For this special art walk we would like to celebrate all who serve the public so they can spend their free time creating art. This show is an open call group show. Huge thanks to all who have submitted their work!

Jen Dunn Manifestering  Acrylic on Canvas  $2000

Kelly Sorbel I fucking love rugs 1-3 Punch Needle and yarn $100 each

Kelly Sorbel I fucking love rugs 3 Punch Needle and yarn $100 each

Kelly Sorbel I fucking love rugs 2 Punch Needle and yarn $100 each

Kelly Sorbel I fucking love rugs 1Punch Needle and yarn $100 each

Amanda Rhine You are an Artist  Watercolor and ink on handmade power $44

Artist pin  $3 each 

Lucy Lu-Shea Febuary is fucking over  Collage and Pen  NFS

Lucy Lu-Shea Febuary  Water Color Collage  NFS

Brian Tichelaar  Untitled  Liquid Acrylic and ink  140 lb cold press watercolor paper  $400

Jess Biondolillo  Orca Evening  Color Pencil  NFS - Prints Available to Order 

Jess Biondolillo  A Satin Study  Color Pencil  NFS - Prints Available to Order

Moon Blomgren ink series

Moon Blomgren When did I get so used to living like I was dying? Ink on Paper

Moon Blomgren I’m tired of fighting Ink on Paper

Moon Blomgren Vomit Ourside the I-Hop Ink on Paper

Arran Emory  McInnis The Nefarious Glare at us  Mixed Medium  $600

Arran Emory  McInnis Rainbow Serpent  Mixed Medium  $300

Arran Emory  McInnis Wrath of Space  Mixed Medium  $300

Its the best time of year, again! Every Halloween season we host an open call art show. This years theme is Cryptids!

This year we asked the community to bring us their best Mothman’s , Sasquatches, Jersey Devils or the artist own creature creation. The opening reception will be held Friday October 4th 5pm-9pm. Stop by and see the show!

Nico Lund - Frankie Finger Topper- Oil on Canvas- NFS

Adrian Converse- The Mind Worm: Infamy- Acyclic on canvas- $1600

Frank Stepek- The Basilisk - Oil on Canvas- $250

Mariah Deady- Chupacabra- Mixed Media- NFS

Jeff Parker - Scutter - Mixed Media- NFS

Veronica Major- Mothman - Mixed Media - $25

Killroy Luna - Jake the Alligator Man - Mixed Media- $100

Craig Boush - Cadborosaurus - Digital colored pencil- $120

Justin Pickard- Untitled - Watercolor and Ink - $250

M. Nekai Corvidae- That Leeds Kid- India Ink - $500

Lewis Paige- Me and the Boys - Mixed Media- $150

Shannon Moore- Banshee Bubby- Mixed Media , acrylic, $400

Goldi - The Kelpie - Mixed Media - $17

Alex Nason- Night Sweats 1 and 3 - Ink on Archival Giclee Paper - $65

Alex Nason - Taryn- Ink on Archival Giclee paper - $75

Alex Nason - Pumpkin Spice - Ink on Archival Giclee paper- $75

Jeff Parker - Yes- Mixed Media - $52

Ozzy Westover =- Fairie #6- Mixed Media - NFS

Vikki Martin- The High Priestess/ Broken Bone Beetle- Mixed Media NFS

Claire Taylor - Untitled - Mixed Media - NFS

Jeff Parker - Hatch - Mixed Media $75

B.Cricket -Swamp Squeeker: AKA The Bayou Bullfrog - NFS

Cherish Dinwiddie - Day Brake Brownie - Acrylic on Canvas - NFS

Justin Anderson - Wolpentiger- Acrylic on Canvas - NFS

Madison Lendy - Crochet Fresno Nightcrawler - Yarn - NFS

Mary Boyle- Red Cap Mushroom - Mixed Media - NFS

Tegan Hawkins - Mixed media - NFS

Madison Lendy - Seated Fresno Nightcrawler - Mixed media - NFS

Madison Lendy - Caught in the light - Mixed media - $25

Megan Campy - Cryptic Doodles - Acyclic ink on canvas - $80

Join us at Makeshift for a cheeky, multi-media group art show about your favorite body part - butts! From the creative guest curating mind Of Carrie Copper comes Butt…I love you. A group art show featuring work from over a dozen of your favorite North West artist.

John Gialanella
An Ass of a Different Color Mixed Media 2024 400.00

Keith Negley
Pink and Brown Star On Black, Acrylic on canvas, 2024, $99.99

Brittany Schade

Panty Raid, Ink on cotton paper, 2024, $400

Kelly Bjork

Hot House After Hours, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2016, $250

Kelly Bjork

The Whole World is My Daddy, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2022, $250

Kelly Bjork

Healing on Acid, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2022, $250

Kelly Bjork

Butt Splash, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2022, $250

Kelly Bjork

Sun Kissed Backside, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2022, $250

Kelly Bjork

Butt Island, Giclee Print on archival Canson Museum Vellin 315gsm paper, 2017, $250

Ryan W. Kelly

Wide Load Medium: ceramic. Year: 2024. Price: $400.00

Jess Flegel

Portrait, applique quilt, 2024, nfs

Kacey Morrow

Butt-o-Scope 1-3 Mixed media 2024, $200 each

Aaron Brick

Freewheelin'" Cut Paper 2024 $80

Amber Sturgis

Shit Show mixed media 2024, $100

Mark Henry 
Surebutt Ad #5 , Ink on bristol board , 2024, $500

Jes Le Bon ,

Beanie Season , Acrylic on cardboard 2024, $350

Erik Andor

HERE AND NOW, UPHOLSTERY VINYL AND OTHER MIXED MEDIA, 2024, 8400$

A-OK, UPHOLSTERY VINYL AND OTHER MIXED MEDIA, 2024, 8400$

Carrie Cooper

Friend Portrait 4, Embroidery on linen, 2024, NFS

Steeb Russell

Assistant Coach of the Underworld Acrylic Paint on Wood 2024, $400

Lil Griffy Acrylic Paint on Wood 2024, $400

Karen Blanquart

Butt(e) Views Paint pen on wood 2024, $200

Stick of Butt…er Paint pen on wood 2024, $200

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

PNW Abstractions

Watercolor, acrylic, pastel, pen & colored pencil on paper

2022

#6.$125

#8. $125

#9. $125

#10. $125

#11. $125

#14. $125

#15. $125

#16. $125

#24. $125

Forageries

Acrylics, charcoal pencils and pastels on cedar

2023

#1. $125

#4. $125

#5. $125

#6. $125

#7. $125

#8. $125

#9. $125

#10. $125

#12. $125

#13. $125

#15. $125

#16. $125

Atlas LR Knox

The Downtrodden Path of a Shadow Artist.

Please join us for Art Walk featuring new Paintings, Sculpture, Poetry and Performance.

5-9 PM

Make.Shift Art Space

306 Flora

Bellingham WA

98225

NO BOOZE // NO DRUGS // NO JERKS

Artist Statement

The Downtrodden Path of a Shadow Artist has been a series of broken mirrors, one after another. Every lie that was told to me about my self worth, what I was capable of, how big my dreams could actually be, or what I had to say even mattered all, shattered. Through the formative years of my 20’s I chased after toxic love, I was deep in my alcohol addiction and struggled with my gender and had no context or community support throughout this era of my life. I was surrounded by talented artists whose focus was/is executing realism skill and there was no room for art outside of that scope. For such a long time I had a desire to create and have always been a poet, but the lack of encouragement stunted my potential to expand. The tragedy is that I believed it for a time. I genuinely held the notion that to make “good art,” was to go to art school and focus solely towards realism no matter what medium. That all changed once I made the decision on January 10th, 2022 to stop numbing my pain and got sober from drinking. I lost a great deal of friends where I was living at the time. I didn’t know any sober queer folks to relate my struggles to. The only thing that kept me alive during those first 6 months was painting and my poetry. It was like the floodgates were let open. I couldn’t hold back my creativity any longer and it was my way of processing all the suppressed emotions I've kept all my life. Here you’ll see my paintings in chronological order starting in 2022 to now. I have a deep desire for storytelling and poetry has been the base of all the art I create. For me, being a shadow artist not only means that I was cast out and cast aside but rather I’m not afraid to make art from those dark vulnerable places we all hide from the world any more. When I was a child, I was terrified of the dark and riddled with constant nightmares/night terrors. I would scream and no one would come to comfort me. In a cold sweat I would watch the shadows turn into creatures and let my mind run wild with whatever mystical stories I’d conjure. Those nights were my most terrifying and some of the only times where I had the space to liberate my imagination. As I continue being interdisciplinary with my art, it is imperative that I keep little Atlas close. He was beyond brave and deserves the space alongside me now as I continue to tell our story.

Atlas L.R. Knox Biography

I’m a transgender country boy a long way from home. I grew up in the hollers of East Tennessee. My grandad, a southern baptist preacher of 50 years, a farm that supplied most of our food, and a simple home nestled deep in the woods paint the scene of my childhood. 

The way of god was the center of my life up until my mid teen years. The classic, women do as they’re told, gay people burn in hell and love the sinner/hate the sin was our mantra. Though my late mother had it way worse than I did, she still allowed me to express myself despite her more strict upbringing. I was fortunate to have that unruly emo phase of the early 2000’s and was able to listen to the music I wanted to. Just not at the grandparent’s house. Some would say I didn’t have much of a childhood and grew up way too fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice being the eldest sibling and cousin of 6. It was my job that everyone did their part by picking weeds out of the garden beds, breaking beans, or else they had to pick out their switch. Though violence was a part of my life, I did have some good times. I essentially was raised at Dollywood and had season passes every year. Any time I managed for myself was spent blasting Tori Amos’s albums, Little Earthquakes/Hotel Choir Girl in my little discman, or me desperately trying to convince my cousins the stories I made up about the fairies in the backwoods were real. I’ve always been a painter (since the age of 4) and a poet (since the age of 8) but my drunken ex-step dad forced me to focus on sports rather than the arts. Fast forward to 2008, after my late mother divorced my ex-step dad he let the home go into foreclosure. Leaving my mother, sister and I homeless. We bounced around couches, slept in the car until my ma saved up enough cash to where we had a roof again, almost a year later. During that time I really learned what it meant to hustle. We moved to the city of Knoxville where we had neighbors who were also dirt poor and struggling. My ma one month, spent all the money on our food stamp card on seeds and plants and my ass got to work establishing a victory garden for all of us. Of course I had help from my friends, but it was my baby. 

Fast forward to 2012 and I’m yearning for freedom, the freedom to only worry about myself. I started hitch-hiking and traveling with friends to camp out at various National Parks for long stretches of time. I also got caught up in Rainbow Gathering life, (the more committed serious side like running the kitchens and not drinking in the parking lots). By the time I come home to really settle down it’s 2017. I moved back in with my ma after a hard break up and spent the last 6 months of her life helping her with her garden under the same roof again. I’m so grateful I have those memories to hold onto. The loss of her furthered my drug and drinking addiction that I had since I was 16. I couldn’t stay in Knoxville or I was going to drown. So I moved to North Carolina. I tried figuring out who I was through my drinking, various heartbreaks/breakups, shitty clicky queer spaces, and labor intensive farm work. However, it was until 2020 when we had to quarantine, when the noise got quieter and for the first time, I looked at myself deep in the mirror. I slowly came to realize my gender nonconformity, and all the grief that comes with that. (I was about 27 years old) It took another 2 years for me to finally put the bottle down and since then I’ve been on the journey of really trying to love myself through my art. 

The art you see here is my, what we call in church a “home revival,” restoring my heart’s calling. I want folks to know it’s never too late to come back to the thing you always loved. This world is cruel and life happens, but I promise the thing you want most is patiently waiting for you. Let my brief story remind you that resilience and self love are necessary. When you lead from your heart, great change and inspiration conspire.

Karie Jane & Jes le Bon have been throwing art shows together under the moniker “the Dirtbag Sisters” since 2016. This exhibit features intricate illustrations, sculpture from found and salvaged material, photographs, installation, fiber art and more. The work is about the process of losing one’s self and then finding that self again, using art-making for its transformative power as a catalyst for positive change, documenting the sometimes grueling process of growth.

5pm-9pm

Free & all-ages

Make.Shift Art Space

306 Flora St.

Bellingham, 98225

NO BOOZE NO DRUGS NO JERKS

Artist Statement from Jes:

I grew up doing crafts; it’s how I learned to occupy my time. My mom was an artist and I was surrounded by a gaggle of prolific, proficient women who taught me all they knew.  In this way, I learned early on to move through life with my hands. In the power of creation, I could make something from nothing, which was a rare kind of wealth I knew not everyone possessed. These days, in the absence of those matriarchs, I stay connected to them through making. These threads are a direct channel to the female mentors who have guided me throughout my life.

This work represents my movement through some of the most trying times of my life. In my deepest sorrow and anguish, my hands continued to move, still making stitches when I could barely find reasons to continue. Much of my work is made in fragments, squares, links; I may not have the ambition or drive to make a whole piece, but I know I can make one small effort towards an idea.  In that way, I have been able to keep making and working towards larger works one small piece at a time. Through this making I have been able to move through my struggles, coming out of the darkness and aligning myself with ancestors who made stitches just like me. These ritualistic objects become meditations on self-love and self-care. As each piece reaches completion, I believe in myself and my own capabilities a little more. I’m part of a larger community, and in this I feel held.

Most of this work is made from found objects: my cut up wedding dress, a tattered tarp from my yard, some discarded sheets, tile found in a bucket in the woods where I live. I move through the world finding the discards and using them as prompts; they trigger my imagination to think about what is possible, to find creative solutions to “garbage” and beautify my surroundings. To me, each piece of trash represents a puzzle waiting to be solved.

This work is about me. It’s about finding my queerness, about my struggles with body dysphoria, about female beauty standards and finding my true gender identity.  It’s about ADHD, and what that manifests as in an artist’s practice. It’s about being poor and scraping by, bottom feeding through life and finding value in the world’s abandoned things. It’s about spirits and ghosts, about seeking a direct line to my dead loved ones. It’s about codependency and family and love and joy and worry, so much worry that it almost kills you. It's about trust and disappointment, desperation and jealousy. It’s about ecstasy and sex and fetish and lust and imagination.  It’s about social media & technology, both the good and the bad parts. It’s about learning to ask for help, about rock bottom. It’s about acknowledging the love around you, about the messiness and beauty of life. It’s about enduring friendship, and when friends become family. It’s all so overwhelming sometimes, but finding beauty amidst the rubble is a superpower. Thanks for looking, for being here to witness me, this work. Hopefully, one thing or another will resonate. We’re in this together, let us not forget it.

Jes

Artist Statement from Karie Jane:

KARIE JANE

WALL PIECES

All pieces mixed media

Price list:

1. $244

2. $54

3. $54

4. $54

5. $104

6. $144

7. $144

8. $44

9. nfs

10. $54

11. $64

12. nfs

13. $74

14. $54

15. $64

16. $64

17. $44

18. $64

19. nfs

20. $54

21. $54

22. $444

23. $104

24. $64

25. $44

26. nfs

27. $74

28. nfs

29. $104

30. $74

31. $104

32. $54

33. $84

34. $64

35. $74

36. $74

37. $284

38. $64

39. $54

40. $84

41. $74

42. nfs

43. $74

44. $154

45. $74

46. $64

47. $64

48. $94

KARIE JANE 

TRASH CHAIRS

All works mixed media

Price List:
49. $44

50. $64

51. $64

52. $64

53. $64

54. $74

55. $54

56. $74

57. NFS

58. $74

59. $64

60. $74

61. $64

62. $64

63. $74

64. $64

65. $44

66. $54

67. $44

68. $44

69. $44

70. $64

71. $54

72. $64

73. $54

74. $54

75. $44

76. $44 

KARIE JANE 

(tw)intuition

Mixed media

$444 for the set

3 Transsexuals Walk Into an Art Show-

Group art show featuring:

Ezra Anisman

Blaire Sebren

Nettle Ada

5:00pm-9pm

Free!

Make.Shift Art Space

306 flora

NO BOOZE NO DRUGS NO JERKS

 Ezra Anisman- Amulet Mask

 Ezra Anisman
An Exercise in Color and Art Therapy

 Ezra Anisman

Angel Eyes

 Ezra Anisman

My Mom Crashed Our Car and I'm Doing Just Fine.

 Ezra Anisman
Personal Amulets

 Ezra Anisman

Testosterone Terrariums

Nettle Ada

Fruiting Bodies

Nettle Ada

...and they were both worms (pink)

Nettle Ada

...and they were both worms (green)

Nettle Ada

...and they were both worms (blue)

Nettle Ada

Cyanotape 2

Nettle Ada

Cyanotape 3

Nettle Ada

Cyanotape 4

Nettle Ada

Cyanotape 5

Blaire Sebren

Bed

Blaire Sebren

Untitled

Blaire Sebren

Self portrait

Zsofia Elise Kovari (Ellie) 

 COLDHANDSOFGOD 

  "All the Fires in Heaven"

CONTENT WARNING: 

This statement discusses violence and abuse. Please be advised. 

CURATOR STATEMENT BY KELLY SORBEL

I met Ellie two years ago in the basement venue at Make.Shift Art Space. In that time I have gotten to know her personally through recording her band, Mem//Brane. While her vocals cut through mixes like an armor cladden undead warrior heading to battle, her community-focused love shines as you read her lyrics that are laden with anti-fascist and queer positive messages. Much like her music, Ellie’s photography shows the human that has been lost in the chaos and trauma of modernity.

For example, when viewing the mixed media piece The Knives in Me we see a collage composed from self-portraits, and photos of bones and flesh affixed to broken glass.

The images have been cropped and torn while layered upon each other creating a sweeping contrast between the subject and the distorted picture plane they rest on. We see the physical layers of the artist contrasting that beauty, death, and life that encapsulates us all. 

Like many artists before her, Ellies uses her work as a tool to heal her own trauma while confronting and exposing violence in her own life. As she states:

“When I was a child I used to sing songs for God, just before I went to bed. I used to think that maybe if I sang well enough, when I woke up the next day God would have turned me into a girl. I continued doing this for a period of time, until I woke up in the middle of the night with a family member's penis in my mouth. It tasted and smelled bad. Now, sometimes while I'm going about my day the smell and taste will revisit me, as if it's happening again. Sometimes it makes me throw up. I stopped singing for God after that.”  

Ellie’s perseverance and commitment to balking systematic abuse often drives me to try to do better in my community through the gospel that is punk rock. When we are together, the pain of being alone cannot last.

All the Fires in Heaven ii

All the fires in heaven i

All the fires in heaven ii

All the fires in heaven iii

All the fires in heaven IV

No God here i

Wraith i

Wraith iii

No god here ii

All churches stand as tombs for our humanity

The knives in me

Spirit Death

Emasculated Gospel

The final symptom

Quetiapine Furmarate

Quetiapine

Lady parts ii

Lady parts iii

Lady parts i

Hiding the bruises on my thigh

Crisis intervention plan ii

Crisis intervention plan ii

All the lives we live behind