Tucked away on the Northeast corner of Seattle Center campus lies the A/NT, a proudly artist-run gallery situated cozily abreast Climate Pledge Arena. For nearly 35 years the gallery has offered up its walls for emerging and established artists to display their work. And earlier this month, the gallery’s largest room bustled with life in reception of its newest exhibition, showcasing perhaps its most unexpected collection to date: brightly-colored hockey jerseys.
Sharply contrasting the gallery’s usual array of paintings, photographs, and sculptures, nineteen jerseys lined the walls, each bearing the Seattle Kraken’s familiar S-shaped crest vividly reimagined in styles influenced by the people, landscape, and history of the Pacific Northwest, as well as its hockey roots.
More than just an art installation, the jerseys are a crucial part of how the franchise has and will continue to recognize the diverse community it calls home.
For the third straight season, the Kraken have collaborated with local artists for the creation of jerseys corresponding to several theme and celebration nights to be held throughout the remainder of the season, including Indigenous People’s Night, Black Hockey History Night, and Pride Night. Each of these jerseys will be on display in the Kraken Specialty Jersey exhibition until Nov 25, and signed versions will be auctioned off for the One Roof Foundation on designated game nights.
No two designs are alike in detail, yet their shared form and purpose make for an inextricable cohesion— an unexpected unity. Each jersey’s ability to find similarity in unexpected places and their collective open-armed embrace of difference makes for a powerful statement on the importance of diversity.
Between a growing discontent from players last season surrounding themed jerseys, spearheaded by defenseman Ivan Provorov’s refusal to participate in Pride night, followed by the league’s ban of all themed warm-up gear, the urgency to encourage this kind of inclusivity has only intensified.
“Having the specialty jerseys allows for a connection to all the various communities that make up this rich and diverse place we are lucky to call home,” Juliana Kang Robinson, whose design graces the Lunar New Year jersey, said of the initiative. “These kinds of genuine inclusion efforts are critical to raising a new, more inclusive generation of fans and players.”
Kang Robinson is a South Korean-born artist who earned her Master of Fine Arts at the School of the Art of the Institute of Chicago. She called it an “honor” to work with the team and found the exhibition “gratifying.”
But for Kang Robinson, using the jerseys to foster a sense of community doesn’t begin and end with the act of collaboration. Interwoven throughout her design is an active intent to reconcile two vastly different cultures through hidden similarities, something prioritized in her creative process from the jump.
Upon the midnight blue chest of the jersey lies a twisting, jewel-toned dragon in honor of Lunar New Year, heralding the Year of the Dragon in February.
Designing the logo began with “looking at examples of dragons in Korean and Chinese traditional art, such as the dragons drawn on porcelain vases during the Joseon dynasty,” Kang Robinson explains. “Unlike the fire-breathing, destructive dragons we know of in Western popular culture, the water dragons were beloved and welcome for the blessings they brought with them.”
Using a water dragon to represent not only Korean and Chinese culture but also the reputation Seattle has gained for its wet weather is a seamless, surprising connection, one which was entirely intentional.
“When I was reading more about the symbolism of the water dragons in Korean art history, it struck me as being the perfect fit and mascot for our rainy city. The longer I live here, the more I have come to appreciate the rain and the way it blesses us with a richness through green and lush landscapes, and a feeling of well being for the rest of the year.”
From there, further connections were drawn between the structure of Kang Robinson’s design and the Kraken’s, with the intent to “honor the existing logo while still presenting the water dragon as its own unique, powerful entity,” something she accomplished through the composition of the design.
Notably, the water dragon’s eye sits opposite of where the Kraken’s does in the original logo.
“Both creatures are one-eyed and the placement of the dragon’s eye is in a contrasting color (blue) and located at the bottom of the ‘S’ shape. The Kraken’s red eye is nestled higher up in the ‘S’ shape,” Kang Robinson points out.
By reworking the purpose of the logo, yet preserving its structure, the “creatures are complementing each other rather than opposing each other,” a dynamic in tune to the “true essence of Yin and Yang,” a principle used to illustrate interconnectedness between two polar forces.
Looking closer at the design reveals greater detail than initially meets the eye, like the addition of individual scales, something Kang Robinson calls a “recurring motif” throughout her work.
“There’s definitely a beauty to the repetition of each scale,” she says, “but I’m more attracted to the idea of strength in numbers. The totality and layering of these small platelets are what afford protection– be it from predators or the environment.”
Strength in numbers is an idea not only important to the water dragon’s invulnerability; it’s also one which resonates with the Kraken’s push to foster and welcome diversity within their franchise.
“Without the aggregate of scales functioning as one, there is no power. The scales in this design reflect the power of a team, the community, and Seattle all working together.”
Kang Robinson’s water dragon serves as a reminder that community is only as strong as all of its unique, contrasting parts working in harmony, and there’s a rich, striking beauty in that fact.
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