Upcoming Feature Show

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.

Continue reading →

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…

Art Sale for Food Lifeline

Activism, Art For Sale, Fundraiser

Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic response to my Birthday Art Fundraiser!! I’m delighted to share that, thanks to the art you purchased and the matching program through Tom’s work, I was able to donate $600 to the COVID19 Artist Trust Relief Fund!!

Fueled by the success of this sale, I am inspired to raise funds another organization where my daughter and I volunteer. Food Lifeline (member of Feeding America) supplies food to 300 shelters, food pantries, and community meal programs across Western Washington. They provide 134,000 meals daily with 96% of their expenses going towards feeding people facing hunger.

So for this fundraiser, I’m selling my SOLO series. They are original oil paintings on paper, matted in 11″x 14″ frames, as seen below.

– They are $125 apiece, or three for $300.

– $30 from each sale will be donated to Food Lifeline. $30 provides enough food to feed one family of four for 4 days.

*PLUS all donations will be matched through Tom’s work (Gilead Sciences), so your purchase will go twice as far!

– If you’re in the Seattle area, we can arrange a no-contact, in-person delivery. (Otherwise free shipping anywhere in the US).

What we get:

1) I get the joy of knowing my art is bringing color and joy to someone’s home.

2) You get an original painting to dress your walls, and the pleasure of knowing you’re supporting a living artist and a good cause. At the end of the sale, I will send you a letter confirming the donation that was made on your behalf.

3) By supporting Food Lifeline, we are helping to get food out to folks who need it most.

As far as I can tell, this is a WIN-WIN-WIN. So happy browsing! If you see a piece you like, you can click on the purchase link in its caption.

And if these paintings aren’t your cup of tea, you can still donate here: https://foodlifeline.org/donatefunds/

Thank you kindly!

SOLO #7
https://checkout.square.site/buy/2YOG3S55CB26444NZCQDCPBR

**SOLO #9**
https://checkout.square.site/buy/TP65L7O2PSPD7PWE4PEXJH4Z

Continue reading →

The Paths We Travel

Exhibition, family, Gallery, Narrative, Origin story, Story

Artist Statement

As a kid, I found it comforting to think about how wildly the universe had to conspire just so I could be here. I would lie in bed and think about all the serendipitous moments that had to happen just so my Tanzanian father and South Korean mother could meet, halfway around the world, and have me. I would think about the epic stories of love, betrayal, sacrifice, migration, survival ~ all the random encounters and deliberate life choices extending back generations that had to happen just so my parents could meet and have me.

And as I got older, made friends and met their families, I realized that everyone has stories that are epic in scope ~ even if their families have lived in the same town for generations.

Every one of us is the embodiment of the life stories of our parents, our grandparents, our ancestors. We carry their stories forward with us, whether we’re conscious of them or not. But make no mistake ~ we are all here because of these stories.

Making art is how I make sense of these stories I’ve inherited about who I am and where I come from…and the stories I’m now passing down. As a mother, I feel compelled to think about where I stand in this flow of cultural inheritance and legacy. These paintings reflect the internal and external landscapes that have been traversed just to reach this point where our paths could cross in this gallery, in this city, at this moment in time…

Currently on exhibit at
Columbia City Gallery (Seattle)
through Jan. 5, 2020.

Artist Statement

Exhibition, Gallery, Narrative, Story, Works In Progress

Eliaichi Kimaro

WEATHERED & WORN
Solo show

20190430_160723-01

Of the 40+ paintings in my upcoming solo show, 25 are new and exhibiting for the first time.

Weathered and Worn will be part of West Seattle Art Walk in May and June.
The exhibit will be up through the month of June.

NORTHWEST ENCAUSTIC
7150 44th Ave SW., Seattle 98136
OPENING RECEPTION
MAY 9, 2019
6-9pm

ARTIST RECEPTION
JUNE 13, 2019
6-9pm

Artist Statement (excerpt)

…This body of work hangs together loosely. To me, they are more about the process, the journey of becoming. They evoke the layered narratives that we all carry—as individuals in this present moment, and as the embodiment of our ancestors’ stories spanning generations and continents. They represent new directions I am taking as an artist — using mark-making, texture, cold wax medium and organic materials to tell a story. Some of these pieces came into being fully-formed. Some were labors of love, with 2 or 3 completely different paintings existing beneath the surface.

While I am excited to share these paintings in their current incarnations, some of them will be radically transformed – melted, scraped down, carved into, painted over—when they return to my studio. But as a lover of process, I believe that even our work-in-progress selves deserve an occasional spotlight…to be seen, witnessed and considered in our current state of being…and becoming.

weathered & worn (solo show)

Exhibition, Gallery

“Practice Joy” (36″×48″) is one of many new pieces making their debut at the ‘Weathered & Worn’ exhibit.

So excited to announce My First SOLO Show!!!!

5 years ago, I took my first art class (since 4th grade) at Northwest Encaustic. With no formal art school training to account for, I had little to prove…just a whole lot to gain. The teachers fueled my curiosity while expanding my creative toolbox. And their generosity afforded me a whole new language to explore and share my stories.

I am who I am as an artist because of this studio/gallery. So this feels like the perfect location for my first ever solo show! “Weathered and Worn” will be part of West Seattle Art Walk in May and June. The exhibit will be up through the month of June.

NORTHWEST ENCAUSTIC
7150 44th Ave SW., Seattle 98136

OPENING RECEPTION
MAY 9, 2019
6-9pm

ARTIST RECEPTION
JUNE 13, 2019
6-9pm

*P.S. At the receptions, I will have ~40 original paintings available between $150-$250.

**P.P.S. I r e a l l y hope you can join me for this!!!!

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Day 30 – 30 paintings in 30 days

Uncategorized

UPDATE: This shop was live for the month of October only,
and is now offline.
The remaining SOLO pieces are available for sale
through Columbia City Gallery (Seattle).

. . . . .

Today is day 30 of 30!!! So grateful for this daily studio and writing practice that helped me stay grounded through this challenging week…

Now that my online store has launched, I want to find new ways to use my art in service to my activism. So I’m excited to share that I will be donating 20% of the proceeds of my SOLO sales to the Coalition Ending Gender Based Violence.

So you can treat yourself to a color-filled painting that lifts your spirits while buying direct from the artist, and know that a portion of your money will go to support survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Thank you for kindly for your consideration.

And with that, I give you my final painting ~ #30 of 30:

SOLO #28 – 9″x12″ Oil & cold wax on Arches Oil Paper (2018)

Day 29 – 30 paintings in 30 days

Uncategorized

I can’t believe how many creative adventures have resulted from my seemingly random, last minute decision to jump on this bandwagon.

Painting and writing every day breathed new life into my flailing blog, produced much-needed inventory for my first art market, developed the scaffolding for my new talk, and helped me overcome some creative blocks.

Thank You for all your encouraging online and in-person comments about my posts! Many of you sweetly asked whether these paintings are available for purchase. And so, to show my gratitude for your joining me on this creative journey, I AM LAUNCHING MY ONLINE SHOP!!!

I have loved making these SOLO pieces. Every painting is original, and impossible to duplicate. There are even additional paintings here that didn’t make it onto my blog.

If you see something you love, please use the Coupon Code 30in30 to get 15% off your entire order. Free shipping on all orders in the US.

And so, with gratitude, I give you painting 29 of 30:

SOLO #26 – 9″x12″ Oil & Cold wax on Arches Oil Paper (2018)