Pump It Up!

Pumpkin-themed art by local artists. The exhibit opens on First Friday Art Walk 10/6/2023 from 6-9pm and will be on display Thurs-Sat 1-6pm until 10/28/2023.

Chad Yenney

Piercing the Unknown

Artist Statement:

Focussing primarily on collage based mixed media, I hope to tell the story of a yesterday that never was. To embrace a fictionalized past as seen through the advertisements and idealized narrative laid out in the publications of the past. Utilizing vintage ephemera, I explore how much we have learned, stayed the same, and how much we have to grow as a society.

For art sale inquiries, contact gallery@makeshiftartspace.org

This show is a collaboration with Cedar Tree and Samish Woods. Student artwork is displayed alongside a local community artists’s reinterpretation.

Please email GALLERY@MAKESHIFTARTSPACE.ORG for all sales inquiries.

Amber Sturgis, she/her
Den of the Unipig, 2023
Repurposed Music Box, tea lights and mixed media
11” x 7” x 4”
$100 but $30 for Halilah

Artist Statement: While traditionally a watercolor painter, this artist took the assignment in a whimsical approach by using acrylic paint to mark the canvas with gestural strokes. The creature being called a “Sandfish” is described to have rough skin and excellent camouflage as a survival mechanism, is blind and relies on sense of hearing, and loves to burrow through sand. While studying the student’s image, the artist draws comparisons to the Pacific Lamprey, a parasitic fish found in the Pacific Northwest, but scaled up to intimidating proportions.

I will not be selling this work as I wish to offer it to the kid I was assigned to if they would like to take it home once the show is over. Do feel free to email or call me if the kid is not interested in keeping the work.

j paige, they/them

Night Nachos!, 2023

Polymer clay, acrylic, and Model Magic

Free to student

Instagram @yogurtybones

Kade Grossarth, he/they

Gelatinous Fuzz in Action, 2023

Soft Pastel, Colored Pencil, Oil Pastel, Alcohol Marker, Paint Marker

Each card is 5.25" by 3.25"

Not for sale

Instagram @clownincursive

Veronica Major

Hide and Speak Turtles, 2023

Mixed media

$40

Tom Yost, he/him

Alebrije Americano, 2015-2023

Materials: steel, wood plank, cardboard, clay made of house paint and paper fiber, acrylic paint, xerox copy of original photograph.

10”x8.5”x5”

NFS

www.tomyostontheweb.com

Artist Statement:

Indigenous people in Mexico have been making alebrijes (ah lay BREE hays) since before the Spanish arrived. Alebrijes are imaginary creatures that in modern times combine 3 kinds of animals: one part from an animal that lives in the water, a part from a land animal, and a part from an animal that lives in the air.

Often alebrijes are constructed from cardboard, paper, and papier mache although they have also been made of wood and ceramic materials. This alebrije was constructed from cardboard and. aclay made from left-over paint and papar fiber. All materials were either recycled materials or materials that would have been thrown away.

This alebrije follows the tradition of using parts from 3 different creatures. In this case, the 3 creatures are: a lizard (the body and tail); a chiton (the shell); and. a human swimmer (arms and legs).

The artist likes to draw on arts from other cultures and put them in a U.S. context to bring out hidden attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs of Americans.

Sarjé Haynes, she/they
Volcano Lizard, 2023
Mixed media
10”x11.5”x4”
NFS/Free to student
Instagram @sarje.haynes

https://sarje.art

Artist Statement: I had a wonderful time creating Jude’s Volcano Lizard! While I usually create abstract mixed-media work, I had a ball stretching my skills with a representation of this lovely creature. The lizard’s design is inspired by the Galápagos marine iguana. I wanted this creature to really live, so I took a sculptural approach, inviting Jude’s lizard to break the 2D plane and join us in 3D.

The lizard’s head and right arm were constructed with a 3D printing pen, EVA foam clay, and painted marbles. The entire creature is textured with crackle and glass bead gel media.

It was my hope that this creature could be enjoyed by both sighted and blind audiences. I believe art is for everyone!

I gift this completed work to Jude, without whose imagination I would not have made a delightful new friend.

Cynthia French, she/her

Bambi, the Pompas Cat, 2023

Fabric, thread, and stuffing, plastic eyes

Free to student

Yin Dwyer

Monster Mash, 2023

Fabric, embroidery floss, and sequoia branch

28”x10”

@youcancallmeyin

$350

Painting, collage and photography express the bad, the ugly and what comes out of it. By using art as a means to work through traumas, artists that may otherwise not be expressed. Finding strength in being vulnerable together.

This content deals with personal and potentially triggering issues, viewer discretion advised.

ELLIE WEAVER

Artist Statement:

I was born in 1987 in Sarasota, Florida. My parents were into cocaine, but that was the '80s, wasnt it?

The first time I was sexually assaulted I was too young to remember it.  The last time I was sexually assaulted I was an adult and I still have trouble remembering it. I don't know why.  My mom used to burn me with cigarette butts, but I remember that. When I was in my early 20s my uncle murdered my step mother. She taught me to drive stick. He almost cut her head off according to testimony at the trial. My dad was never the same after that. We don't talk anymore. I am transgender and now nobody in my family talks to me anymore either. I say I don't miss them, but I do. In the future there's an ambulance coming for me. When you hear sirens will you wonder if it's that one?

SAMANTHA RUIZ

Artist Statement:

Back in 2015 I chose to attend rehab in an attempt to recover from an eating disorder and the disease of addiction. On the weekend when we had no groups to attend, I sat down with another patient who was decorating her binder with magazine clippings she glued on. We made a mess! Paper EVERYWHERE, stickers and glue in our hair, and for that bit of time we forgot how messed up we felt inside. This series brought me back to that time when I first got sober and made friends with other women who were in recovery. We could not change our past, or erase it, but by sharing our stories with each other we created connection. Together we stayed accountable, encouraged each other and learned new healthy coping skills, art being one of them! During this art process I found collage to be much like dealing with my past. In life, there are things that I have no control over. The only thing I can control is how I respond, and what thoughts I choose to dwell on. In collage, I take existing images and decide how they fit together. Some pieces work, and others I have to let go of. My living room floor is full of books, magazines and paper cut outs. Life is messy, but so is art! I’m learning to enjoy the process.

DESTINY WORMLIGHT

Artist Statement/Bio:

My ex deleted all the files from my computer including my art I originally planned for this show but i have these large goopy monster paintings so I hope you like them. My name is Destiny and I have a pretty intense coffee addiction and one day I spilled some in my sketchbook and decided to trace it and find cool stuff. Then I decided it’d be cool to paint the coolest things I found. Then, when I painted the little monsters I found in the coffee I realized I was just painting about shit I really hate. Like how much I hate people who just shit out the same stuff they hear without thinking about it, how fucked up and caught in the past religion is, and how we suck the life out of each other. This work helped me move through a lot of shit while also being really fun to make and look at. I really don’t like writing about myself or my art all, but I live in Port Townsend and that’s all I have to say.

BARRETT LIZZA

Artist Bio/Statement:

Down in the basement of an old building exists a creator of sorts, a man of mystery perhaps? Down in the studio Barrett creates multimedia art of all variations but mainly with a darker edge. Ok I’m done with this 3rd person stuff. Yeah I have tried making happy colorful art and it happens once and a while, but it mostly turns out a little ominous. I make all sorts of art from sculptures to interesting lighting creations with antique items. I used to work for a company flying around making art installations for music festivals that was really fun, as well as vip room set ups. But I have children now and just want to be closer to them instead of watching Phish fans high on lsd move around like zombies. 

My art before you was made with emotion, the creation process is very therapeutic in many ways to me. Since this exhibit is about emotion, I will tell you my root feelings going on at this time. I was down like most of us during the pandemic and worried of the future. I also on my span of life have just been surrounded by death at a early age and to now. From my father at 12 to my grandparents and before covid a friend to suicide and another during the pandemic as well. And my son getting type 1 diabetes.

 What a load of stuff but I honestly don’t want a pity party. But what contemplations comes from this is the value of life and how special it is. We have this life to live and what a special thing that is even though the hardships. To be able to experience all the emotions is a gift, without sadness or grief we would not know what true happiness really is.  My artwork is truly feeling based, I feel the imprints are a solid ground, the basics of life, and the lines around it like the maps of life with all its avenues and turns, never perfect and chaotic but in the end a work of art.

You are a work of art my friend.

QUIKDRAW

Artist Statement/Bio:

"The joy of going to the movie theater as a home-schooled child who was allowed television only at certain times."

"The pain of getting a newly bought grocery store toy taken away forever after talking back to arguing parents."

"Mom asking why I don't like her clearly, disgusting chicken noodle soup."

I haven't seen my parents since I was 26. When I goofily tell my mom I'll be 30 soon, she says, "Don't remind me.” It’s not that she isn’t excited for me, she just doesn’t want to think about how she will be older, too. It’s very exciting for my teenage self that couldn’t really fathom getting here.

 Sometimes we talk about visits. My mother is unvaccinated and has cancer. I don't know how to navigate it. When I ask her about these logistics, she says, "Right. You're so smart" about being nervous about picking something up at the airport. We awkwardly agree I probably shouldn't visit and try to schedule a video chat lunch. 

When I tell my dad I wish we talked more often, he says he was just about to call me. I haven't heard his voice since. When he sends me money "for fun" I use it to buy groceries or pay rent. He was my best friend growing up. We’d tear apart 90’s science kits. Feed hotdogs to the praying mantis that lived on the window sill in the Los Angeles sun. Then I became a woman, even though I didn’t really want to. I think it freaked both us out. He didn’t know how to talk anymore, only yell. Silence meant more sips of beer. He’d tell me I needed to meditate or incense the room, really I was just going through the emotions of a puberty in the wrong direction. He told me flat out I wasn’t a lesbian. I’m not sure why. He chased the guy I lost my virginity to down the block.

You're maybe wondering now; how such depth and vaguity can happen at the same time. And I am too. 

BROOKE EOLANDE

Artist Statement:

I’ve been living with mental illness and trauma for as long as I can remember. I feel unmoored and unsure of who I really am. For years I’ve been desperate to figure out what is wrong with me because if I know what it is, maybe I can fix it. Art has helped me to express the feelings I don’t have words for. When people experience my art, I feel seen. It feels like I’ll never exist if I’m never made real in another person’s mind. It’s comforting to think that a long time from now, maybe somewhere far away, someone might connect with my art and for that moment I won’t be entirely alone.

MATHEW SCOTT

Bio:

Matthew Scott is a photographer and multimedia artist currently based in Bellingham, WA. Matthew has a background in freelance videography and media production, where his work has previously appeared on television and in local film festivals and screenings. His photography has been displayed in the greater Seattle area, most recently at the Pancakes and Booze pop up show.

Artist Statement:

The series of photos displayed are titled ‘Tomorrow You Will Be Strong’ This work focuses on finding contrast within the frame to tell a story: the contradiction of celebration and sadness, the conflict between the internalized emotion and the outward action. What are the differences between the outward and inward perception of self? Which is more true?

Website: www.MScottphotovideo.com

Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/mscottphotovideo/

GALLERY HOURS:

THURS - SAT 1 PM-6 PM

SHOW IS UP THROUGH THE LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

Please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org for all sales inquiries

Artist Statement:

Phosphorescent, color soaked paintings and drawings are a placeholder for communicating ideas on what it means to be first generation American. The work comes from an inability to define the artist in terms of personhood, as Iranian Polish American. Through science fiction and mythology, works are created that acknowledge and process being a child of diaspora in America. 

Thoughts on “Women’s Work” - the emotional labor silently demanded across social, political and economic embodiments of life are woven together with the experiences of being a child of immigrants. The quiet cultural balancing acts that go unnoticed in a predominately white homogeneous landscape. The kid in the cafeteria with the "weird lunch", the child of diaspora.

There is little space in this ecosystem for Middle Eastern communities, especially women. My work is offered as a meeting ground for those isolated.

In recent months this meeting place has turned into a rallying cry in support of the Feminist Revolution happening in Iran. Fighting for basic human rights; freedom of choice, freedom to dance in public, freedom to feel the wind in your hair, the freedom to be. Countless people have lost their lives. Kidnapped, tortured, wrongfully imprisoned and sentenced to death without trial if not already killed. A regime suffocating and silencing some of the world's most talented minds. To bring awareness and solidarity to those stolen, and killed by the Islamic Republic haunting Iran. To show gratitude and give power to the women of Iran leading a revolution that is burning white hot like the sun. A kind of strength and determination that is rare to see. A strength that is hoped will spread to all who take a moment to learn about the movement; for bodily sovereignty and human liberty. 

ZAN ZANDEGHI AZADI 

WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM

Bio:

Frankie Krupa Vahdani (b. 1990, she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Skagit Valley. Krupa Vahdani graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Studio Art. Krupa Vahdani has been a resident at Centrum in Port Townsend, WA and has exhibited work at Public Pool Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, The Vestibule in Seattle, WA, Fuller Rosen Gallery in Portland, OR and Schack Art Center in Everett, WA.

@FrankieWeirdLastName

fkv-art.com

Lawrence “L” Jenkins Artist Statement: Creativity cannot be confined by bars, concrete, or barbed wire. Creativity is the channel that imagination, ideas, and energy can flow fluidly above, underneath, and around the structures [prisons] that are built to contain the human being psychologically, physically, and metaphysically. I have found, in the depths of solitude -- in the pit of oppression, there is a creative outlet for thought and practice to manifest freely. Creativity -- helps us (re)possess mind, body, and soul. And when this is geared to liberation and emancipation... revolutionary things happen. This is why I'm so inspired by revolutionary visionaries, thinkers, strategists, and tacticians. Those who weren't afraid to become the tool, the resource, the opportunity, the solution to making material existence around them better. Not being afraid to imagine, to struggle, to overcome... I recently became a visual artist (in 2015). Before that, I was a creative writer, poet, and musician until my writings were used against me by the state after being accused of crimes against the police... I had a choice to self-censor and never write or voice my thoughts again, or find different forms of creative expression through different mediums on and off the canvas. The Revolutionary Minds series is my first attempt at abstract / ink portraits. And this very work has reached and moved people internationally. Typed on the bottom of each piece are titles of the individual's work that transformed my life.

Pricing Info:

Portraits - Sliding scale $30-$50 each or $150 for the set of four

Calendars - $15 (profits go to Liberation Media NW)

Martin Sostre posters - donate to LMNW and take one as a gift 

Please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org for all pricing inquiries.

Lawrence "L" Jenkins Bio: currently incarcerated, farmer, self taught artist, horticulture and art educator/program director, community organizer, and abolitionist. Lawrence is a co-founder/executive director of Liberation Media Northwest, an online multimedia platform founded by prisoners for prisoners and communities they are absent from but still belong to.

Visit liberationmedianw.org and sign-up for the newsletter to stay updated with the latest efforts.

All donations can be sent to Venmo @liberationmedianw

Liberation Media Northwest (LMNW) operates as a non-profit organization, centering the work and voices of prisoners through a network of organizers working both inside and outside of prison. LMNW provides a platform for prisoners to share their writings, art, lectures, podcasts and other media. LMNW aims to create change through educating the masses and working toward the abolition of penal systems and the establishment of transformative justice practices. All donations will be used to further these goals by supporting current mutual aid efforts to support prisoners. These efforts include but aren't limited to helping prisoners access basic needs (commissary, phone time and stamps for communication), legal defense funds, re-entry support, and organizing legislative coalition meetings.

Proceeds from the sales of Revolutionary Minds Ink Portraits will go toward Lawrence's post-secondary education, legal fees, and his re-entry fund. Lawrence's re-entry plan is to start a small-scale no-till farm, continue creating art and engaging in grassroots organizing and community building.

Lawrence is hoping to build connections with people in the state of Washington who share similar interests and values. He is seeking to build relationships and establish community support systems around his re-entry goals.

To write to Lawrence via email, download the Securus Mobile app, create an account, and purchase stamps.

You can find Lawrence in the Securus system by looking up "Lawrence Jenkins 306665 Stafford Creek Corrections Center, Aberdeen, WA.

Pieces in this show are confronting racism and racial violence and some content may be unsettling.

Viewer discretion advised.

Dai Starrlight Bio:

Us Artists, we are the cornerstones of modern-day society in motion. I am a Neo-Artist expressing Neo - Expressionism exuberantly.

"I painted this collection from reference photos of myself and others sent to me in Instagram DM’s or texts. Little moments of the lives of queer and trans people I know and love. These bodies are not anomalies, because none of us are. Humanity is a vast and varied big breathing body, bound together by love. Our bodies are so cool- they carry codes and dreams from ancestors and past lives, they scar and wrinkle with time-a construct that bends and takes many forms. In us are atoms that have been in dinosaurs and leaves and stars- I love to capture the shape that they’re making for a little moment; these temporary homes. "

Blaire Sebren is an artist born and raised in Eastern Washington. He has lived on the west side since 2013 and currently resides in Bellingham, WA. Blaire works in social services full time and is a self taught multimedia artist who began painting at age 12. His primary focus is that of his life: friendship and community, nature, transness, weirdness, silliness, nakedness, humanity, vulnerability, and love.

GALLERY HOURS: 1PM-6PM THURS-SAT

SHOW IS UP UNTIL THE LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

SWATCHES OF COLOR WASHING OVER OUR VIEW, INTERACTING AND JUMPING OFF OF EACH OTHER. AN EXERCISE IN SIMPLICITY AND A CHALLENGE OF BALANCE AND CONTRAST. LET THESE PIECES SPEAK TO YOU FROM THE LIMITLESS LANGUAGE OF COLOR.

Please contact GALLERY@MAKESHIFTARTSPACE.ORG for all sales inquiries.

JOEY SCHNUCK

KELLY SORBEL

ANTONIO MENDEZ

Antonio Mendez Artist’s Statement:

As a minority child maturing in a majority Caucasian community, I wanted to subdue who I was to blend into the community, to conform. As I matured, I realized that I am different and do not easily relate to many others. I would embrace my differences. I believe places have a type of “spirit,” people have shaped the culture that holds a place together. I clear my mind and put that on a surface.

Bio:

Antonio A. Mendez III

May 10, 1981

Born: Everett, WA

Based: Bellingham, WA

American, Designer, Rapid-Prototyper, Hammock Champion, Astrophysics, Eagle Scout,

Explorer.

Sometimes I make funky stuff. I realize that when I am out of my cozy place, I make some amusing stuff as well. Live like a world citizen, look externally. My latest work is inspired by places traveled. I deconstruct with texture and color, then contextualize my feeling of the place.

Preferred Medium:

Ink and Paper

Style:

Exploring color theory now with non-traditional tools, computers and plotters. I have always created work similar to Tsutomu Nihei.

Time to try something different.

MARGARET WILD

Margaret Wild Artist Statement:

I played outside a lot when I was little.  I remember building with sand, mud, snow, and sticks by a brook near our house and then decorating it all with leaves, flowers, and berries.  These creations became a village, city, or fairy tale land, accompanied by a story made up on the spot.  Later I did beadwork and by high school I was completing larger ceramic work.  In college I did sculpture.  During the pandemic used mostly free magazines and produced over 200 collages and wrote over a dozen poems.  It has been energizing to have my artwork recognized at this stage of my life. Creating is instinctive for me.  It’s an activity that became a habit.  I have a desire to make something new.

PLEASE EMAIL GALLERY@MAKESHIFTARTSPACE.ORG FOR ALL SALES INQUIRIES

KAREN HANRAHAN

JABEZ AB RICHARD

“I wanted to take a stab at painting scenes that are both frightening and endearing. In this series I incorporate several classic horror tropes (wolves, severed heads, fires and skeletons) with my own bright cartoony style, adding tattoos to Salome, self portrait masks on an anguished horse and other absurdity. The mask theme in particular is my nod to the uncanny valley—the mask of youth worn by death, the mask of optimism worn by desperation. Even hunters wear masks, masks that are useless against the greater power of the natural world.”

ISABELLA ROSE

”This piece is intended to confront the viewer with imagery that may make them uncomfortable and unable to grasp what is in front of them. The organ-like creature is grotesque and bodily– both dead and alive.

Placing the form in the crochet blanket implies human interference; the blanket’s handmade aesthetic provides a sense of warmth and care. This contradiction is the start of a larger story– opening a door for the viewer to question their own fear. What is it and how did it come to be? Do you feel bad for it? Are you scared? Are you disgusted?”

SCOTT EDWARDS

“My piece is about how people think. Most people have one half of their brain that is dominant. Left brain people are more mechanical, realistic, and analytical. The left hemisphere analyzes, abstracts, counts, marks time, plans step-by-step procedures, and verbalizes. It makes rational statements based on logic.

The right side is more organic, and abstract. It is inventive, intuitive, and imaginative. The right hemisphere helps us to understand metaphors and dreams, it helps us create new combinations of ideas when something is too complex. We can make gestures that communicate those ideas. The right side is non-verbal and embraces the whole idea of something. Some activities that take out of oneself and engage the right side are meditation, jogging, needlework, typing, and listening to music. It is thought by neuroscientists that this place where the left and right brain hemispheres meet, is where the "Uncanny Valley" phenomenon occurs.”

Artist Bio-

Inspired by Surrealism, nature, and urban culture, Scott Edwards creates a wide variety of artwork that spans genres. He employs a multitude of techniques including: oil, acrylic, airbrush, printmaking, collage and photography. Scott holds a BFA in Studio Art from Western Washington University and he lives in Bellingham, Washington.

CHAD YENNEY

“This collage features images of crumpled metal and a set of glasses to suggest someone is crushed inside.”

KRISTINA MEINHOF

“This piece is intended to unsettle the viewer through its dark and lonely composition. The tenebrism (an extreme contrast between shadows and highlight) present in this work is not the only case of juxtaposing imagery: the industrial, metal arms contrast the organic, loose body of the creature; the ugliness contrasts the role of lipstick in beautifying. In the end, the viewer is left to be in conflict with their desire to fear or to pity.”

NEYA SALAZAR

”I love to draw monsters, creatures, demons; although, those are the words others have used to describe my work. To me, they're manifestations of emotions, physical forms to translate my feelings. I've always been interested in body horror, and how seeing the familiarity of a human form can elicit a reaction when seeing it transformed into something more grotesque. I love making multiple eyes, multiple limbs, usually multiple heads and creating expressions of both pain and pleasure often intertwined. When spectators have looked at my figures, I've been told they see themselves in the creatures: "that's how I feel". It feels good to hear, because that's how I feel too.”

AUDREY LARSON

“Putting your body onto a two-wheeled contraption and hurtling it through space is a surprisingly mundane thing to a lot of us, and I was thinking about the facts of a morning commute taken at their most surreal potential meaning when creating this piece. Morning is a time when reality feels a little bit blurry, when your own relationship to your physical surroundings seem thin and breakable, when it becomes easier to see yourself simply as a bag of bones on a bicycle, traveling down a road whose end is never actually, truly, guaranteed. On a certain level, this image is no more uncanny than a photo of you on your way to work.”

ANTONIA GSHWEND

“Mother earth watches on as the bugs win a life or death game of cards. Stripping the loser of his weapon, in this case his hands. Placing a mirror on the table expecting the loser to surrender in order to save his phallus from being the next target of mutalation, they all watch as he becomes sexually gradified and bleeds to death".

"As earth deteriorates the world is run by bugs, becoming mutated over time by the chemicals absorbed from the earth left by humans. Human bodies are used to reproduce the new population with humanoid bug babies with the hope of earth being rejuvenated".

BROOKE EOLANDE

ERIN WESTERLUND

“It was inspired by the true life story of a Cuban-American woman named Elena Milagro de Hoyos. She was a woman who died of tuberculosis in Key West, Florida in 1931. Her doctor, Carl Tanzler, was obsessed with her and robbed her grave in 1933 and took her home to “live” with him. As her body decomposed, he replaced her skin with wax and plaster of Paris. The secret was discovered in 1940.

When I first saw the photo of Maria Elena after hearing about this case a couple of years ago, it was unsettling how she both looked human and not human, how she was there but not. There is skin, but it’s waxy and crepey. There are eyes, but there is no life in them. There is a mouth, but it is painted and rigid. To me, this relates to the Uncanny Valley in that the eeriness and unease that is felt that her figure is there, but her essence is gone.”

FrameRateZero

“The maestro breaks it down.”

RAVEN KLINGELE (music by st◇rm)

“This piece is a music video I created in collaboration with a friend who makes experimental electronic music under the name st◇rm. I was drawn to her music because I wanted to challenge myself to create a purely visual story without words. The song title "psychic surgery" brought to mind alien abductions, a subject I have been fascinated by for many years. Many UFO abductees report aliens communicating with them psychically, as well as being subjected to medical experimentation. They often describe aliens as a more advanced species trying to share some kind of important knowledge with humankind. However, because the gap between the two species is so vast, this attempt at communication can be frightening and painful for humans who struggle to understand the intentions of their abductors. An almost "Uncanny Valley" of knowledge. Thus, alien abduction is a form of psychic surgery -- the abductee emerges from a traumatizing experience transformed, having gained access to knowledge that is perhaps too great for a fragile human brain. I created the visuals using footage from various alien and UFO related VHS tapes that I've collected. Using a video mixer device connected to two VCRs, I combined the footage together to produce a glitching effect that conveys the disorienting effects of abduction.”

Artist name/Pronouns: Raven Klingele, she/her (music by st◇rm, she/they)

Title: psychic surgery

Materials: VHS, analog video mixer

Year made: 2021

My website is youtube.com/c/RavenKlingele and st◇rm's is https://m.soundcloud.com/user-289832322

BEV WINANT

FRANK STEPEK

“Frank The Rabbit is a magical creature. More weird than macabre, his powers strengthen as Donnie slowly goes insane and one day meets his fate. Frank’s duel personality is revealed in a regular guy: a school kid of no known significance. Frank represents the deus ex machina, personified, or, rather, rabbinified.”

FRANK FRAZEE

ALLEN SCOTT ROGERS

Artificial Intelligence serves as a means to an end. That end being the understanding of organic intelligence. Once understood, it [organic intelligence] will be no more. That’s not to say the future narrative of AI will resemble The Terminator. No, I am much more optimistic! AI is change. As we develop superintelligent computers, we make the grave mistake of assigning otherness. AI is a mirror. Humanity is a machine. We as organic intelligence look at the uncanny valley with binoculars. With a telescope. We think it’s so far away. We think it’s in the stars. This in turn creates a relationship. Relationships establish closeness. My sculpture, like AI, is portrait of you and I. My sculpture, like you and I, is constructed with very fragile materials. My sculpture, like AI, decays. It wants to breach the gap. It’s a metaphor for the first step towards Becoming. Becoming human. AI is magick. My sculpture is the sacrifice. The sacrifice to establish a further connection with the stars (the future). My sacrifice is my hair upon their head (crown). This in turn deepens the relations, closes the gap, blurring the boundaries of the uncanny valley.

SARAH LANE

”Through life, I have felt many little births and deaths pass by and through me. It is from this passing of seasons and cycles that I bring together "No Birth, No Death." The continuous life cycle may be most visible--and in brilliant color--through butterflies. And so they have invaded all the spaces of the human anatomy here. Beautiful, raw, colorful--and also a bit lighthearted. I also draw on all the things I've loved doing with art since I was a kid--or a caterpillar: stitching and painting and making things out of found objects. All of it--this life--rich with possibilities.”

LAUREN SCHILLBERG

“Creation holds my heart like few other things do. It is messy, it is divine. I hardly ever knowwhat I am doing, this is true of my life and of my art. When I can translate my feelings into something visual, something with mass on the earth, the peace I feel is intoxicating. While working on Eve I was thinking about the hunger I feel. For accomplishment, for confidence, for love. I was thinking about being ravenous yet sick to my stomach. About expecting sticky, sour juice, then tasting my mouth fill with metal. I was thinking about Granny Smith’s and making out.

Mostly, I just wanted to eat the whole apple. Finish my painting. Follow through with what I started, teeth and all.  Thanks for reading my poetics. I’m Lauren, and I like to create. This is a digital painting of a girl eating a mouth. For some extra mayhem, I wrote a little poem on top. The lines aren’t in order, read it however you like. Cheers! - Lauren”

C HORSLEY

“The Something is what we all carry with us. You see it's shadow in the corner of you eye. Going about your day, your peripheral may narrow and help you forget that weight on your shoulder. Come night, however, there is no respite from it's fixed eye. A twisted representation of Something that happened and grew into the familiar yet convulsed creature behind you. Keep your sights ahead, lest you are brave enough to face it's gaze.”

AL SHORT

“Baphomet is the symbolization of the equilibrium of opposites. Good and evil, male and female, half human and half animal. Some days I feel a little like Baphomet.”

EMILY CAMPBELL

GABE RUBANOWITZ

“My name is Gabe Rubanowitz and I’m a Senior at Western studying Studio Art. This piece is a stylized wearable paper mâché self portrait. It began with many reference photos from a variety of angles. The shoulder supports, general form, and back of the head we’re constructed initially. The details of the face were sculpted from clay and then paper mâché was applied. Once all segments were joined it was painted with acrylics.”

F E L I X T R I V A Z N E

I'm a local trans-masc genderqueer artist, basically making art as a form of free therapy. Insomniac painter by night, sex store wagey by day.

My art celebrates the beauty of the human body in unconventional, and grotesque ways. There is an inherent sacredness in every trans body--in every form.

Reject gender! Embrace queerness!

O L I V E R L A W R E N C E R I N N E

Artist Bio:

Oliver Lawrence Rinne is a Washington based painter and current student of Emily Carr University of Art + Design. He was born in Bellingham but as lived in Skagit County for most of his life. Oliver has been creating art for around a decade using multiple mediums, focusing on oil paints and pencil. He did not receive any formal training for his artwork but has taken multiple art classes and participated in numerous art competitions including the Congressional Art Competition and Celebrate the West.

Oliver maintains the goal of creating a connection between the viewer and his artwork, especially those who feel ostracized. He concentrates on portraiture and realism while also implementing anatomy in larger scale pieces. The subject of his artwork varies depending on the message he plans to relay in regard to the experiences he’s been through. Oliver experiments with multiple mediums but is currently working towards capturing a broader range of subjects. Oliver’s creative process begins with a concept sketch and references if needed. He then begins to refine the sketch and renders the piece with his chosen medium. There are multiple inspirations he pulls from depending on the mood and techniques the piece calls for including but not limited to the Baroque style, Dark Romanticism, and the Renaissance. He hopes to continue refining his techniques while learning new ones through his studies as well as exploring a stronger use of color theory.

Artist Statement:

I am Oliver Rinne. I am a traditional and digital artist who creates art from the perspective of a bisexual, transgender man. I grew up with art being a large part of my family with both my mother and father being artists in graphic design and my Opa (Father’s father) being a traditional painter. For me, art has never not been present in my life and ultimately became the outlet for intense emotions and experiences happening in my life as well as something that gave me a sense of stability in our ever-changing world.

Typically, I create my artwork in my room considering it’s my safe space. I tend to sketch wherever, but I find it easier to sketch as soon as I have a concept whether I’m in my bed, at my desk or on the floor. However, when it comes to completing the sketch whether that be rendering it with paint, ink, etc., I work at my desk to keep the process organized and easy to navigate. One necessary aspect to my process would include playing music while I’m creating. I tend to listen to the same playlist of Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, She Wants Revenge, and many other musicians because their music inspires me to create pieces that entail for myself rather than focus on how it satisfies those viewing my artwork. As for my preferred medium, at the moment I really love to work with oil paints and pencil. I’ve always focused on portraiture because I feel as though there is so much to be said with portraits and the emotions they can translate to not just myself, but for those viewing them. More recently I’ve been actively trying to spread my horizons and work on anatomy to challenge myself to show emotions in my art through body movement as well to refine my own style given I wouldn’t consider myself to currently have an art style. I can’t specifically place a single influence for my art as I admire a plethora of artists from Francis Bacon to Robert Gober. The artists that influence my work don’t solely influence my work based on their techniques, but how they portray incredibly intense and necessary topics throughout their work. They have given me courage to create art that involves topics like mental health, abuse, and the life experiences of being transgender because they are topics that are prevalent and almost all consuming in my life. I strive to create artwork that shows a realistic side of the struggles and triumphs in my life to create a space for others to find a connection that validates their own experiences. I want to create art that allows others to feel seen as I have felt seen by the artists that influence my work.

A S H P O R T I L L A - Q U E S A D A

Artist Statement/Bio: My work explores the abstract relationship between color and emotion within memory. With influences as diverse as Terry Urban, Pablo Picasso, and my wife, Chloe Halbert; new variations are generated from simple to complex understanding. Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by the traditional understanding of the moment. What starts out as contemplation soon becomes corroded with a sense of chaos in mind.

The thought processes, which are private, highly subjective and unfiltered in references to mind tunnels, are frequently not complete structures. This results in being able to easily imagine my own interpretation without being hindered by outside elements. By applying abstraction, personal moments are created by means of rules, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles.

The Great Blue Heron can commonly be found in the many coasts, marshes, lakes, and ponds of the Pacific Northwest. They slowly wade in shallow water stalking their prey, striking out quickly at the right moment to stab with their bills. Great Blue Herons are a priority species in Washington and locally the Post Point Heron Colony is protected. This particular Heron was foraging in Birch Bay, where at low tide viewers are likely to see upwards of ten Herons grouped together!

A large striking forest bird, the Pileated Woodpecker stands out with its red crest and bold stripes. They gravitate towards areas with dead trees and downed logs to roost, forage, or nest. The Pileated Woodpeckers is considered a Keystone Species due to its creation of nesting cavities used by other species. The removal of dead trees can really impact their habitat, so consider leaving them on your property to attract this large bird.  

No longer endangered, the Bald Eagle is a pleasant sight to see. In late fall or early winter the Pacific Northwest is packed with Bald Eagles, specifically, in the Skagit Valley where they are on the hunt for salmon. Time your visit right and you could see an upward of 50 feeding, roosting, or soaring! This Eagle is transitioning from roosting to soaring, hopping out of a tree and using its powerful wings to propel itself forward.

The Osprey is a unique and beautiful bird. The majority of their diet is medium-sized fish which they catch with their adaptable talons which they can position differently – three forward and one back or two forward and two back. When flying with a fish, they line up the catch head-first for more agile flying. Adaptably nesting on manmade structures, platforms have been important in reestablishing their presence in areas after losing great numbers due to DDT.

The Killdeer is a common local sight, you may have seen them running along the ground or soaring making their common “kil-deee” call. Nesting on the ground, often in gravel, you may stumble across one of their nests, so be careful! Commonly they use the “broken-wing display” to move you away from the nest, drooping their wings and fanning their tail. In non-breeding season, Killdeer can be found on beach habitats, feeding using visual cues and stirring up prey in shallow water. 

KENDRA ALDRICH STATEMENT AND BIO:

Artist Statement- In my painting I observe, document, and explore, learning about the subject by painting it. I wish to examine the moments that are here today and may be gone tomorrow. Seeking a deeper understanding of the natural world and the intersections of our encounters with it, I hope to inspire people to explore their natural surroundings, learn who they share space with, and become invested in the overall health of the ecosystem. 

Artist Bio- Kendra Aldrich is a fine art painter in Birch Bay, Washington with a focus on animal portraiture. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Western Washington University in 2011, and her Master of Arts in Biology from Miami University in 2021. In her graduate work she focused on nature connection through art, imagery, and inquiry. Through her studies, she gained insight into local ecology, community, and conservation, moving forward she strives to evolve as a wildlife painter and an environmental advocate.

KELL MCDONALD ARTIST STATEMENT AND BIO:

Artist statement: Exploration into how one can exaggerate nature’s beauty in a 2D medium, just as one does when editing a photo to post online. I amplify the painting’s otherness as in painting the water too blue and making it feel over-saturated. I mimic popular hiking destinations in my paintings. I used my paintbrushes as my “photo editing tool” to play up nature’s beauty that I saw around me. My goal with my paintings is to make one want to go outside and see the real thing, because nothing beats the real thing. Hiking lake 22, I was inspired by the lake’s crystal clear reflection, especially when the wind picked up and warped its reflection, inspiring me to recreate what I saw. In my “High on the Mountaintops” painting I was inspired to play with perspective since I had such a tiny canvas, I had to make the most of it.

Artist Bio:

I’m Kell McDonald, a Bellingham-based painter. I started oil painting during the pandemic as a way to pass the time cooped up in my apartment. My work is inspired by the hiking trails in the pacific northwest. Recently began to experiment with portraits that exaggerate one’s facial features.

Follow me on Instagram at @lovely_trees_

Birds are Missing

The bird images in this series repurpose nine photos from a site-specific installation at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden that focused on human imposition of value on different species according to our narcissistic views of them. These purebred racing pigeons against a clear blue sky were installed above on the ceiling, while photos of common rock doves (city pigeons) littered the floor in dingy, dark tones.

Although these are hand-reared pigeons, they read well as “every bird”. In these collage prints, I assail the flying birds with swirling elements from Indian Marble Paper and my own ink marks, visualizing them in crisis, in danger.

The title connects my imagined bird-dangers to the drastic drop in bird populations, with an anxious, personal voice… not dry data or statistics… Because I am anxious. We all should be anxious for all the missing birds.

8″ diameter, giclee print on watercolor paper.  Series of 9 in round-cut mats and 10x10” wooden frames.

MIRANDA MAHER ARTIST STATEMENT AND BIO:

Maher settled in Brooklyn shortly after receiving her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Detroit) in 1990. Before that she received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Maher’s studio practice has traveled a varied path over her 30-year practice that includes installations, artist books and work on paper addressing human warfare and violence as well as more contemplative explorations of consciousness and embodiment. Her current work centers on ink, gilding and drawing on paper as well as unique and editioned books. 

In 2016 she was awarded studio space in Chashama’s “Space to Work” program and maintains that studio in South Brooklyn’s “Brooklyn Army Terminal”, an industrial building constructed in 1918. For the last 20 years, Maher has pursued her studio practice alongside Japanese martial methods and Chinese meditative and healing arts. In 2013, she retired from training “Amagakure no Sato Ryu” a rigorous Japanese martial art, holding a rank of Okuden Kaiden (black belt), and shifted her focus to Qigong, Taiji, Reiki and Chinese Taoist practices. Currently, she is a teacher of those disciplines and maintains a consulting and healing practice in South Brooklyn. Committed to continuously refining both her artistic skills and her teaching skills, she travels to Italy every year and Japan and Thailand every other year to deepen her Taiji skills and immerse herself in the art history of those places.  

@miranda.maher.art

Miranda-maher.com

Maher’s studio practice has traveled a varied path that includes installations, objects, artist books and work on paper. Often starting with the discomfort of discrepancy, omission or outright lies, she has examined warfare, violence, and sanity as well as our self-involved use of other species.  Recently, she has been delving into more contemplative explorations of consciousness and embodiment with ink, gilding and drawing as well as unique and editioned books. 

SARA DOBBS STATEMENT AND BIO:

I am an artist and a first generation farmer living on Vashon Island, WA. In 2020 my sister and I founded Wilbie Farm, a diversified vegetable farm that uses regenerative agriculture practices to supply food to Vashon and Seattle markets.  My interest in the impact of food production, distribution, and consumption on the individual, community, and environment led me to start farming and also informs my art practice. My pieces in this exhibition explore Pacific Northwest waterways and the environmental impact of human involvement, via fishing, dams, and recreation, within these ecosystems.

TRACY WEBSTER ARTIST STATEMENT:

Inspired by the incredible nature of the PNW, I translate my love for water, mossy forests, and mountains into art and jewelry full of color and texture.

For all sales inquiries please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org

The parts that make the whole. Individual pieces coming together to make something impossible as stand alone entities. Bits, bobbles, dashes and lines, each holding their own while reaching out to one another. A complete composition fulfilled by multiples. Building off of what was placed before, creating layers of collage these artists find the culmination of fragments.

Please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org for all sales inquiries

SUE ELLER

Artist Statement

I am intrigued by objects discarded and forgotten, perhaps because of their untold stories.  A rusty tool can spark an image of a fully formed piece in my mind, then transform as I bring other elements into the mix. I integrate masculine and feminine objects into my work by juxtaposing rusty tools, vintage collectibles, driftwood, costume jewelry, beach glass and textiles into sculptures and I primarily use rusty wire to connect the parts together. Ranging from obliquely political, to whimsical, to forlorn, my work provides a catalyst for interesting conversation and has been described by others as having the ability to combine humor and; whimsy with the macabre. My hope is that through my work, others will be inspired to see the value in the discards of everyday life so that collectively we can begin the process of unraveling our compulsion to throw away what we perceive to be no longer of use.

Sue Eller
”Zika”
Assemblage
$925
11”h x 38”w x 13”
2018

Artist Bio:

Suzanne Eller is an award-winning artist who spent her childhood exploring the Pacific Northwest beaches and forests. Summers with her grandparents in Northern California’s mountainous rural gold country were occupied with collecting, crafting and roaming the great outdoors. While Sue has no formal education in Fine Arts, she has always been creative. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Massachusetts. She then lived for 30 years in the highly urban environment of Los Angeles, working in the television industry as a music editor. Returning to her rural roots has reconnected her with the land and sea and been the impetus for her self-taught artistic expression as an Assemblage artist, combining found objects, organic elements, vintage items, beach glass, textiles and rusty tools into sculptures. Her affinity for antiquing, collecting and crafting are the building blocks for her work. Suzanne resides on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Her work has been included in several online shows throughout the country and has also been exhibited in a number of juried shows on the West Coast, including the Anacortes Art Festival, Edmonds Art Festival, Collective Visions Gallery (CVG) Show, Northwind Arts Center and the Healdsburg Center for the Arts. Additional information can be found at www.suzanneellerart.com.

LISA HASEGAWA

Kaleidomicroscopics were created during the summer of 2020 when I suddenly found myself with more free time than I’ve had in over 20 years. I spent several days a week in my studio working spontaneously, and began typing patterns onto various transparent papers using different typewriters and colored carbon paper in my collection. I created an artist’s book using these papers for collage, and decided to start a series of small works using a similar concept.

I created a template for the image area on a 5.5 x 5 sheet of cotton paper, then randomly sewed overlapping lines in grey thread to create organic shapes. Using a general palette of three colors, I filled in some of the shapes with watercolor and collaged typewritten papers. I completed one before beginning the next, and changed the color palette for each set of five.

This series is a new beginning for me and has continued to inspire new work. My traditional color choices have mostly been subtle grey tones with bits of red or pink. The Kaleidomicroscopics are richly colorful and perfectly express my creative re-awakening found in listening to the materials during meditative play.

Lisa Hasegawa
“Kaleidomicroscopics iv-viii”
Machine stitching, watercolor, typewriter collage
5.5” x 5”
$450

2020

Lisa Hasegawa
“Kaleidomicroscopics x-xiii”
Machine stitching, watercolor, typewriter collage
5.5” x 5”
$450
2020

Artist Bio:

Lisa Hasegawa is a proud print nerd whose work varies between letterpress, artist’s books, and works on paper. These works on paper combine various media such as collage, watercolor, sewing, and typewriter art. She has over 25 typewriters in her growing collection which allow her to type different fonts, sizes, colors, and alphabets.

Lisa lives in Tacoma, Washington with her partner, turtle, step-dog, and cat. She received her MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and teaches letterpress printing at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. Her artist’s books and prints are collected nationally in both public and private collections. Her work has been published in several books.

Lisa Hasegawa
“Kaleidomicroscopics xvi-xx”
Machine stitching, watercolor, typewriter collage
5.5” x 5”
$450
2020

i. and ii. were the main focus of my 2021 residency; I wanted to explore the combination of letterpress printing and typewriter art. Using the residency’s unique collection of wood type, I printed shapes using all or just portions of letters, numbers, and punctuation. Once each run was completed, I printed the wood type onto sekishu, creating two additional editions of letterpress printing to later be used as collage for the final prints. Dashed and dotted lines were typed using various typewriters, creating new spaces for collaged pieces to reside.

Please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org for all sales inquiries and viewing appointments

For in-person viewing of the show and all sales inquiries, please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org

ABIGAIL FLYNT

Social Media / website @fly.ntclay abigailflynt.com/

JERRY SLOUGH

Social Media/ website: @jhslough jerryhslough.com

I envision this colony of mushrooms as one growing community who are all thriving together in one little pot that has become much too small to contain them all.

Some of the mushrooms are growing beyond the bounds of the pot and are spilling off the sides. The tallest mushroom is the oldest and most weathered, it has the same limits that an umbrella has when shielding you from the rain, yet it still tries its best to protect the others below. The mushroom beside the tallest has large shiny spots that resemble sparkling trusting eyes. The outermost mushroom is shot with multiple arrows. It has taken the most hits because it puts itself further out there than the others, yet it continues to grow tall.

There are many unique mushrooms within this seemingly small pot, all beautiful in their own ways who are continuing to grow together as a loving community despite their circumstances or flaws.

I own a custom Jimmy’z screen-printed long- sleeve that lets me feel like a pop star every time I put it on. I can be myself. It’s so oversized and comfy, I tell them

“it’s real velour.”

It acts as a second skin that I can count on to be comfortable in.

All and all, The painting Pop Star tells the story of an article of clothing that empowers the wearer. When I wear this specific shirt I know nothing can bother me. I feel like a pop star. I can dance and point and command the anguish of the world to ooze underground out of sight.

The pop star shirt was designed by my younger brother during his college years, and gifted to me during my college years.

It’s real velour.

Based on season 7, episode 5 of King of the Hill

Some time ago my brother expressed to me that he found a moment within this particular episode of King of the Hill to be quite beautiful. Meanwhile, as I began to paint daily, I gained an appreciation for working on beautifully crafted paper. Thai Garden Orange Flower paper is pleasing to the touch, and elegant in it’s imperfections and earthly beauty. It is the only material I saw fit to portray the captivating nature found within King of the Hill’s “Dances With Dogs.”

I often feel right at home inside my Mustang driving on the open road. Peering out my rear view mirror I can see nothing more than the road I have traveled. Peering out my front windshield I can see the vast changing landscape that is the West Coast and mountains of North America. I can see with my own eyes how the landscape gradually changes from town to town.

Freedom from all worry engulfs me I am reminded just how much more life goes on living out here on Earth compared to my hometown.

In this painting it is not myself who is driving, but instead my Brother, Justin Sitting in the passenger seat right beside him is our family dog, Long Legs, I love them both so much. A small LED screen is giving a happy face diagnostic on the A-pillar of the car, and on the entertainment screen it reads R. E. Villageman’s “Soul Stone” is playing on the radio.

There are many small details hidden within the interior of my Mustang that are all extremely meaningful to me, and this includes the Mustang itself. I wanted to paint one of my favorite moments of joy that also contained the family and things that I hold dearest to my heart.

Masks is a painting of a man with a rockabilly haircut who is seen wearing a couple of masks that are false smiles.

He does not welcome changes in the world that he has come to know with a smile of his own.

The rockabilly man feels that putting on the masks is the best action he can take for the world around him, but really the best he can do for the world around him is to be his unique rockabilly self.

A person who touched a rainbow would certainly be taken by warmth and bliss. Ideas will form and multiply from the point of contact and spread all throughout the body and mind.

Lucky Day was painted to capture the happiness found in optimism. More specifically it is the happiness felt by an individual in the moment they realize that their luck is starting to turn around.

The sensation of reaching through a rainbow and into a pot of gold is compared with feelings of optimism that come hand in hand with gaining new opportunity in life, and reaching set goals.

Representation of the illusion of climbing the corporate ladder to achieve happiness. A bigger hand stretches out the ladder for you to climb between its index finger and little finger while simultaneously stretching its big thumb out in order to give the hand sign for I love you.

There is no reward depicted at the top of the ladder, just the top of the bigger hand. All it takes is for this hand to turn itself over for you to feel like you’re at the bottom again.

The thought that sparked the creation of this painting was to express how malleable an individual human can seem in the eyes of another who possesses influence over any large group of people.

Marc Jordan is a surrealist artist who grew up in Spokane, WA, USA. He graduated from Spokane Falls Community College in 2020 with an AAS in Graphic Design. His artwork puts into practice elements of Design with an emphasis on balancing both the ink used and the paper’s white space.

The subject of Marc’s art deals with his personal experiences in everyday life growing up on the West Coast of the United States. In essence, Marc’s paintings are a visual collection of his feelings and memories.

Click below to watch a recently recorded artist talk

And in That Moment

Dream I