Timber Lines

Timber Lines is a podcast series exploring art, history, community and cedar created by visual artist Mary Coss and inspired by her monumental scale (8’ x 44’) public artwork, Ghost Log. 

The artwork is located on Coast Salish Land on Commencement Bay, at Dickman Mill Park in Tacoma, Washington. The lacy abstracted cedar sculpture is embedded with references to the Puyallup Tribe, whose ancestral homeland the park sits on, and the Dickman Lumber Mill which was on the site for 90 years before it burnt down on January 6, 1979.

While conducting research for this project, Coss spoke with several individuals with connections to the site. These stories began to reveal many complex layers of history and inspired the creation of two sound components, which enrich the sculpture. This podcast, Timber Lines, explores the history of the land through interviews with local historians, Puyallup tribal members and former millworkers. Ghost Timbre is a 13 minute audio collage that incorporates local stories, songs, waves, native birds, a working vintage lumber mill and other sounds related to the history of this site.  The sound pieces were created with Artist Residency support at ALMA Studios in Tacoma and Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle. The music is composed by Mary Coss’ daughter, internationally recognized jazz musician and composer, Roxy Coss here and streaming everywhere.