For the month of September, Make.Shift Gallery will feature several local artists who explore the relationship between humans and nature. Biologist and artist, Audrey Thompson, uses fire and wood to create pyrographic portraits of aquatic animals. Mattie Templeton incorporates bright colors and geometric shapes to bring large predators to life. Cydni Carter’s mixed media collages meditate on the landscapes of our memories. Nicole Denning’s intricately layered illustrations and Karen Hanrahan’s torn paper collages raise questions about the relationship between violence against women and humanity’s impact on the environment. This collection will also feature black and white photography by Rod Haynes and oil paintings on recycled wood by Seth Benish.

On First Friday Art Walk, gallery-goers will also have the opportunity to contribute to Make.Shift’s ongoing collaborative art project, “That’s So Trashy,” created for the Commercial Street Night Market. Participants are encouraged to collect litter throughout the streets of Whatcom County and contribute it to the 6-foot color wheel, in the hopes of bringing awareness to devastating effects of excess garbage in our oceans, rivers, and streams.

This exhibition coincides with Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity, which will be held at the Whatcom Museum from September 8, 2018 – January 6, 2019. Visit www.whatcommuseum.org for more information. For more information about Art Walk or Make.Shift please visit our website at makeshiftproject.com/gallery or contact the gallery director, Jessyca Murphy at gallery@makeshiftproject.com.