BY ANGELA JOSSY for WEEKLY VOLCANO 9/5/25 |
You’ve probably seen this face while driving around Tacoma. Maybe you thought, Wow, this guy gets around! We love murals here, and new ones pop up all the time—but rarely do we see the same character again and again. Sometimes he’s hanging out with cartoon friends. Sometimes he’s working on a project. But he always seems like a nice chap, maybe even the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with.
Of course, Sasquatch wasn’t always so affable. Sasquatch is a beloved Pacific Northwest legend that has fascinated—and frightened—people long before European settlers arrived. Indigenous peoples carried oral narratives about a large, powerful, hairy creature that appeared to be half man, half animal. Names varied by language, but the Sts’ailes people in British Columbia use Sásq’ets (anglicized as “Sasquatch”), which means “wild man.” This is the origin of the English word.
The legend exploded in 1958 when road-construction workers in northern California found giant footprints. A journalist coined the term Bigfoot, and the story spread widely. The 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film, showing a large ape-like figure walking through Bluff Creek, California, cemented Sasquatch in modern popular culture.
Like the giant Pacific octopus, Sasquatch has become a favorite subject for artists. But never on this scale. Never has the figure been so prolific, widespread, and stylistically specific. He appears on the sides of vehicles, garage doors, fences, and commercial buildings. We wanted to know more, so we contacted the artist and discovered he is on a gargantuan mission—one only a giant like Sasquatch could inspire. The artist signs his work simply as Henry, but on Facebook his full name is Ryan Henry Ward.
Here is how Henry explained the creation of his most iconic character:
“My Sasquatch character was born when a friend wanted a Sasquatch tattoo. I refused to draw the traditional version and was determined to find my own voice. After a few ideas, I stumbled upon the character I use today. I included him in a couple of murals, and soon the Sasquatch Music Festival hired me to do the grounds art for six years. That’s how he became my most popular character.”
If you didn’t know, Sasquatch Festival was a big deal. It ran from 2002 to 2018 at the Gorge Amphitheatre—one of the most breathtaking concert venues in the world—and featured the hottest upcoming bands under one ticket. To be the face of that is an impressive achievement.
Ward shared that he set a goal to paint one thousand Sasquatch depictions at $250 each. So far he has completed more than eight hundred. But why?
“The idea for 1000 Sasquatch came from knowing myself and how I best thrive. I do well artistically with big goals—they make me dig deep and also honor my obsessive-compulsive nature. What could be disabling in life becomes a superpower when paired with a clear goal. I enjoy painting this character in my free time, and I wanted to lean into that joy. As soon as I mentioned the goal publicly, people seemed excited by it, so I launched it.”
You might wonder how he convinces so many people to sign up for something like that. Henry explained it happens by word of mouth—or maybe initially by words coming out of his mouth.
“I haven’t sought out or applied for work in years,” he admits. “When I tried traditional approaches—like responding to calls for artists—they didn’t work out. Instead, I knocked on doors and convinced people to commission murals they didn’t even know they wanted. I set goals that people got behind. I always saw spaces and opportunities differently, and I approached my career not as a beggar competing for scraps but as a pioneer and innovator. Now, either people contact me for jobs, or I develop projects others want to be part of. I create new art in spaces no one else was thinking about.”
Where does this courage come from? Henry traces it back to childhood. “I was always interested in the art around me growing up. I lived in rural Montana and had access to three main sources: the Sunday comics in the newspaper, children’s book illustrations, and Saturday morning cartoons on television. I started my own cartoon strip in third grade and dreamed of one day becoming a syndicated cartoonist. Even at that age I knew not to copy other people’s art but to try to develop my own style.
“I loved the fast-draw style of Quentin Blake’s illustrations for Roald Dahl’s books. I wanted to capture ideas as quickly as possible, and I found value in that at a young age. My illustration style came from two urges: wanting to draw quickly and wanting to find an original voice. By my late twenties, I had developed a specific voice, blending a strong innocence and a cuddly stuffed-animal quality with more complex, sinister edges. I found that the single-frame cartoon was enough to serve as a painting of a basic expression.”
When asked for advice for other artists, Henry offered this mindset shift:
“No one owes you anything, no matter how good you are. Whatever is succeeding will probably slow down or stop at some point, so you need to stay a step ahead and continually create new approaches. Don’t filter yourself. Express what you need to. Stay humble and kind—and grind, grind, grind. Quit caring about what people think. Do what you love and know to be your truth.”
Henry also shows his art at the Seattle Waterfront Marketplace, across from the Ferris wheel and aquarium, and he operates a tour bus that takes people to see his murals. “I have painted over six hundred murals,” he said, “and my Sasquatch project is nearing eight hundred out of the one thousand goal I set in March of this year.”
He is also writing for animation and, if all goes well, will soon have a major project on Cartoon Network. One day his murals could be worth an enormous amount of money, but the real value is in how they make people feel. They make people smile—and we could all use more of that these days.
