Kraken Specialty Jerseys Return

There’s no denying the popularity of Kraken team jerseys, whether measured by sales rankings per NHL teams or watching waves of jersey-clad Seattle fans head toward Climate Pledge Arena on game nights.

Adding to the fervor and fun each season is the team’s rollout of artist-designed specialty jerseys for theme and celebration nights, which this season promises to live up to the beloved designs during the first two Kraken seasons.

The jerseys are designed by local artists who represent the communities of each of the featured game nights.

During each theme and celebration night, Kraken fans can look forward to specialty jerseys signed by the players being available via the Anchor Auction to benefit One Roof Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the team, and Climate Pledge Arena. Merchandise carrying each night’s specialty design will be available at Kraken team stores and online approximately one week before each game date. Stay tuned for full jersey reveals as we approach each game night. The artist and the work will also be celebrated in-game each night.

This season, the Kraken are excited to reveal the full collection of specialty jersey designs all at once. In addition, fans will get the chance to see an up-close look at the jerseys from all three Kraken seasons and learn more about each artist at the A/NT Gallery jersey exhibit. The A/NT Gallery is located at the NE Corner of Climate Pledge Arena on the Seattle Center Campus. Fans can explore the exhibit between Oct 30th - Nov 25th, Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 6pm.

Here’s a detailed look at the six specialty jerseys and their artists’ unique takes on the “S” and jersey letters/numbers for the 2023-24 season:

Indigenous People’s Night
Dec. 9 vs Tampa Bay
Bethany Fackrell
Snoqualmie

A current Snoqualmie Indian Tribe member and Navy Veteran, Bethany Fackrell employs traditional Coast Salish patterns in a contemporary way to offer stories, and authentic experiences from her involvement with the Tribe and especially the Tribe Color Guard that enhances community ceremonies, gatherings, meetings, and harvests.

Fackrell’s “S” design honors and respects the native children who never made it home, those who survived, and the families of children adversely impacted by boarding school abuse in British Columbia. Her intention for the artwork is healing.

The primary logo references the Dog Salmon as the “S” with the moon behind. In the tribal story, the Dog Salmon stole the creator when he was a child and after many years the child was discovered by the Blue Jay. The feathers around the “S” and moon represent the Blue Jay’s search for the child.

Before the child in the story was stolen and brought to Earth, the child’s family lived in the sky world and would climb a cedar rope from the sky to Earth. Fackrell’s red cedar rope is wrapped around the anchor weaving patterns of three cedar hats and a ladder. Her creation for player names: The lettering represents the sky world with swirls to represent the mist at Snoqualmie Falls.

Lunar New Year Night
Feb 19 vs. Detroit
Juliana Kang- Robinson
Mercer Island

Born in South Korea, Julianna Kang-Robinson’s work is displayed in collections nationally and around the world. Her art is exhibited at the Euphrat Museum in Cupertino, CA, the Asian American Women Artists Association in San Francisco, Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami, the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and Method Gallery in Seattle among others. Juliana has completed several public art projects including, Along Together, a series of pictorial street signs and crosswalk paintings.

For the Lunar New Year jersey, Kang-Robinson was inspired by the dragons in Korean art from the Joseon Dynasty (1392 to 1910). She loves that the dragons in Eastern culture—particularly in Korea and China—were viewed as auspicious and benevolent bringers of rain and clouds, inferring prosperity, power, and protection.

For the jersey numbers and letters, the Mercer Island artist turned to a style modeled on a traditional Korean color motif called the Obaengsaek (오방색) consisting of black, white, yellow, red, and blue used in Buddhist temples as a way of warding off evil and inviting prosperity.

Black Hockey History Night
Feb 26 vs. Boston
Barry Johnson
Federal Way

Barry Johnson is a multi-disciplinary, self-taught artist and author who works and experiments across all mediums for his artistic expression. He grew up in Kansas, relocating to Seattle after college and a business degree to work in tech as a consultant before becoming a full-time artist.

The Federal Way artist found his muse in the Colored Hockey League (established in 1895 in Nova Scotia) and its founding mission: Provide space for Black men to share space, worship, and team-building. Johnson is honoring the league’s inspiring existence in the fight for identity and inclusion in hockey to this day.

To that end, the “S” mark on the Black History Month jersey highlights Pan-African flag colors, which emphasizes a story about fighting oppression and racism. Those hues are meant to call back to Afro-Canadians who built the foundation for the CHL back in 1895 while reminding us all to continue to fight for the rights of future generations to come.

His take on the secondary and highly popular mark of the anchor incorporating the Space Needle introduces a peace sign to represent “love, equality for all, and non-violence in the face of inequity and civil rights issues.”

Women in Hockey Night
March 8 vs. Winnipeg
Allie Spurlock
Sitka, AK

A native Washingtonian, Allie Spurlock moved to Alaska to pursue a commercial fishing career. Art has been a lifelong work-in-progress for her, with a focus on making art that reflects life in the fishing town she lives in and the wildlife nearby.

Spurlock’s specialty is creating art that reflects the Alaska Islander lifestyle and has a special fondness for creating her works from “things that have outlived their original purpose.”

As a person working in commercial fishing, Spurlock’s “S” design for the Women in Hockey jersey draws from her daily surroundings, plus “the beauty, detail, mystery and toughness of sea creatures.” She is aiming to intertwine the beauty and toughness of hockey, while also acknowledging women prospering in hard-nosed, competitive worlds like hockey and fishing.

Pride Night
March 28 vs. Anaheim
Nikita Ares
Seattle

Nikita Ares is a Seattle-based painter originally from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. Her works consist primarily of drawing and painting that include movement, energy, and consciousness.

For the Pride Night jersey, Ares is looking to unfold the bond between the flow of energy and the chaos of movement, which certainly could describe a typical NHL shift. Both the primary and secondary logos are inspired by the vibrant colors and inclusivity tenets of the LGBTQ+ community. Expect the “S” logo to embrace shades of the rainbow to symbolize diversity and pride, while the anchor mark will transform into a heart and rainbow (gotta love that!) to “emphasize unity and support within the hockey community.” Both designs use playful and fun forms to represent the fluidity of gender and sexual orientations.

Green Night
April 9 vs. Arizona
Sarah Robbins
White Center

Originally from New York, Sarah Robbins moved to Seattle about a decade ago. She has a passion for art and sports. Her husband plays hockey, and their household is a Kraken-rooting household.

Robbins’ design concept channels the themes of teamwork, community, sustainability, and growth. Her art incorporates “organic elements of diverse shapes, colors and textures working together as one,” while keeping the identity of the “S” intact. The background grid texture is intended to appear man-made to represent Seattleites and our shared environment. Colors will be extensions of Kraken blues of the Kraken logo, plus complementary greens, deep reds, and oranges.

The subtle tentacle in the original primary mark is exaggerated into a long, reaching vine in the Kraken’s deep sea blue colors. The bright red flower mimics the Kraken eye and provides a moment of fierce brightness.