For the Reporter

The City of Auburn and Auburn Downtown Association (ADA) present the newest Streetscape at One East Main Street, featuring the artwork of Michael Taskey through April.

“Salmon: Pacific Keystone” is a site specific installation inspired by the salmon and rivers running through Auburn.

In the Pacific Northwest the salmon is a keystone species supporting wildlife. The bodies of salmon represent a transfer of nutrients from the ocean to the forest ecosystem. Land animals act as ecosystem engineers, capturing salmon and carrying them into adjacent wooded areas. There they deposit nutrient-rich scatterings to the riparian woodlands. This nutritional transfer is vitally important to our community and was the inspiration for Taskey’s work.

Taskey is a talented Auburn-based artist known primarily for his natural wood carvings. Art has always been a part of Michael’s life, but was put on hold when he had children.

He later rediscovered his artistic passion while running the Art Docent program at his children’s elementary school. Utilizing power tools and hand tools, he transforms wood, metal, plastic, paper, fabric and other solids into sculptural pieces.

His pieces are inspired by the natural world and local histories. His work has been featured in the Auburn Art Walk, Storefronts Auburn-Artists Residency, Zola’s Café, Auburn’s Pianos on Parade, and Interurban Center for the Arts.

Streetscapes Auburn is a City program in collaboration with the ADA. It is a program that seeks to enliven and activate otherwise empty storefront windows in Auburn’s Historic Downtown by providing temporary space to artists, creative businesses, organizations and community groups.

More information about the artist can be found at www.auburnwa.gov/streetscapes.