September at Make.shift is dedicated to mental healing. We are all experiencing strong trauma from the pandemic and we have all resorted to mechanisms to help us cope. Our two talented September artists invoke the power of rhythm and tactile embraces to guide them through their recovery.
Seattle based artist, Katie Twiss is presenting a body of work that explores connection and disconnection, particularly within spaces of harm, trauma, and healing. She says “At the center of my art practice is an on-going exploration of connection. I am interested in how we bind ourselves together, how we fall away from one another, and the grey areas that exist between. What makes us continue to extend our hands out towards each other? Under what circumstances do we pull them back? I utilize images of home, landscape, thread, and the figure to examine ideas surrounding connection.”
Artist Sara Young presents A short film, “Ode to Joy,” a narration of the rolling, uneven rhythm of one of the essential elements of life. She uses musical rhythm to create an “ode” to the great capacity of human joy. She states, “It is an odd thing to be at once rebelling against the social barriers society has created to divide people and create racial strife, while also requiring physical barriers to keep people safe and healthy. This film is a testament to the joy that can be found in this moment in our history.”
Please join us for September's virtual tour on Friday September 4th to heal and grow with us.
Katie Twiss
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Protective Barriers”
Installation with houseplants, figure, quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“You Are Enough”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Go To Hell”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“No More Brock Turners”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“You Are Good”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“You Are Not Nothing”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“SAFE SAFE SAFE”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“I Believe You”
Quilt
NFS
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“SAFE”
Colored pencil, gouache, and graphite
$300
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Different Parts of the Same House”
Ink watercolour, and gouache
$300
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Halved”
intaglio print
$75
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“When is a Home a Home”
Gouache, woodburning, ink on panel
$300
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Left Home”
Gouache, woodburning, ink on panel
$300
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“This Mountain of Grief”
Gouache, ink
$250
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Big Loss”
Gouache, ink
$250
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“All Tied Up in Knots Over It”
Gouache, woodburning on panel
$125
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Tied To Home”
Gouache, relief print, thread, wood burning on panel
$125
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Stayed Home”
Gouache
$100
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Protection”
Gouache, thread, wood burning on panel
$125
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Between Two Mountains”
Gouache, monoprint, graphite
$250
Katie Twiss
(She/her)
“Two Versions”
Gouache wood burning on panel
$300
Artist Statement: At the center of my art practice is an on-going exploration of connection. I am interested in how we bind ourselves together, how we fall away from one another, and the grey areas that exist between. What makes us continue to extend our hands out towards each other? Under what circumstances do we pull them back? I utilize images of home, landscape, thread, and the figure to examine ideas surrounding connection.
My most recent work employs a combination of fiber, drawing, and printmaking to investigate the complexity of connection with regard to comfort and trauma. I use the imagery and medium of the quilt to explore the multiple meanings of comfort. Quilts traditionally carry messages of softness, of the solace of bed, of security. The construction of a quilt reinforces themes of connection—a quilt is literally pieces bound together, uses thread and fiber to create physical connections. I can embrace my friend and say, “it’s okay, you are good”; I can drape a quilt over my friend’s shoulders and, without having to speak out loud, say those same words.
It is important and healing to receive such affirmations in the wake of harm, but what does it mean to need that in the first place? That connection can be as frightening as it is supportive. Connection requires vulnerability, which can either be positively reinforced, or invite further harm. When we step into comfort, we acknowledge an injury has been done—that there is something to heal in the first place. The various text featured in my work echoes the dialectic of the discomfort within comfort - some quilts function as affirmations or vows of support, whereas others feature disquieting and uncomfortable text recognizing harm.
Bio: Katie Twiss is a mixed media artist/maker working and living in Seattle, WA. She holds a B.F.A. in Printmaking and Creative Writing from the Kansas City Art Institute. Through a combination of printmaking, painting, drawing, and fiber work, she explores connection and disconnection, particularly within spaces of harm, trauma, and healing.
Website: www.ktwiss.com
Sara Young
Sara Young
(She/her)
“Ode to Joy”
Short film
NFS
