “The people will catch you. You will swim up and down the rivers, and they will catch you for food.” So I thought that was very significant. His first act of transformation was to make the dog salmon people and put them in the water as food.
About this Project: As part of the project, six local Native American artists were selected as apprentices and worked with Fernandes. Over the course of the project, the apprentice artists learned more about the history of local myths and about local tribes’ tradition of stone carving.
Location: Landsburg Park, 28700 Southeast 252nd Place, Ravensdale WA 98051
