Circle Squared: The Story Behind YVM’s New Logo

A Life Shaped by Light

Dick grew up in Portland, Oregon, and met Jane—originally from upstate New York—while both were studying art at Central Washington University. Interestingly, Dick began his college career as an economics major. But a deeper calling soon led him to art, where he found his true path. During a break from college, he spent two formative years in AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), living with and learning from Indigenous tribal communities. That experience deeply influenced his worldview and would later echo in his creative work.

In the early days of his artistic journey, Dick studied light as he created large scale graphite drawings.  Something brighter caught his eye on a drive along rural highways and sparked a revelation.

“I was driving the county highways and noticing that these little specks of light would come up out of nowhere,” Dick once told Jane. “They would get really intense and then disappear.  I had discovered a new way to see light…reflectors!”

That discovery would define the next chapter of his career. He began incorporating reflectors into his work, starting with yard art and eventually integrating them into more formal studio pieces. Dick even hosted exhibits in total darkness, handing out flashlights to guests so they could illuminate—and animate—the artwork themselves. Jane fondly recalls children racing back to the entrance again and again to repeat the experience, enchanted by the way light transformed the art.



From Reflectors to Neon

In the early 1990s, supported by a grant from the Western States Art Federation, Dick studied neon art—an evolution of his ongoing exploration of light. Around that time, he and Jane connected with John Baule, then Executive Director of the Yakima Valley Museum, and Andy Granitto, the museum’s exhibit designer. The couple was drawn to the museum and the people behind it, and soon, a new collaboration was born.

Following Dick’s exhibition Luminous: Festival of Lights at Yakima’s Allied Arts, John and Andy approached him about adding a signature piece to the museum’s growing neon collection—one of the largest in Washington State. His recently created Circle Squared was the perfect choice.

“Dick wanted the piece to encompass unity, the spirit, and human action upon the endless circle of life,” Jane explains. The work is also a spiritual and aesthetic cousin to another of Dick’s major pieces, Circle of Light, a reflector installation encircling the Yakima Sundome “like a hatband for the dome.” At the invitation of the Yakama Nation, six of the designs are based on traditional Yakama basketry patterns, honoring the heritage of the region’s Indigenous peoples.

A Legacy Illuminated

Jane says she loves the boldness and simplicity of the museum’s new logo, and she’s confident Dick would have felt the same.

“He would have been so honored,” she says.

The couple’s connection to the Yakima Valley Museum runs deep. Dick and Jane have named the museum as a beneficiary of their work, ensuring that their legacy—and light—will continue to inspire future generations.

Their Ellensburg home, known affectionately as Dick and Jane’s Spot, has fascinated visitors for more than 47 years. Filled with work by over 80 artists (and plenty of their own), the home is an ever-evolving celebration of art, community, and the passage of time.

“Yard art is constantly changing,” Jane reflects. “It gets older, decays, and becomes something new. That’s the beauty of it.”

As for museums, she says, they are “the guardians of that story. From landscapes to politics to inventions—it’s all there. Museums remind us where we came from, where we are, and where we’re going.”

Jane continues to make art herself and is currently preparing for an upcoming solo show of her murals at the Larson Gallery in September 2025.