Washington state artist and writer Jeffrey Veregge, who represented the traditions of his Suquamish and Duwamish tribal ancestry in his breathtaking art style, which he dubbed “Salish Geek,” died April 12 of a heart attack. He had celebrated his 50th birthday in March.
Born into the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe near Kingston, Kitsap County, Veregge was perhaps best known for his comic-book art that blended Native art traditions with pop culture. His work was featured in a show at the Smithsonian Institution in 2018, and two of his murals are part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.
“I am simply a Native American artist and writer whose creative mantra is best summed up with a word from my tribe’s own language as: ‘taʔčaʔx̣ʷéʔtəŋ,’ which means ‘get into trouble,’” Veregge wrote in an artist’s statement for his mural “Legacy” at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.
Veregge trained in the Salish formline art style with Tsimshian master carver David Boxley. He then blended the graceful, soaring lines and vibrant colors of the Coast Salish tradition with his contemporary interests, creating formline interpretations of comic book superheroes, Star Wars characters and logos of the Seahawks and the Mariners — of whom he was a devoted fan.
Jewelia Rosenbaum, the director at Pioneer Square’s Stonington Gallery, which represented Veregge, calls him “the most joyous, heartfelt person,” and she says his art has resonated with a broad audience, including comics and sports fans, and history and aviation buffs who admired his portraits of astronauts.
“Jeffrey gave a wonderful talk here at the gallery about optimism and hope and bravery and unity at a time when he felt really heartbroken by the world seeming so divided,” Rosenbaum recalls. “He always wanted, through his art, to bring the world together.”
Veregge is perhaps best known for his bold representations of Marvel Comics superheroes like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man in formline style. His portraits have all the energy and vivaciousness that co-creator Jack Kirby brought to the characters in the 1960s, but reinterpreted through a personal filter that makes the characters feel new and powerful in a completely different way — mythical, mysterious and inspiring.
Veregge also collaborated on a 2015 comic series reviving and reinventing Marvel’s first Native American superhero Red Wolf, an experience that he described to The Seattle Times as “a dream come true.” Veregge explained that it was important to depict the character with all “the traits that many Native professionals have within themselves … not just surviving, but truly thriving with the gifts they have.” Much of his work depicting Marvel characters was later collected into the Smithsonian show, which was titled “Of Gods and Heroes.”
An honor graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, Veregge presented his art, taught, and lectured in galleries and schools throughout the Northwest. His art has been shown at galleries in New York, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Canada. Several of his murals are on display in spaces across Seattle.
In 2020, Veregge was hired to paint “Legacy,” the mural in the Southeast Vestibule at Climate Pledge Arena. The massive painting depicts a forest of rainbow-hued evergreen trees above a dense neighborhood of houses, with Salish iconography floating in the night sky above. In the artist statement, Veregge said the trees were standing as “witness to stories spanning Indigenous to Futurist.” The work encapsulates the Pacific Northwest’s unique blend of sacred nature, ancient traditions and future-forward optimism — three essential themes in Veregge’s work, art experts say.
Laura Haddad, who was the art planner for the arena, said Veregge was the only artist who was selected directly and without any competition for the Climate Pledge project. “He was the obvious choice,” she said. “We have lost an artist with a truly unique sensibility who was on the verge of becoming an art superstar. All of the stars were aligning that way when he became ill.”
For the last three years of his life, Veregge’s undiagnosed lupus flared up. Family members launched a GoFundMe (which is still active) to support him as he went through three rounds of chemotherapy, a liver and kidney transplant, a stroke and multiple other setbacks. “For 1025 days he fought lupus like the superhero we knew him to be. The strength, faith, determination and courage he showed while being in the hospital for a total of 925 days was an inspiration to us all,” Veregge’s wife of 32 years, Christina, wrote in a Facebook post announcing his death. “He fought so hard for his family and his 3 children who were his absolute pride and joy.”
Christina Veregge says the family is planning a public memorial and will announce a date soon. In addition to his wife, Jeffrey Veregge is survived by his children, Morgan, Presley, and Averee; his parents, Connie and Jeff; his four sisters, Renee, Carrie, Teresa, and Leah; and numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.