TOM JAY (1943–2019) was an active member of the Northwest Art Community since 1966, when he arrived from a two year apprenticeship at an art foundry in Ontario, CA.

He built the first bronze casting facility for Seattle University. He went on to supervise and construct casting facilities at the University of Washington. Upon graduation, with an MFA from the University of Washington in 1969, he established Riverdog Fine Arts Foundry which cast, in addition to his own work, sculpture for many notable N.W. sculptors. 

Tom has several published books including original essays and poetry. Tom and Sara have been active in salmon restoration and education for decades and raised a son, Dru, who lives and works in Montreal, Canada, with his wife Rebekah and their son Rafael, born 2020.

Tom was not able to quite finish his last sculpture, a Meditation Bell for Port Townsend, WA before he passed away in November 2019. His later work included private and public commissions, most including a large bronze Prayer Wheel commission for a Bainbridge Island community, enlarging “Starving Raven” and commission of several sculptures for the Fauntleroy community park in Seattle. He also sculpted the large (23-foot) King Salmon Slide for the town of La Conner, WA, which is rendered in ferro-cement and stained in a returning King’s colors. 

SARA MALL JOHANI has been a working artist since 1974. She is a sculptor, designer, photographer, graphic artist, jeweler and community inter-connector. She was the originator and co-founder of Wild Olympic Salmon (1987), a non-profit community, environmental and cultural organization with the theme of salmon as teacher. She lived with her husband Tom Jay, also a sculptor.

We honor the Chemakum People, the Watershed Ancestors of the Chimacum territory, the heart of the Dragon, who were disbanded. For thousands of years, the Native people of the Northwest Coast honored the salmon in legends, totems and paintings. We’ve tried to return its spirit to the artists.