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

Time goes by. Oh my, does it fly?

But sometimes it creeps along like the slowest of songs, just gotta let it sing.

Pieces started and finished months later, reflections of the great thing itself, growing older and looking back at how we got to where we are now.

Please enjoy this show. Take your time.

To view “The Art of Aging” exhibition, please click here

Email GALLERY@MAKESHIFTARTSPACE.ORG for all sales inquiries

The theme for both of these pieces is the concept of healing ancestral wounds across time and approaches for this process.

Time Heals All Wounds*. A summary of some of the astrological studies I've done in regards to Pluto being the planet that works with long-term wounding. I'm posing the question that if emotional wounds don't get healed in one lifetime, who becomes responsible for the healing? How do we heal the deep emotional wounding that is handed down to us from our ancestors? I tried to portray Pluto as both catalyst and healer; bringing attention to our wounding and also providing the tools to help heal.

Veneration "Chaos" Quilt. Much of what I've learned about ancestral remediation work involves honoring your ancestors by giving them time and attention in your day-to-day, be it altar work or prayer or otherwise, and that by doing this work it is possible to heal wounds that transcend lifetimes. Quilting is an action some of my ancestors spent many days doing. By replicating this I felt I was honoring the work they did in their lives and creating a connection to them across time. This piece serves as a sort of altar to my ancestors, generational healing, and to my own healing and discovery process.

mariesonger.bandcamp.com

Oliver L M

“Echoing Berlin”

(11:17:00)

Digital video

2018

spitfirelynnmccartney.com

@spitfirelyart

Echoing Berlin is a whimsical short contemplating memories of two week's time abroad in Germany as a student, briefly encountering its peoples, cultures, and its deep history.

I look to Dadaist/surrealist film visual sensibility, prioritizing evocations of potential subconscious meaning. Superimposed video clips and photographs create a fluid thread of visual vignettes form non-linear non-narrative recollections of my experiences. Frenetic and hypnotically vibrant scenes pass quickly, brimming with activity, and constant motion. This and personal undefined symbolism of imagery offers impressions about activities occurring within each shifting suggested environment, acknowledgement of historical context, and a sense of their emotional impact upon (and personal significance) to me.

A reflection on blooming vs. growing in the feminine form, and the fleeting and fickle nature and usefulness of blooming vs. the rest of the plant (and human) lifetime.

Inspired by the absurdism of time as experienced through a dream state, when in context with the experience of waking time.

Childhood creations stem from vivid imaginings and are unique interpretations of the broader world. Through exploring the evolution of my art practice from childhood to present day, my work re-imagines creatures and objects that I have previously created. I have found a deep admiration for my artwork as a child and the potential creativity I had within me. Reflecting on my growth as an artist, how my art has progressed, and how I view my art differently now; my present day work takes these images and reshapes them in a 3 dimensional form.  

With emphasis on the art making process, using mixed media materials and intensive fabrication techniques, my work showcases the adult artist I am today and the changing complexity of my work over time. Taking inspiration from artists such as Tom Sachs, known for sculpting everyday objects on a larger, more industrially permanent scale, my re-creations follow the blocky, simplistic style of early childhood drawings yet are composed of similarly heavy materials, such as metal and wood.

“Forever Et Cetera...”

I made this piece in 2016 when I was dealing with spontaneous osteonecrosis of my left medial femur. I was on temporary disability from my job and my insurance wouldn’t ok the surgery my doctor wanted to preform as my treatment plan. I was stuck in a bureaucratic time loop that dragged on for 9 months with no treatment. For the last 6 months in 2022 I’m dealing with a mirror image case spontaneous osteonecrosis in my right medial femur, again trying to solve the puzzle.

-Steeb Russell

“One Day at a Time"

Time goes by endlessly so it seems. But, our lives are made up of individual days. And what we choose do with our hands every single day presented to us, brings the meaning of our lives.

-DEAD BONE DAD

Timelessness is a feeling where time doesn’t exist. A day goes by at the whim of however it lands. No pressure, no place to go, nothing to do by a certain time. No worries.

I created this collage using the creative subconscious mind collage process with the topic of the wonder of time in my mind. I selected a few magazines that I thought might have time pieces in it. I looked for persons within those magazines that might be feeling things time. I pulled from these resources for about 10 minutes. I then created this collage from the images I had pulled. When I create this way I have to trust the process. The images pulled seem to guide the creation into its being. I always feel like the inside of me is crafting what it all might mean. I ask where should I stitch and it tells me. I know when to stop, because it lets me know. It will say to me stop. this is your message.  I see in this stitched collage that time is multidimensional, that it intersects. I see the pressure and the freedom of time. I see how time becomes you, or pulls at you, I see time telling all, I see when time is no longer in your hands or when time is bigger than all of us.

Upon first glance, this may appear to be just another photo of a sunset. The gentle sway of the grass along with the subtle movement of waves creeping in fills me with serenity as the clouds disperse; making room for the sun’s goodbye as the first day of the new year comes to a close. This was a moment in time I wanted to be trapped in forever along with all the emotions of fear, curiosity, and amazement that came with it. As I began processing and printing the photo, I realized that moment had gone away just as quickly as it came.

For me this photo truly represents the passing of time, memories, and the continual pursuit to recapture those moments. The more I studied the print, the less I remembered about the actual event. The texture of the paper along with the grain of the film make me feel as though I am witnessing an event that occurred long before my time. The waves have come and gone, the grass died and grown again, and the clouds moved on to other skies. Perhaps this is how time works: the details quickly become distorted as new memories come and take precedence over the old ones.

This painting is of the Carrara Marble Quarry in Tuscany, Italy. The marble from this quarry is also known as Luna Marble. Its use dates back to Ancient Roman Times. The marble has been used in such famous works as Michaelagelo's David and La Pieta. It also has ties to famous Roman structures such as the Pantheon. The marble and granite from this quarry continues to be extracted and used to this day.

I got lost in this piece because I felt as if it was unfinished and that I could keep extracting structure from it. The unsettled nature of the pandemic left me with anxiety and I channeled it into this painting. I felt as if I was stuck at the bottom of this marble quarry; wondering if we would ever get out. The thought of it being over was a relief but also left me with the question: "where do I go from here?" The only answer was up and out.

MICHAEL DINNING www.michaeldinning.com

When I was a child I was so introverted that I could hardly speak to others. I began drawing before I have memories of doing so, and through my artwork I found my voice. I nearly exclusively drew images of people, attempting repeatedly to get at what makes individuals unique, what defines them, and trying to work out how people see me. I constantly looked inward to find a sense of self that I could project to the world. It seemed to me that identity doesn’t just happen, it is something created by what compels you, by the experiences you have, or want to have, by what brings you happiness, but also by what you fear. Creating artwork, for me, is a way to put out into the world who I am, what I care about, what concerns me and what I love.

Through this immersive introspection I came to regard a sense of place and history as an important piece of that puzzle - if my accumulated personal histories created who I am now, how about the history of my family, or my community? When I travel I seek out the history of the places I go, how people came to belong there, how the history of the place helps shape the character of the people. Regional traditions and personal idiosyncrasies fascinate me. There are certain places in the world which seem to speak to me, and southern Louisiana in one such place. When I create artwork I feel a sort of compulsive rhythm in my body, a creative music that fills my soul and propels my artistic instinct - I rarely feel more alive than when I am in a true creative groove. I know of no place on earth where that rhythm is as close to the surface of life than New Orleans, and I return to that place for personal inspiration as much as I long to return to the city itself.

16 years ago my daughter was born, and then my son three years after that. The nature of my creative impulse evolved from primarily inward looking exploration to incorporate outward facing expression. I feel a need to offer something to the world through my artwork, and to show my kids that art can matter, that you can speak non-verbally in ways complex, thoughtful and sincere, a sort. of visual commentary on life. I want my work to tell an honest story. As importantly, I seek to capture a feeling in my work that goes beyond a particular narrative, to use the combinations of imagery, lighting and construction to hopefully give the viewer a sense of how I feel about the work, about the world, about life. Joy and wonder surround me daily, and being able to recognize and embrace that gives me the ability to express myself, to be able to be who I want to be, to stand out in a crowd

ARTIST BIO: A love of history and a sense of place, the joy of family, the intrigue of music and a sense of social awareness all combine and recombine as central threads in my artwork. These people and things, ideas and affections, build and overlap, creating personal layers within us that define who we are. There is an essence and mystery of life that is defined by the interplay of these layers, and the artistic process is a way for me to give form to those unseen rhythms and intriguing themes that I find compelling. My creative process embraces this idea, as a way to give form to this complexity that lies under our common skin, through the use of artistic layering, targeted lighting and physical depth in each piece. My goal when creating artwork is to present something that is immediately engaging, consistently compelling, and leaves a lasting impression beyond the initial encounter, and I feel that this mixed media approach gives me the best set of tools to achieve this end. Furthermore, each of my pieces tells a story, or has a central theme, and this use of a variety of elements and perspectives gives focus to the artistic expression of each piece. I believe that art should bring a sense of wonder and delight, and reflect the joy of creation experienced by the artist. I also feel that painting and sculpture are, along with the creative vision, something to be built, and the joy of that constructive process is as important to me as realizing a coherent, complex and compelling artistic expression. I love what I do, and I hope this love is clearly present to everybody who views my artwork. A graduate of Washington State University, with a BFA focused on sculpture, printmaking and art history, I switched gears and spent the first part of my creative life in the Seattle area as a painter. Working part-time to gain a toe-hold in the artistic community there, I was able to have a few exhibits, including the good fortune to show with the West Seattle Artist Warehouse in the mid-90s. Nearly 20 years ago I moved to Spokane, married, got a new job and a couple of kids, and largely quit working as an artist. About 8 years ago I shifted gears to be a stay-at-home dad and and full-time mixed-media artist, reembracing my sculptural roots to compliment my painted imagery. The last few years have been by far the most fruitful of my career, showing my work regionally in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana, including solo exhibits in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima, Missoula, Hood River and Lynden. I currently reside in Spokane with my wife, two kids, two dogs, four cats and one rabbit.

For all sales inquiries please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org

"Biome Sweet Biome" is the 4th annual collaboration between local elementary student artists, PNW-based adult artists, and Make.Shift Art Space. 4th, 5th and 6th graders at Samish Woods Montessori and Cedar Tree Montessori created paintings and writing on the theme of “Design your own Biome.” Adult artists were each assigned a students’ painting and writing, and then created a “response piece” to that student’s work in the medium of their choice.

This year’s show theme may feel a bit like art therapy. In the last two years, children have experienced the isolation of quarantine, the uncertainty and concern on the faces of the adults in their lives, nearly an entire school year wearing masks. They express worry about Ukraine, the climate, and the future. These concerns exist alongside the curiosity, adaptability and sense of play that children so skillfully bring to all they do. This project offered them the chance to discuss the concept of biomes: environments perfectly suited to the creatures who live there. Each student imagined a biome with everything they need to thrive and be happy, whether it's filled with friends and books, certain trees and plants they love, their favorite music and food, or mini-volcanos and tiny dinosaurs. Their imaginative, thought-provoking biomes open a window into the variety of ways children process their lives and understand their own needs and preferences.

-Written by Nora Hughes, teacher of student artists

PLEASE CONTACT GALLERY@MAKESHIFTARTSPACE.ORG FOR ALL SALES INQUIRIES

ERNIE//YIN DWYER

COOLIDGE// JESSYCA MURPHY

EMMA//AMANDA RHINE

FINN// KAREN HANRAHAN

RADLER// EILEEN LANTHIER

IONA//OLIVER MCCARTNEY

JACOBO//AIREEKA LAUDERT

NEILAN// STEPHAN HAMILTON

PABLO//SARAH SIMPSON

ZURAI//CASSANDRA HART

CAMDEN//SARAH LANE

JASPER W// ——-

LIAM//CHARLOTTE OLMSTEAD

LUCITA//ALISA NEWHALL

OLIVE// CORY LYKAINA

SOLLY//B. CRICKET

ADA// BLAIR TAYLOR

EMERSON//JADYN COVNOT-MEYER

JOVAN//ALISON WITWER

LOLA// NETTLE ADA

MICAH// GUINEVERE JOHNSON

PHOEBE// RUBY ROEBUCK

SOPHIA// JORDAN CRUMITY

WILLIAM//KAYLEN BARBER

FELIX//MICHELLE SCHUTTE

GRIFFIN//CYNTHIA FRENCH

JAMISON//BLAIRE SEBREN

ZUBIN//IRENE A. LAWSON

IRENE A. LAWSON   she/her

Title        ZUBIN'S DREAM BIOME

Materials    CERAMIC

Dimensions   8X10

Year Made    2022

Price         NFS

Social Media/ website 

@irenealawson

JONAH/LISA CITRON

NOAH//GABI GONZALES-YOXHEIMER

OTTO///J. CADIENNE J.LORENZ

HUCK//HANNAH CWIEK

BENI// JOEY

EKAM//GILLIAN MYERS

SAIGE//ERIN MARTINEZ

ASHER//JABEZ RICHARD

MORGAN//BROOKE EOLANDE

ISABEL//ANONY MOUSE

JANE//FRAME RATE ZERO

ELI//JAYCH

MALCOM //EMILY CAMPBELL

ROWAEN//HEATHER LJUNG

ADDYSON//LYNETTE POLINDER

ARI//KELLY SORBEL

CHARLOTTE//ANONYMOUSE

SAMARA//PAIGE HEINEN

IKER//CASSANDRA HART

BRYCE//KRISTA KELLY

JASPER L//QUIKDRAW

Artist Statement:

In Double Wide, I am allowing the viewer to experience my childhood home as it exists in my rawest, emotional memories. Wood grain relief print panels are arranged to create a theatrical backdrop for heavy metal posters and a window view looking out on a typical night in the trailer park. Papier-mâché creatures hide in corners, magnified from their actual size to illustrate the overwhelming presence these vermin had on me as a child. Personal keepsakes from my original home are juxtaposed with found objects to create a direct connection to a place that now only exists in memory.

In this body of work, screen printing is used to recount visceral, formative experiences, and reconcile issues relating to identity and sexuality. Bold, graphic compositions aid in conveying a complicated personal history with a sense of humor and nostalgia. 

Bio:
Sarah Kindl is a Mixed Media installation artist, with a concentration in Printmaking. She received her BFA from Western Washington University in 2020, and is a current board member at Make.Shift Art Space.

Sarah lives in Bellingham Washington, and spends most of her free time making art with her wife, Jacqueline, and cat, Phibes.

“We had a severe flea infestation in our home. Often my dad would like to catch them and put them on magnifying slides for us to see. The close up image is what I remember seeing.”

“Growing up in Southern California one of the most striking things are the neon signs. I was often taken to convenience stores and these signs are a reminder those times.”

“My pet rat ended up getting an enormous tumor on her chest at the end of her life she was holding on and I could remember staring and her and crying. My dad tried to help by giving her sleeping pills hidden in cheese. While she ate some of it it took her a very long time to die. This is what I remember.”

“I wasn't taken to the dentist frequently as a child and it lead to my back molars to be taken out, which were then extracted.”

“Bar S hot dogs and Country Crock were always in our fridge. No matter what. I see them as symbols of working class americana.”

“Dad would take me for donuts every Saturday morning and frequently when we brought them home, if they were left unattended, there would be cockroaches munching on them.”

“My dad kept girly magazines in the bathroom drawer and one of the earliest times I remember being aroused was finding these magazines. I would hide in the bathrooms for long periods of time reflecting on how girls could actually like each other.”

“My mothers wooden crucifix that hung on our wall next to our kitchen that for the longest time had his arm broken off. Instead of gluing it back on we would just put it behind his head.”

For all sales inquiries please email Emily at Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org This exhibition can be seen in-person at 306 Flora st in Bellingham, WA. 1PM-6PM Thursday- Saturday.

An ode to oneself and others, healing runs through us in times of quiet, motion, humor, expression. Connecting to each other, sharing similarities and differences in the experiences we take on or the pain we leave behind. Together we find ourselves.

Please email Gallery@makeshiftartspace.org for all sales inquiries

KAREN WALLEN Biographical Statement

About

As a working artist, I paint using various media, including Acrylic, Inks and Collage. I am very excited to present my work to you!

Employing many brilliant hues on Canvas, Paper and Wood, I create in abstract and figurative styles, often with humor or poetry, I explore the issues of daily life with humanity and care.

Working in my home studio, I'm inspired by the colorful hues of relationships between friends and lovers, along the labyrinthine paths of their lives.

Early Career

Literally from early childhood, Karen had pencils, crayons and paint, with pap, glue and scissors handy— (when she wasn’t out exploring in her family’s creek—or climbing trees…). Drew her family, horses, and her natural surroundings incessantly.

As a student and young adult, Karen studied Egypt and envisioned those Ancient eras. Later, during High School years, she hit her stride in Arlington, Virginia emerging herself in the Arts atmosphere of Washington, D.C., visiting the National Museums of History and Art weekly, falling in love with painting and sculpture! Finally, her major in Penn State University’s School of Art and Education, continued her longing to experiment on canvas, as well as in the

classrooms from Pre-School through High School, in Los Angeles, Seoul and Taegu, Korea, then, in Seattle and, finally, ending in Los Angeles, where she now resides. Her concentration, at this time, is Abstract Expressionism with Acrylics and Mixed Media.

Work Process

Donning her blue non-latex gloves, Karen spreads out floor (or porch) coverings throws out canvases or paper of all sorts, and a multitude of hues in acrylic paints! 

She employs her hands, her brushes—and even sticks from her yard to apply her brilliant splashes! Then, as the layers solidify, the images of her figures emerge into clearer pictures of a scene in their lives. Often playful or thought provoking, her style is unique and very human.

www.artworkarchive.com/profile/karenkwallenart

@karenkwallenart

XIN XIN Artist statement: My works capture the healing experiences from personal and cultural traumas. I focus on the loss of identity, generational trauma, depression, and anxiety. In this midst of experiencing trauma, we continue to move forward. That is the beauty of human resilience and perseverance.
I want my art to be a peaceful healing space. I hope viewers can engage with it and realize, “I know that feeling and I am not alone!” Together, we are experiencing these special human emotions. In some ways, we are all looking for some comfort to feel ok.

Bio: Xin Xin is a visual artist who explores healing traumatic emotions through watercolor abstraction. Xin was born in Beijing, China, and emigrated to Washington with her family when she was twelve years old. Xin graduated from the University of Washington with B.A. in Communication and Sales. After 2 years of working in corporate, Xin decided to solo travel the world for four years. Art has been a consistent theme in Xin’s life since she was 3 years old. She continued to explore her artistic skills and pursued art as a way of self-healing.

artxinxin.com/

@artxinxin_

SARAH LANE Artist Statement: As an artist, I follow the call to honor and illuminate life through art.  Whether creating portraits, painting landscapes or rendering anatomical-botanicals in mixed media, I offer gratitude for life and the natural world all around me. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in a family of artists, and I spent most of my childhood either outdoors, building relationships with plants and animals, or indoors, drawing worlds on mat board beneath my father’s large printing press. Always an idealist, my first goal in life was to “save the world.” I went to West Point and studied English and engineering (and drew in the margins of my textbooks).   Through many careers, self-expressions and life changes, I concluded that perhaps the best way to “save the world” was by bringing beauty into it. I live in Bellingham with my husband, children, dog and chickens. We love the PNW, where our yard has become a garden, and the world has become a studio.  I live in vibrant color and seek to share the beauty of this world and all of its creatures, great and small, through art.

(All pieces are protected by Dorland’s wax medium and are water resistant.)

https://www.sarahlaneart.com/

@sarahsartlife