abstract

Origin Story – The Offering

Art For Sale, creativity, Exhibition, Gallery, Narrative, Origin story, process, Story, Works In Progress


The Offering (48″x48″): I love pieces that develop in their own time. As these paintings grow with me over months, my challenges, wishes, joys and sorrows get embedded in the layers. The painting becomes a time capsule that captures who I am and how I’m feeling as the piece evolves.

I love some of the color and energy in the earlier versions, but these passages, while pretty, were meaningless. I relish paintings where the struggle leads me to unknown places and pushes me beyond my capabilities. At their best, my paintings feel like an archeological discovery, as if I’m unearthing something that’s always been there. The finished piece is something I never could (or would) set out to paint. So these origin stories remind me of how a painting came to be…

 


June 15, 2023: I am both here and not here…a meditation on impermanence that is resonating with me today. And so I embedded it in the first layer of this 48″x48″ piece.

 


June 18: Starting to build up surface history that I can later work back into. Happy to be working large once again…

 


June 22: Working on large pieces in a small studio makes it hard to stand back and view the painting from a distance. So posting progress pics on Instagram scales down the image, allowing me to troubleshoot compositional problems and figure out where the piece wants to go next…🤓

 


June 25: Very early stages yet, but after a brief TimeOut, we’re starting to listen to each other…

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Upcoming Feature Show

Art For Sale, Exhibition, Gallery

SANCTUARY

Columbia City Gallery
Exhibit runs Nov 15 – Jan 7

Featured Artists: Tina Albro, Patrick Connelly, Carol Berger Hershman,
Eliaichi Kimaro, Leslie Nan Moon,  Rupa Palasmudram

Opening Reception
Sat., November 18
5 – 7pm
Columbia City Gallery
4864 Rainier Ave S., Seattle 98118
Light refreshments will be served.

 

Artist Statement
Since the pandemic, I’ve come to a deeper understanding and appreciation about the role of art in my life. Making art is no longer an ‘if I have time’ matter. It has become as integral to my well-being as my daily writing practice. Art helps me repair and restore the parts of my soul that are beyond the reach of words.

This collection of new works includes examples of loosening up, digging deep, trying new things, and letting go ~ all creative risks I’ve taken this past year in the comfort and safety of my studio.

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Transforming Trauma Into Art

Activism, creativity, family, Film, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, podcast, press, process, Speaking, Story

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

I was recently a guest on the Future Tripping Podcast, a project of the Trauma Stewardship Institute. The host, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, is an author/activist, an internationally recognized leader in the field of trauma exposure ~ and one of my dearest friends for the past 30+ years! As such, she holds all the pieces of my personal, family, work and creative life. At its core, our conversation reveals the depth and breadth of “making art to better understand my cultural inheritance and legacy,” and shows why art – the creation and maintenance of it – can be an essential act of liberation.💗

Art Pages

Art Journal, creativity, Crush/Repeat, Gallery, inspiration, process

In March, I participated in Crush/Repeat, a 31-day challenge to create something every day. I decided to focus on creating a small painting in my sketchbook daily.  And now I can’t stop!

I could line a shelf with all the sketchbooks I’ve abandoned after a couple pages of tentative marks. So I pulled out my smallest (5.5″x8.5″), cheapest sketchbook  and let go of any expectation to produce anything finished. My only goal was to show up & play ~ experimenting with colors, materials and techniques. The lessons learned from these bold little explorations are starting to show up in my larger paintings.

Starting my days by writing in my journal, followed by a 20 minute art page, loosens me up and gets me in the zone. I am no longer tethered to needing a full day in the studio to feel like I got my creativity fix. If 20 minutes is all I have, I know it will be enough. 🤠

(I’m grateful to my friend, Helen Kim, for showing me the way of her morning pages.)

 

McMILLEN FELLOWS EXHIBIT

Art For Sale, collaboration, creativity, Exhibition, Gallery
REMIX
Gallery One, in partnership with The Robert B. McMillen Foundation, celebrates the McMillen Fellows: Katie Miller, Eliaichi Kimaro, Chandler O’Leary, Frank Casey & Emily Somoskey for an exhibition of their work.
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Thank you to Renee Adams and Cassandra Lynne for making this show possible! So lovely to see my paintings playing so nicely alongside the works of my fellow MAC Fellows.
.

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Gallery One Visual Arts Center
Main Gallery & Mezzanine
408 North Pearl Street, Ellensburg WA 98926
First Friday Opening Reception March 3, 5-7pm

Upcoming Solo Show!

Art For Sale, creativity, Exhibition, Gallery

What a dream ~ my first solo gallery show!!! I am delighted to share that Scarlet Ibis Gallery will be exhibiting my work this November and December.

This will be the debut of the Stacks series I painted this summer ~ wonky, colorful stacks of all sizes to brighten our dark winter months.

Scarlet Ibis Gallery is located in a brilliant yellow building which was built in 1929 to house the Station Master for the railroad.

Opening reception will be Saturday, November 12 from 5-8pm, as part of Georgetown Art Attack.

If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. Would love to see you there!! 😃

Upcoming Feature Show

Art For Sale, Exhibition, Gallery

The Seen & The Unseen World  –  60″x 36″ Acrylic mixed media on wood panel

I have been steeped in learning over the past few years, and am excited to share this new body of work. My latest series explores formal and informal grid compositions using a limited palette.

Just a Moment
Columbia City Gallery*
March 23 – May 8, 2022

Opening reception: Sat. March 26 from 5-7pm

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 11-6pm (or by appointment)
* While this is my annual feature show,
Columbia City Gallery exhibits my work year round.

Come As You Are – 24″x 24″ Oil & cold wax on wood panel

Winter/Spring Art News…

Art For Sale, collaboration, creativity, education, Exhibition, Gallery, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, process, Speaking, Story

Just published my Newsletter with updates on 1) creative collaborations with filmmakers, authors, musicians & chefs, 2) my foray into teaching, and 3) shows in venues around town.

You can click the Subscribe button at the top of the page if you would like receive my newsletters (I send out 2-3 a year).

“Composing a Life” – Acrylic mixed media on 24″x 24″ wood shipping panel.

 

Memorial Day (Commission) – Origin Story

collaboration, creativity, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, process, Story, Works In Progress
This Spring, I received a captivating commission request. Chris Weber and Jack Gingrich were long-time employees and soon-to-be co-owners of The Herbfarm, a restaurant that creates thematic 9-course dinners showcasing the exceptional seasonal food and wines of the Pacific Northwest.

In his initial email, Chris shared The Herbfarm’s compelling origin story. Theirs is an inter-generational story of hope, ambition, success, tragedy, resilience, and grace. At its essence, this painting would be about inheritance and legacy ~ my creative core. As I read it, I could clearly see how every layer of this painting could correspond to a chapter in The Herbfarm’s life.


On our site visit, a few more things came into focus. The decor of the restaurant is formal Victorian, which is not in my artistic wheelhouse. Having an abstract piece was going to be a departure, so I wanted to keep it simple, organic and elegant. I wanted the painting to feel like a weathered, textured rock face you might encounter on a hike. Against the dark walls, this statement piece would be mostly white and monochromatic. We decided on a diptych with a circle connecting the two halves, but wanted to make sure the two halves could also stand on their own. And mimicking the restaurant’s palette, I limited my paint palette to natural, earth-based pigments ~ ochres, umbers, saffron, indigo… 

 

The following process photos show the evolution of this painting. The captions are pulled from Chris’s initial email…but you can find a beautiful rendition of The Herbfarm’s history on their website.

The original owners, Carrie Van Dyck and Ron Zimmerman, started this restaurant in a plant nursery; Memorial Day 1986. 

 

 
It was built from the ground up…

…

 

The restaurant flourished…

 
…receiving national recognition and a dedicated cult following within a decade. 

 

 

 

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When We Were One

Art For Sale, creativity, family, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, Story

Everything I create is about exploring the stories I’ve inherited and the stories I’m passing down. I make art to better understand my place in this flow of cultural inheritance and legacy.

When I was pregnant, I had a book that gave weekly updates about the fetus development. I remember reading one week that if I was having a girl, my body was creating all the eggs she will ever carry.

Having worked for 12 years as a crisis counselor, and knowing what I know about inter-generational trauma, I didn’t take this news lightly. So I took that week off, and reflected on what it means to be creating descendants whom I may never meet.

“When We Were One” deals specifically with this week, being pregnant with my daughter ~ and more expansively, considers the bloodlines that connect us all. 

Here is a short video where I reflect on what this piece means to me…