Back to Full List Untitled Ruth Kees Forged Copper with Rebar, Moss, Paper, Ink Deby Harvey, artist The daughter of a Nebraska mail carrier and a farmer, Ruth Kees credits her veneration for the environment to the respect for nature she learned from her father and grandfather. Ruth moved to the Issaquah area in the late 1950s when she and her husband Dan took jobs at Boeing. They settled on 10 acres south of Issaquah on a lower slope of Tiger Mountain. Ruth's early interest in sustainable development led her to examine the effect land-use decisions would have on the region. Ruth has worked to preserve natural resources through her work with the King County Issaquah Basin Groundwater Advisory Committee, the Tiger Mountain State Forest Advisory Committee, the Issaquah Environmental Council and the Issaquah Alps Trails Club. In addition, she has maintained the official rainfall data for the Issaquah Creek Valley since 1986, and has worked to preserve the creek's headwaters and basin through the Tahoma Raven Heights Plan. The City of Issaquah created the Ruth Kees Environmental Award for a Sustainable Community. Deby Harvey's artwork captures Ruth's ideas on taking care of the world around us and her belief that we will have to live vertically in the future. The art piece reflects that lifestyle change through vertical leaves, nests and pod. Deby used copper because it is a natural resource from our earth. She also incorporated a rock, which is a foundation stone that comes from Kees Creek, a creek on Ruth's property, named after her in honor of her environmental work. It is a testament to the grassroots work Ruth has done to affect the water quality of the Issaquah Creek Basin and a testament of what all grassroots efforts can accomplish. "Nature is astounding in its ability of making the complex look simple. For me, that contradiction holds a parallel to every day of life. And it's that same interplay of simple to complex that directs my approach to art," said Deby.