Paul Adams – Lindon, UT
Growing up backpacking the PNW coastal ranges and running rivers above the Arctic Circle, Adams has taught photography for many years in Utah. “Through my professional photographic career, I have tried to make beautiful photographs simply for the sake of beauty. Recently, I am motivated by the challenge voiced by American folk singer Arlo Guthrie: ‘It is not enough to write a song that is good. I want to write a song that is good for something’. The challenge is to seduce the viewer into thinking as deeply as they feel.”
www.pauladamsphotography.com
Nina Alderete – Burien, WA
My artistic narratives are built intuitively – with layers, key materials, and personalized symbolism. They play in the interface between a dreamlike beauty and a veiled reflection of my thoughts and emotions. Figures remain static in the landscape, balanced by what is alive and growing – plants and animals of exaggerated scale. Plants rise despite a frozen landscape. Animals, notably winged creatures, move toward or away from the figure offering a possible path out of inertia.
www.ninaalderete.com
Dorothy Anderson Wasserman – Tacoma, WA
Photo collage is an agile vehicle for inner storytelling. My photo collage work is informed by ideas from physics. Questions about time, dimensions, gravity, and entanglement help fabricate the imagined spaces within which these narratives take place. The veil between my inner experience and outer life is explored by commingling seemingly unrelated image, thereby creating new connections and relationships. My long career in dance contributes to the movement, rhythm, and physical gestures in the work. All photos used are my own. www. dorothyandersonwasserman.com
Norman Aragones – San Jose, CA
The main paradigm in my photographic art revolves around the concept of depth. I work diligently to create deliberate imagery – a particular arrangement, facial expression, or pattern that has meaning and will likely elicit an altered feeling, idea, and/or perspective in a viewer. Although I may begin with the goal of a specific image in my mind’s eye, my actual technique is more intuitive than strategic – seeking something that is likely to draw forth a viewer’s reaction.
Audineh Asaf – Edmonds, WA
My artwork reveals the beauty and energy that often goes unnoticed and sheds light on the overlooked, marginalized, or neglected aspects of life to foster awareness, appreciation, and advocacy for these subjects. My works on paper go beyond the traditional notion of mixed media art, where distinct elements coexist. Instead, it presents a transformation where the boundaries of artistic processes dissolve. Original and appropriated photographic images are transmuted through painting, printmaking, and collage, becoming vibrant, tactile compositions where visual narratives unfold.
www.audinehasaf.com
Jena Ataras – Portland, OR
School of Hard Knocks, belongs to my series, My Queer Creatures. Creatures was birthed from my examination of my childhood as a Brown child living amongst mostly white neighbors who had strong beliefs that I didn’t belong. My work empowers me to investigate the past at my leisure and pace.
www.artelaguna.world/artist/ataras-jena/
Steffani Bailey – San Ramon, CA
“Absence and Return” is the result of an emergent process that began with thoughts of pale blue and a wood panel. Gradually, as it moved into the phases of composing, the bottom corner was cut out then re-arranged with an addition of the leaf form, perhaps evoking thoughts of seasonal change, new growth, and “echoes” of absence and return.
www.steffanibailey.com
David Baird – Las Vegas, NV
Black is not actually a thing… it is the absence of a thing – namely light. The opposite of black is not white… it is light. Black is ultimately defined not by what it is, but rather, by what it is not. Black can’t exist without light – it must use the scaffolding that light creates.
Annemarie Baldauf – San Ramon, CA
I build sculptures in the round on the iPad Pro in a 3D modeling program. I send the design to a slicing program that writes it in G-code that goes to the 3D printer that reads and “prints”. Each miniature sculpture is downloaded and uploaded, changed, downloaded and uploaded, printed and reprinted until the creative process is complete. Small, precise, and personal, these tiny sculptures draw the viewer closer. N.B.: I worked with my fingers in clay at age five. Nothing has changed.
Nancy Bardach – Berkeley, CA
My art quilts explore intangible qualities like light and motion. These, plus color are all vital to my compositions. Free-hand curves cut from my fabrics add to the flow of the work. Color adds mood and emotional tone, lighting contrasts, a sense of movement and depth and, above all, great beauty to my pieces. My most exciting and successful designs are those I do quickly, intuitively, chasing a fleeting image — and trying to realize its sensibility and beauty in the final pieced and stitched object. www.nancybardach.com
Raymond Bonavida – Los Angeles, CA
Moondance asks us to reimagine our Moon, exploring the boundary between the familiar and the unfamiliar, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. Images are each captured organically, with a handheld camera, in single exposures lasting a few seconds. Simplicity of the subject and a stark black and white palette set the stage for surprising complexity. Each image is a unique moon illumination – an interpretive composition of dynamic movement. www.raymondbonavida.com
Sue Bradford – Napa, CA
My work strives to take something intangible and make it tangible. Seams in clothing, lines of stitching, depressions in paper, spoken words, all leave marks behind. Tracing these marks tells stories and reveals trails traversing a timeline of experience. As an artist working in printmaking, mixed-media and textiles, I uncover these tracks and mine them for their stories through stitch and ink. I explore how the language defining women evolves over time, what forms manifest feminine lineage and how stories of women are told. www.suebradford.com
Jon Bradham – Bonney Lake, WA
I experience joy when I see beauty – in a landscape, in a cityscape, in wildlife, in people – and I want to communicate and share that joy with others. When I see a scene that captivates me, I unconsciously start painting it in my mind. As I look back on paintings, no matter when painted, I can remember the day and what inspired me. I re-experience that initial joy when my art makes a connection with another.
www.jonbradham.com
Heidi Brueckner – Oakland, CA
We observe others as a way of understanding ourselves. My works are individualistic narratives which explore personage through self-presentation, facial expressions, and gesture. I focus on the under-revered, appreciating the subject’s presence and dignity, giving pause to honor the person. The individuals are often enveloped with color and pattern in order to venerate them. I want the work to encourage people to appreciate and love one another. Many of the paintings are on re-purposed substrates such as bubble mailers, which add an environmentally friendly component to the work. www.heidibrueckner.com
Carol Bultsma – Bellingham, WA
I chose a career in fashion design and patternmaking, developing an understanding of the human form and the correlation between self-expression and outward appearance: the body as a canvas. I now return to my childhood interest in drawing. In my paintings, I explore our relationships with others and ourselves and how that manifests through facial expressions and body language. So much can be communicated in a posture, gesture, or gaze, and I attempt to capture the emotions and temperaments of my subjects.
www.carolbultsma.com
Olena Burykina – Chattanooga, TN
I grew up in Ukraine where I received a classical art education which I used for over a decade as an architect. It was an applied form of desire to create art. After I moved to America in 2013, I turned my full attention to painting. My current focus is portraiture. I seek a connection with the model that I can translate to the surface, so I often paint family and friends. I am a member of the Portrait Society of America and Oil Painters of America. www.elenaburykina.net
Samuel Case – Seattle, WA
My work is an exploration of Queer culture and is a beautiful mess. Figures float in unreal spaces defined by colorful, blocky brush strokes. The edges are not neat. The logic is not sound. Realistic portraits and forms collide with explosions of feeling that press against and through them. Acrylic paint expresses the perceived ‘new-ness’ of Queer culture while simultaneously connecting with the history of painting, calling into my work the truth that Queer folk have always existed even if our history has often been painted over.
www.samueljaymscase.com
Renee Noelle Cheesman – Ferndale, WA
I am interested in the power of objects and the spaces we inhabit. Why do we collect and keep the STUFF we have by exploring how to transform objects and spaces? Objects inherently carry meaning, assumed, and imbued with emotion and history. Both the room and the objects participate in a struggle, communicating with the body, and inner self. By re-contextualizing an object or a space, its identity, history, and memory can be discovered and exploited. The spaces and the objects within them whisper and I listen.
www. cheesmr3.myportfolio.com/work
Brandon Cook – Mountlake Terrace, WA
The wood itself is as much of the design as the actual intentional idea. Working with the different woods over time, I learn the various conditions they experienced and adapted to while growing, molding their character. The wood and I then decide together what they can become next. The rougher the initial cut, the better. I mill all the wood in my small shop. Extensive use of hand planes happens a lot. Like a lot. All works are finished out over days of meditative sanding.
www.barehands.com
Sheila Coppola – Tukwila, WA
Oil spill coils, Purple Martin houses hanging, logs adrift decaying / Ducks, Osprey, Terns and Herons, cacophonous noises abounding and surrounding / Broken floats, rusting chains, concrete outfalls tipping, dripping with substances unknown / Rabbits, and small delicate snakes / Abandoned boats, steadfast barges, tagging, graffiti and the tops of planes peaking / And fishermen: their hands, their work, the trails of their fish, faces hidden, rain on the water / I saw my artist friends looking
www.siderealpress.com/sheila-art
Jane Corich – Walnut Creek, CA
I have been deeply entrenched in the world of abstract painting for the last decade. The mediums that I currently work with are acrylic, oil, oil and cold wax, collage and graphite. I rely on the momentum that my fashion background has instilled in me, to constantly seek fresh ideas and find new ways to respond to the painting surface. I love to create abstract narrative works that are atmospheric, mysterious and that can show fragility and resilience.
www.janeyuencorich.com
Luis Corpus – McAllen, TX
Artists are simply catalysts reacting to their environment. Art should emanate from a person’s “core,” translating experiences and the concept of self in the process. Self, referring to the individual, and through a tethering of existence, the commonality of human experience. As in all my work, I hope the viewer experiences my work as something simultaneously foreign and familiar.
luiscorpus.com/paintings
Lorri Lynn Dixon, CPSA – Snohomish, WA
I began learning how to create art in 2018, choosing colored pencil as my preferred medium. Being able to express myself and how I see the world via my art is an amazing experience. I’m thoroughly enjoying this world with art in it!
www.facebook.com/artbylorri/
David Haughton – New Westminster, BC
I paint freighters in fading light. Their shape changes and distorts as they slowly rotate with the tides. At night, the ships’ masses blur into the mountain background. Weak lights glow from the cabins of their crew – transforming ships into mysterious fortified floating monasteries. I admire how the older ships – with their now-obsolete design, patches of peeling paint and rusting steel hulls – maintain a quiet dignity while accepting their fate: gradual decrepitude or sudden doom on a breaker’s dock.
www.haughton-art.ca
Steve Jensen – Seattle, WA
For me, the boats are meant to symbolize a voyage or journey, perhaps it is the voyage to the other side, or the journey into the unknown.
www.stevejensenstudios.com
Levant Karayalim – Portland, OR
Levant’s style is minimalist design. His pieces are textured and three-dimensional wall hangings made from environmentally friendly and repurposed materials such as recycled linen.
www.instagram.com/levant.k/
Bella Kim – Gig Harbor, WA
“Doodle Stitch” is an innovative endeavor that explores recycled materials through machine-sewn doodles. My art reflects my childhood memories influenced by domestic textile work, a commitment to the environment, and experiences as a diaspora. I sew together discarded scraps and plastic packaging, appreciating their distinct colors and textures, to create harmonious compositions. Through this artwork, I would like the viewers to contemplate a more sustainable world.
www.bellakim.com
Harry Longstreet – Edmonds, WA
Humanist photography… all the manifestations of living a life… every flavor of the human condition captured candidly and sometimes subjectively.
www.harrylongstreet.com
Julie Anne Mann – Poulsbo, WA
The primary focus of my artwork is to recognize the delicate beauty and conflicting realities of the natural world, a reflection of an upbringing in the Pacific Northwest where the environment was a strong focal point in both education and recreation. Weaving together allegorical lore, empirical studies, amassed natural objects and situational objectivity, my goal is to create engaging narratives inspired by a multitude of mediums.
www.julieannemann.com
Chas Martin – Portland, OR
My characters are symbolic figures – multicolored, genderless, politically and religiously neutral archetypal characters. Their gestures tell stories by amplifying human qualities, emotions, and circumstances. These stories focus on shared experiences, a foundation of community. Viewing my work is a layered experience. The first assessment is often whimsical or humorous. The second level considers the engaging question. The third level acknowledges our collective situation. I want viewers to focus on what we have in common rather than our differences.
www.chasmartin.com
Katharine McDevitt – Mercer Island, WA
For me, the act of creating a sculpture is a magical ritual, a concretion of the gestation of form, in which the primary materials become an object with a living presence that transforms the space around it. To make a sculpture is to give birth to a new life. Fertility, the oldest theme in sculpture, is the central subject of my work. I am fascinated by symbols and rituals of ancient cultures, which inspire me to create my own pantheon of deities and symbols.
www.katharinemcdevitt.com
Dorothy McGuinness – Everett, WA
After years of exploring the woven form, I have mastered the art of diagonal twill, with which I create forms and structures not normally found in the basketry world. My medium for this unique work is watercolor paper, which I’ve painted and cut into uniform strips to achieve the precision I seek. Approaching my work as a puzzle drives me to discover new shapes and weaving innovations. I am also very much interested in the math and geometric constraints of the work.
www.dorothymmcguinness.com
David Moore – Olympia, WA
Until recently, most of my work was abstract, minimalist wood sculpture. I spent the vast majority of time designing those sculptures and a comparatively small amount of time actually making them. That’s what is required for successful minimalism. These new clay sculptures require almost no design and few tools. I just grab some clay and smoosh it around until it looks like a person or an animal or a 1948 Chrysler sedan.
Aaron Morgan – Seattle, WA
One continuous thread throughout my work – the use of common materials to provide an additional layer of subtext to the images. In this case I have used post-it notes as the vehicle for my ink and watercolor images. Post-it notes are an essential tool for idea generation, innovation, and collaboration in a lot of workplaces. They are both a mode of information distribution and a tool of informatic decontextualization. The work invites reflection on the paradox of interconnectedness and isolation in the age of the COVID pandemic.
www.artaaronmorgan.com
Jacqueline Moseley – Bainbridge Island, WA
Joomchi is a contemporary form of an ancient Korean process of “felting” paper to create a material that has some of the same qualities as fabric. Wetted layers of mulberry paper are manipulated using techniques as used to create wet-felted wool. The fibers of the mulberry paper bond together with no adhesives, only water and manipulation. Other papers, fibers, and objects can be incorporated into a piece as it is being worked. Dyes, paints, beads, or stitching can be added for embellishment.
www.moseleyfelting.com
Alan Newberg – Bremerton, WA
I believe that it is the power of art to tap the emotions and trigger the imagination that places art in the realm of higher thought, where many of the greatest of human accomplishments have taken place. It is emotion that drives human decisions as much as reason. Feelings are also a consequence of decisions, whether rational or irrational. Empathy is the ability to imagine the feelings of another person. The power of imagination has led to all the greatest moral and legal inventions of our species.
Gary Rubin – Kirkland, WA
While in isolation for two years, my connection with the world was through the art I created. I selected subjects that tapped into my feelings, fueled by the challenges of the COVID and racial injustice pandemics. My sketchbook, set of pencils, and an eraser all resided on a TV tray – my subjects within the frame of my television. I stopped work on a drawing when it felt both complete and incomplete. What I don’t draw is as important as what I draw.
www.garyrubinart.com
Debra Sloan – Vancouver, BC
I am drawn to the theatrical fluency of clay, alongside its attributes for relaying commentary and historical associations. I have my own form of representational imagery that addresses human uncertainty. In Line Up, the baby-figure serves as an allegory for vulnerability. I believe that intentional singular objects mark the importance of making, and can be seen as containers of individualism, attachment, and narrative, intuitively revealing contemporary mores. The work itself is not highly polished, but form is considered, and expressivity, particularly in gesture, is critical and intended.
www.debrasloan.com
Suze Woolf – Seattle, WA
Suze Woolf has watched glaciers shrink and burned forests increase and was hence compelled to portray ecological disturbances: portraits of burned trees. Despite anxiety, she sees unusual beauty. Fire-carved snags are similar – carbonized, carved; yet different: physics + botany create sculpture. Suze works to provoke – in painting, paper casting, pyrography, installation, and artist books. The results are beautiful and disturbing.
www.suzewoolf-fineart.com