Nature Finds a Way is a multimedium group art show celebrates the natural world around us. Featuring new works by:

Hope Powers

Danielle Morgan-Scharhon

Larz Nordin

Martha C Valencia

Marie Songer

Lucas Hatten

Please join us for the opening reception on Friday August 2nd, 5pm-9pm

Make.Shift Art Space

306 Flora Street

Bellingham, WA 98225

No Booze, No Drugs, No Jerks

Larz Nordin

Larz Nordin is a non-binary artist currently residing in the Pacific Northwest where they developed a working knowledge of sculpture and mixed media art. Their work inhabits visuals of the natural landscape of their surroundings, while conceptually illustrating the landscape of their life. Larz’s topography-like reliefs contain a variety of materials such as resin, paper-mache, acrylic paint, and modeling paste.

As a non-binary artist living in the Pacific Northwest, I draw deep inspiration from the natural landscapes that surround me. My work is a fusion of the external environment and the internal journey of my life. Through sculpture and mixed media, I create topography-like reliefs that echo the textures and forms of the natural world. These pieces are crafted from a diverse array of materials, including resin, paper-mâché, acrylic paint, and modeling paste. Each element in my art is chosen to reflect the complex and layered nature of both the physical and emotional terrains I navigate. My art is an ongoing exploration of identity, place, and the interconnectedness of life’s various landscapes.

**Blooming Heart**
Collage and acrylic medium on canvas
2024, $65

**Tall Tale of a Guarded Heart**
Paper clay, collage and acrylic medium
2024, $100

**Decay**
Paper clay, resin, and acrylic medium
2023, NFS

**Algaea**
Shells and acrylic medium on canvas
2022, $90

**Seaweed Green**
Paper clay and acrylic
2022, $25

Marie Songer

As we more frequently view our lived experiences through a phone screen, it’s uneasy to speculate the deeper consequences this modern behavior may have on our connection to the wild. These pieces are drawn from printed photographs taken with an iPhone 6. They are a love-letter to the hidden forces we interpret with our spirits, as opposed to the eyes of our cameras.
Marie Songer is an artist and musician living in Whatcom County, WA. She cut her teeth in the early 2000’s as a drummer, fire performer, and illustrator in the Southeastern Michigan punk scene. Marie completed a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts where she studied the integration of art and environmental sustainability, and painting and drawing. You can currently view more of Marie’s work at Mindport Exhibits as part of Dream House: Dwelling in Fantasy.

**Waterfall in Uinta**
Charcoal, gouache, pastel, pencil, marker on paper,
2023, NFS

**Magnolias above and below**
Charcoal, gouache, pencil, pastel, paint,
2024, $500

**Danielle in the forest**
Charcoal, gouache, pencil, pastel on paper
2022, $500

**Rest stop**
Charcoal, gouache, pencil, pastel on paper
2022, $500

**Forest spirits**
Charcoal, gouache, pencil, pastel on paper,
2022, NFS

**Deer on the hill in LA**
Charcoal, pencil on paper,
2022, $500

Martha C Valencia

Martha C Valencia is a Colombian painter who paints flowers' souls.

Painting flowers is painting the soul, the interior and the colorful universe of them.

**ATARAXIA**
Watercolor on paper
2023, $200

**ARANZA**
Watercolor on paper
2023, $200

**TITCROTO**
Watercolor on paper
2023, $200

Hope Powers

To quote the great artist Claude Monet, "The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration". I have always felt a deep spiritual connection to nature and have been attracted to nature as an inspiration for my art since I was very young. I greatly enjoy working with wood as a medium because there is a certain beauty in using what was once a part of nature as a means to create art. In my art, I seek to combine the splendor of nature with different elements such as geometric shapes, human anatomy, and surrealism. I hope that my pieces motivate people to form their own connections with nature and seek the peace and inspiration that it provides.

Hope Powers is a 25 year old self-taught artist from Bellingham, Washington. Growing up she enjoyed painting and drawing with her siblings as well as spending time in nature. She started working with pyrography in 2020 and it has since been her art medium of choice. When she is not creating art, Hope works as a nurse in the greater Seattle area and spends her remaining free time hiking, playing the bass, and reading mystery and horror novels. Hope currently lives in Kirkland, Washington with her two black cats named Spooky and Bandit.

**In a dark, dark wood**
Wood, 2023, $45

**In Vivo**
Wood, 2022, $40
**Caribou**
Wood, 2022, $40

Lucas Hatten

I like to make art to fill the time and maybe give a smile to someone else. My process consists of either winging a project or drawing a plan, then finding the colors needed and working with music on. Either a random playlist or a metal/rock one. While working, getting poked in the finger is part of the process.

I am native to Washington, and self taught in needle felting. Every project I learn something new and is an exciting opportunity. My goal with this art is to just offer something to help people feel just a bit better.

**Little Bonsai Big Dreams**
Needle felt, 4 inches
March 14, 2023, $28

**Spike**
Needle Felt, 2.5 inches
April 12, 2023, $24

**The Best Nights We Had**
Needle Felt, 1 inch
July 19, 2023, $24

**Miso**
Needle Felt, 2.5 inches
March 29, 2024, $42

**The Fish Just Won’t Bite**
Needle felt, 1 inches
July 12, 2023, $26

**Flora Flowerpot**
Needle Felt, 4 inches
December 26, 2023, $24

**Edward**
Needle felt, 4 inches,
January 14, 2023, NFS

Danielle Morgan-Scharhon

PNW Abstractions: Seeking inspiration from the meditative daily practice of walking in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, I set out to visually document the essence of each walk using a combination of watercolors, acrylics, pastels, pens and pencils. The focus was on the impression and memory of the scenery, as opposed to trying to recreate any one specific landscape.

Forageries: I'm fascinated with the abstract compositions created in nature. The shapes and patterns on tree trunks often feel like paintings created by bark, mosses and lichen. I decided to photograph the most compelling and recreate them. It felt a little like stealing, copying or cheating to take these natural compositions and use them for my own purposes. So I'm calling them Forageries, a portmaneau of foraging and forgeries. I sanded and gessoed the surface of cedar boards (using the salvaged ends of fence planks) and then used acrylics, charcoal pencils and pastels to create abstract "portraits" of the trees I met while hiking.

Danielle Morgan-Scharhon is a queer multidisciplinary artist. Her filmmaking career began when she picked up a super8 camera and started creating short films by editing in camera or with a splicer and tape. After earning a BA in theater from WWU, she went on to earn a master’s degree in film at NYU and currently works as a director and editor of film and video. Her visual art is informed by spending time in the forest and on the ocean when she's not in the edit room.