info@cocaseattle.org 206.728.1980
| 20th Annual Art Marathon and Auction  click here for tickets... |
CoCA
Gallery Seattle Design Center 2012 |
Marathon 5pm Friday, October 26
through 5pm Saturday, October 27 Marathon Kick-Off Party Friday, October 26 6-9pm Saturday Marathon Viewing 9am-5pm Saturday, October 27 Auction Kick-Off Party Saturday, October 27, 6pm Auction 7pm - 10pm (or so) Saturday, October 27 All activities take place at Seattle Design Center Gallery Click any image to view a larger version. Press the back button on your browser to return to this page |
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SPECIAL DONATED
ITEM Birdcage by Petr Novotny |
This beautiful hand-crafted blown
glass piece is by Czechoslovakian glass artist, Petr Novotny. Novotny’s
profession as master glassblower extends over two decades and includes ten
years as instructor for apprentices at Crystalex in Novy Bor, Czech Republic.
In 1991, he left the factory and established a studio, where he executes the
ideas of prominent artists, designers, and architects. Novotny has been a
featured artist at innumerable glass workshop and conferences throughout
Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. He
operates his own glass company, Ajeto, in the Czech Republic. Value: $1,500 Special Thanks to: Museum of Glass |
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Peter Vukmirovic
Stevens Seattle, WA |
I am an award winning composer,
pianist and multimedia artist from Seattle, Washington. My compositions include
works ranging from solo piano to symphony orchestra and reflect influences from
contemporary art, literature, extensive travels and ethnomusicology. I am Artistic Director and member of the Seattle Pianist Collective, a group that presents adventurous and unique recitals featuring well known and lesser known works by composers from the 19th through 21st centuries with an emphasis on new concert works. In all my work there is love, ire, adventure, unrest and remote travels to profuse and bleak landscapes. As I am impacted and transformed by my experiences, I answer them with music and art. Then, the art I make in turn remakes me. |
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Chris Crites Seattle, WA Chris Crites is participating courtesy of G. Gibson Gallery |
Years ago I saw a book of black and
white crime photographs from the past. I found it amazing. The characters and
crime scenes looked like surreal glimpses into the history of human
interaction. Much more intriguing for me were the mug shots. Portraits of
people who had just been caught. Despair, frustration, anger – so many
expressions could be read on the faces. Each one of these images has a story.
Often times I have no idea what the real story is, but it’s hard not to
make one up. One of the reasons I paint them is to bring out another possible
story, for people to look at and think about. The majority of the images I base
my paintings on are from the 1890’s through 1950’s. I try to bring new life to these practically discarded portraits of criminal and human history. Using an everyday, disposable item as the surface gives new life to the bag as well. It is my hope to get people thinking about the past, their present, and how we all affect both. Chris Crites painted his first 4 mug shots in acrylic on paper bag in 1999. Seriously focusing on the subject matter of arrest photographs in acrylic since 2002, he has developed and refined his brightly colored, limited palette style. Adding cultural icons, musicians, commissioned portraiture, mushroom clouds, nudes and firearms to his body of work, Crites has shown and been published across the United States and Europe. With both a graphic design and art degree he does web content management work as well as art and design for local musicians. Chris is also an independent curator and lives in Seattle with his wife and cats. |
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Dave
Francis Seattle, WA |
As an artist with a background in
writing and language, I incorporate textual material in a variety of mixed
media collages that reference Russian Constructivism as well as out
contemporary media-saturated environment. In my box constructions the intent is
to add a kinetic element with a hand-crank, light fixture, etc. to replicate
part of the process by which we construct language cognitively. Born in Vancouver BC in 1965, raised in Delaware, relocated to Seattle in 1989. Poems in mainstream literary journals like Ploughshares, Iowa Review, New Orleans Review; first book of poems pub'd by CoCA in 2010 (Otherwise This Stone); visual work featured in numerous group shows, a few small solo shows (Pratt, Spin's Barbershop, Cloud City Coffee) and widely collected. |
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Momoko Sudo Oakland, CA |
Abstract Art What do you see in abstract art? There's no incorrect answer to what you should see in abstract art. Use imagination. Make up your own story and be convinced with it. Your story is the subjective truth you live with. Ultimately, it's not only about abstract art, but also everything in life is about how you view things. MOMOKO spent all of her youth in cold Hokkaido, Japan. Her independent nature and international mind led her to the States alone in 1992. She had lived in Oklahoma, Texas, and Michigan before the bright tropical colors and intense light mesmerized her in 2000, prompting her to move to Miami, Florida, where she resided nearly a decade. In 2009 she relocated to California and now lives and works in Bay Area. |
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Curtis Ashby Sumner, WA |
My most recent work depicts studies
of birds inspired by Audubon's etchings. These works feature abstract street
art style backgrounds and were showcased at the Bherd Studios Showroom during
the month of September 2011. CASH's latest work has been influenced by John James Audubon, Pablo Picasso, Jean Michel Basquiat, hand drawn fonts and street art and graffiti. He uses spray paint, acrylic, charcoal and oil pastels to create his works on canvas, paper, and wood. His paintings reflect the textures of the city, as well as the colors and spontaneity found in nature. Curtis Ashby, also known by his moniker CASH, is a young artist who lives and works just outside Tacoma, WA. His designs, illustrations, and paintings have been featured on numerous posters and t-shirts. He has also exhibited his art in many solo and group shows including “(UN)sanctioned” at CoCA, and “VISUALIZE” at the Bherd Studios Showroom. CASH studied under Tacoma,WA folk artist, Liza Morado in 2006 and is currently studying under Seattle artist, John Osgood. |
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Amy Oates Seattle, WA |
IIt is probable that any observed
crowd will never be seen in the same location and spatial relation again.
Individuals are mobile and transitory, and at the moment of the
“crowd,” nameless and faceless set against the unmoving space. Yet,
the city – that static dot on the map – is formed, altered, and
sustained by anonymous persons, fleeting moments, rubbed shoulders, blocked
views, stuffy spaces, converging paths, and diverging destinations. The energy
within crowds recalls the concept of the “noumenon” found in
Kant’s philosophy: the “unknown something.” Crowds leave the
impression that more may be occurring than the senses can discern. My work has to do with everyday people moving, merging, and fading into each other as individuality is lost and something completely other-than emerges. In the way that a vast landscape evokes awe as we encounter the monumental and the overwhelming vista, these works question whether that same potential for greatness and awe can be found when people participate in and contribute to something larger than themselves. Amy Oates has found creativity to be a source of life since her youth, choosing crafts over dolls, art over science, and passion over practical. She received a B.A. magna cum laude in Studio Art from Baylor University, completing an honors thesis in art history as well. She has participated in exhibitions in Texas and Washington and was a member of Gallery 110 in Seattle, Washington from 2008-2010. She taught art in lower-income schools while living in Texas, and this experience gave her a desire to make art available to those at all levels of society. Amy currently lives in Seattle and finds the city to be a good fit, as she balances a love for the majestic beauty of creation and an intrigue in urban populations. She perceives an interconnectedness between the majestic and the mundane, and her art explores this relationship within humanity. |
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Geoffrey
Garza Seattle, WA Geoffrey Garza is participating courtesy of Traver Gallery |
I have a background in theatre and
recently began thinking that the materials I use as an artist; paint, paint
brushes, hair combs, turkey basters, eye droppers, stencils, wallpaper, alkyd,
resin, leather, vinyl, ideas,, and the wide variety of colors are actors in a
drama I am directing. This was helpful as I know that good drama is interesting, evocative, simple, challenging, accessible, has impact and most importantly is human. For me my work must reflect the same human urge to create it. For me the human element cannot be overstated. People are a fascinating lot with a rich wealth of inspiration . I cast these actor/materials in roles that I feel they will excel in as well as be challenged by. I orchestrate a lyicism in "rehearsal" (my studio) making sure that the work is vital and authentic throughout. If an actor is miscast he/she is replaced by another element with the chops for the job. I allow them to do what they seem to want/need to do, be awkward, be symmetrical, be vibrant, be obscure, be shy, be aggressive, negotiate with one another, clash and reconcile. I polish up the performance and literally hang the stage under lights in an "opening" and let the audience in. I have created my drama and am the nervous director. This is the best way I can describe my process. It keeps me engaged, interested, constantly experimenting and most of all I have fun. Lotsa Fun! Born in Dallas Texas. Reside in Seattle WA. Represented by Traver Gallery |
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Anne Simernitski Redmond, WA |
“My Abstract Expressionist
work emphasizes spontaneity and the exploration of new emotions, feelings, and
thoughts. It combines self-expression and emotional intensity. I travel from
completely abstract panels to the addition of a unique representation of
organic figure. I draw my inspiration from several trips to Asia, where I encountered fascinating visual effects done with prayer papers, glued directly onto temple doors, sculptures of saints and even trees. Due to changing weather conditions, these papers become even more intriguing, mixing and blending into different layers and further interacting with the surfaces they are glued on. The intricate effects are thrilling. I am working with rice or silk paper that is traditionally used for weddings, burials and ceremonial burning rituals. My paintings are created by soaking, gluing and layering these materials together. I then use metallic paints that I rub onto the canvas, adding and peeling away color and papers. Although my work is abstract I like to stay in control of the visual effects and the tone of colors. As a result, I carefully choose my material, and I cast the final piece in many different layers of varnish in an attempt to control time and the destruction of things. I would compare my artwork to the contemporary European art movement called “Les Affichistes”. These artists worked with commercial posters that were picked directly off the streets. Instead of being considered poorly, the decay and recycling process is elevated to the rank of art.” Anne Simernitski has made a reputation for creating artwork that range from paintings, abstract collages and illustrations. The French native began her career in high school and continued studying at the Louvre Museum School, Paris, to later moved on to the Sorbonne University where she earned her BA in History of Art. She also acquired a diploma in graphics design and multimedia at IFIP College. She is a graduate of the Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program in Centrum Port Townsend and has been part of the COCA Marathon of Seattle in 2010. Since her move to the US in 2000 her art has been curated in numerous group exhibitions which produced favorable regional press. She was offered a solo show in Seattle at Gallery 309 in 2010 and at the Mark Gallery in Olympia in 2011. She is a winner of Gina de Gorna Gallery competition in Kirkland, Auburn City Hall Gallery, Seattle City Hall Gallery and Arts West Gallery call for artists as well as a finalist of the Valley Art Show in Duvall and a Laureate of the Digital Arts Festival in Redmond. She has been juried into the Artist Trust and Pratt Auction. Anne Simernitski has been invited several times by the Seattle French consulate to present her work at the Seattle Center during Bastille Day. Her art can be found in the permanent collection of the Swedish Art Foundation and she has a number of private collectors throughout the Northwest, France and Singapore. |
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Dayton Knipher Tacoma, WA |
My work is an ever evolving dance
between nature, the built environment and my photography. I am in a continual
quest of the subtle yet vibrant revelation of color, dimension, movement and
space, defined yet not limited by my photographic images. I believe that life experience encompasses such intricacies it is only in the moments captured on film where we begin to see the subtle stories being told; stories that occur in the blink of an eye and then vanish forever. My photography is intended to surprise and delight while revealing the unexpected. Whether I am capturing a glimpse of magic to use in my photographic art, documenting unique or controversial subjects, or finding something humorous on the other side of the lens, it is my intention to reveal to the viewer that which would otherwise be missed. The Photographer’s Dream To capture and hold an image shimmering and bathed in light. To reveal the essence of an indelible moment. To use the camera as a means of unmasking all that the eye has seen. D.K. Knipher An award winning photographer and artist, Dayton received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Denver and, in 2008, she graduated from the Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program. Her photographs and abstract photographic art have received top honors in numerous competitions. Her most recent works are showing at the Washington State Convention Center, the Burke Museum, the Harbor History Museum, International Photography Salon and the Washington State Photographer’s Competition both located on the grounds of the Washington Fair in Puyallup, WA and at Center on Contemporary Art. Dayton has completed residencies at the Tacoma Art Museum and Tacoma Art Place and has also been an independent curator for the past 3 years. Her travels take her to many culturally rich and rewarding locations, and her photos and abstract photographic art reflect her passion for coaxing a story from the simplest of settings. Her work is in both public and private collections throughout the U.S. |
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Kathy Liao Seattle, WA |
My creativity is fueled by a sense
of play and an excitement for the unique visual language of paint. Through
direct observation, my work is developed through an exploration of of lines,
shapes, and color through the visceral act of painting, scraping and collaging
materials. Each painting is an autobiographical compilation – the surface
is worked and reworked as the stories build and overlap each other. I am
strongly influenced by artists such as Charlyne von Heyl, Dana Schutz, and
Matisse, whose works are deeply rooted in the tradition of painting but
unafraid to break boundaries. Duality is a theme that repeatedly makes its way into my work. Having spent my childhood in Taiwan, I am strongly influenced by my dual Chinese and Japanese heritage. Coming to America, I found my deeply held beliefs being constantly re-evaluated, challenged, and sometimes compromised. My work is a medium for me to revisit and gain new understanding from my immigration experience. Kathy Liao was born in Taiwan. She moved to Southern California with her family at a young age - the cultural duality has a significant influence on her current body of work. She completed her Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Boston University, where she worked closely with painters John Walker, Richard Ryan, and Harold Radicliffe. She received her undergraduate degree from University of Washington, Seattle, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing. Liao is a recipient of various local and national awards including the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation Grant, Brook Fellowship Scholarship from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Constantin Alajavo Scholarship from Boston University, and Best of Show at the Collective Vision Gallery Juried Show. Her works were shown at the 808 Gallery in Boston, Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA, Seattle Art Museum Gallery and Jacob Lawrence Gallery in Seattle, and Agora Gallery in NY. |
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Roy Powell Seattle, WA |
The bulk of my work comes from
borrowed American pop culture, magazines and other media sources. I borrow
images from these sources to fuel my work and discuss my feelings of nostalgia,
loss -- all in an attempt to define heroism. When I work with found media, my
goal is to edit and simplify its contents to the simplest form. In doing so, I
am able to shift the context and complexity of the mundane in order to form a
more perfect commentary on the themes I’ve listed. Memory is not congruent or categorized. The images in our memory are not well organized; they are more like a box of photos spilled on a table. Some memories remind us of simpler times when we thought we understood ourselves. Many are distorted or warped. Some have been stuck together and have taken on a new context. I choose to paint because visual communication is the clearest way I have found to share my story with you. Individually they are small stories. Together, they are a large narrative. My goal is to bring attention to the silliness and absurdity of life. My go-to medium is acrylic paint on wood panel. I have also been working with sign painters enamel and various printing processes such as lino-cut, wood block and serigraphy I am from Cheney, Washington. I studied Visual Art at Seattle University. Since graduating with a Bachelors in Visual Art in 2006, I have been painting and printmaking. My goal is to find joy in life’s mundane experiences. I also create work that comments on our sense of place, belonging, and heroism. By choosing scenes of everyday life I can encourage others to think about these topics in their own lives. It is with great ambition that I hope to convey these and other topics in a visual form. By doing so, I can release these thoughts from haunting my consciousness. |
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Todd Horton Bow-Edison, WA Todd Horton is participating courtesy of Smith & Vallee Gallery |
The smearing of the paintings makes
them more complete. When they’re not blurred, so many details seem wrong
and then the whole thing is wrong. Blurring can help make the painting
invincible and more mysterious. Has painting reached its limit, everything done before? As long as people enjoy making paintings it can’t die. It’s perhaps fundamental to our being, for 35,000 years we have been making paintings. Repetition is only boring when a painter’s works are boring. Good art can’t be made often enough. Lives and works below sea level in Edison, WA. |
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Eddie Tang Seattle, WA |
Native of small island, big city,
regionally envied country-Singapore. Spent the last two decades contributing to the “business world”. Moved to Seattle in 1991, worked for Nordstrom, Starbucks and Precor. Now, I am "reinventing" Eddie Tang- Painting is my way of communication beyond the restrictions of words, data, charts or power point presentations. Having lived in many countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong and the US and traveled extensively around the world, I have had to struggle to know different cultures and how different people communicate. I have found the language of visual art an universal common denominator where I can communicate the best. You,the viewer are the important ‘other’ in this communication as you find images and messages from your own being within the textures and colors of my work. View my work from your perspective and in that we meet and communicate. I hope you enjoy my artwork and in it learn a little about me (if you're really interested). The work you see here is done with multiple layers of acrylic, oil, and ink on hardwood blocks, canvas,canvas paper and plexi-glass; each piece is an expression of my thoughts/emotions at different juncture of my journey in exploring the best way to communicate using our visual senses. Hope you like them! Never been to any art school. July 1, 2012 -first public art show in GoodMoodFood Cafe, Levenworth, WA. If you are interested in the "previous" Eddie Tang-check out my linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/eddie-tang/5/522/968 |
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Liliana Franz Bellingham, WA |
On Painting: (they can be explained
as) For the most part my paintings have an equilibrium of both a shallowness as well as an arresting depth of emotion. They have portions in the composition that resembles something or makes you feel something of a very shallow human emotion. I am referring to a disconnection or loneliness; something lacking in universal intelligence. At the same time, on the same dimension this 'thing' is indivisible with something that is so deep and powerful we cant use our human brains to understand it. we have to sense it with our bodies and with something much more complex than ourselves. This, i think, helps me to understand the paradoxes of our human experience. With painting its like i can kind of get close to spelling it out. Liliana Franz is a Northwest artist currently residing in Bellingham Washington. She received the entirety of her art education through the support of her mother, Washington State University and Western Washington University. Throughout her educational career she studied painting and graduated in 2009 with a BA in Fiber Arts from Western Washington University. Her talents are vast, versatile and amorous. She is foremost an oil painter who integrates salt and steel into her work for its historical, ethereal and aesthetic values. Her work has been featured in Los Angeles and the Northwest. When she is not creating fine art she is focusing her energy on more industrious projects like custom interior design and installation primarily for local businesses such as The Paper Doll and Temple Bar. She has also created a line of clothing that teeters on the edge of wearable art. Her wearable textiles have been featured in Capitol Hill's Nube green as well as Seattle's Urban Craft Uprising. |
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Sabe Lewellyn Seattle, WA |
The work is an expression of the
everyday including the effects of time. Using the vocabulary of architecture I
am exploring the concepts of urban life; it’s banality, excess and waste.
My images are a collection of recycled and found objects that are collaged with cast acrylic paint on board to create the appearance of building exteriors. – Even the boards themselves are from discarded furniture. Using these found objects I construct a composition inspired from my everyday experiences from walking through the urban environment of Seattle. More specifically since the materials are from, or found, in Seattle they become portraits of Seattle, sections of cityscapes. And yet, they are a statement of society. It’s excess and waste. Each brick and manhole cover is hand crafted and created outside of the work allowing the cast acrylic paint to express itself in a literal space instead of the illusionistic space that paint frequently creates. Using cast acrylic paint, recycled objects, electricity, tar and joint compound is to create invitations for the audience to explore the creation, refinement and use of these materials by society. Over the past eleven years Sabe has divided his time between two loves, his personal artwork and graphic design. Though Sabe has been successful at both: designing for major companies like Microsoft and Eddie Bauer, while showing his work on an international level. Now Sabe has come to a point that he is devoting all his time to producing fine art. In May Sabe spent eight days in exile on Horn Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Where he studied the longer term effects of the BP spill. During the eight days, Sabe gathered information on the islands current state, from found objects, flotsam and jetsam mostly, to making sketches and other documentation. On his return he created two exhibitions to raise awareness of the ongoing impact. September 2011 Sabe completed the drawing marathon at the New York Studio School. That program provided short term and long-term benefits to his career as an artist; while also prepping him for the intense study of graduate school. He gained experience with new drawing materials, including non-traditional mediums, within his toolbox as well as new ways to use more traditional mediums. In the grander scheme of his career the concentration and intensity required by the New York Studio School increased his stamina while working. Sabe developed new skills that aided in overcoming challenges allowing him to maintain his momentum while creating. With the valuable critiques he experienced new ways of processing concepts. That he continues to explore. Sabe says that critical thinking is the foundation of contemporary art. And is the foundation of his practice. |
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Danielle Foushee Mill Creek, WA |
I’m an abstract painter,
sculptor, and designer. My work is about the intimate interplay of mind, body,
and spirit. I use a mixed media kaleidoscope of colors that blend and flow,
layered with graphic elements, twine, and other materials to explore the nature
of control versus surrender. My two- and three-dimensional work is strongly rooted in nature. The life-giving image of water flows through it as a metaphor for the interplay between mind, body, and spirit. My work reflects a personal desire for sensual experience, a longing for a sense of oneness with the divine, and an eventual surrender back into the cosmos. My improvisational process is intentional. It is about presence in the moment, and trusting that what appears is meaningful. My work swings back and forth between the uncontrolled application of color and precise layering of graphic elements as I strive to convey the contrast between intuitive and analytic energies. When these opposites find balance, then a more direct path to enlightenment is revealed. Artist and graphic designer Danielle Foushée lives in Mill Creek, WA. She spends a lot of time working and playing in Los Angeles, California where she lived for ten years. She loves to compare the cultural qualities of all the places she’s lived including Grand Junction, Colorado; Logan, Utah; Detroit, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Birmingham, Alabama. It is this rich diversity of the American experience that gives Danielle’s work its unique blend of contradictory qualities — wilderness vs. civilization, artifice vs. nature, silence vs. language, spirit vs. science, tradition vs. progress, and control vs. surrender. Danielle attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and studied Visual Arts. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Environmental Design from North Carolina State University’s prestigious College of Design, and then received her MFA in Graphic Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her graphic design work has won numerous awards and has been published nationally and internationally. She has also taught college-level art/design courses at Art Center College of Design, Otis College of Art & Design, UCLA, USC, Utah State University, and Colorado Mesa University. After successfully working for a number of years as a professional graphic designer, the artificiality of creating computer-generated designs gave way to a necessary return to more tactile processes. In 2008, she began to pursue a serious mixed-media practice free of the constraints of industry-driven client/designer relationships. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Beverly Hills, Baltimore, and she has an upcoming solo show in Reno. |
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Suzanne Tidwell Sammamish, WA |
I create large-scale, site specific
fiber installations of vibrant color that transform undesirable and underused
public areas into places people want to frequent. The somber tones and rich
vegetation of the Pacific Northwest influence my brash and untraditional work
in fiber and demonstrate that the effect of experiencing bright color can be
similar to that of a sunny day. My work has been described as Dr. Seuss meets
Christo and challenges the belief that the sole purpose of knitting is to make
garments or provide warmth. I regularly source my materials from thrift stores
and frequently recycle yarn from one project to the next, carefully unwinding
and reknitting yarn in subsequent installations, until it cannot be used
anymore. My work is often temporary and encourages people to live in the
moment, because you never know where an installation will turn up or when it
will disappear. Creating with fiber has been continuous and constant for most of Suzanne Tidwell's life. She has worked in many mediums, both two and three dimensional. She currently finds herself working with recycled materials and miles of acrylic yarn, creating fantasy environments by means of large scale public knit installations. Bright color and undulating stripes make her work vibrate with happiness and bring joy to observers everywhere. After many years of moving around, Suzanne is pleased to finally be settled on Seattle's Eastside. In 1993, she graduated from the University of North Texas with a BA in Visual Art Studies. She has taught art to children and adults in schools, through art museum programs and privately. She credits her artistic revitalization to completing her certificate in Fiber Arts from the University of Washington in 2010 and her graduation from the Artist Trust EDGE program in 2012. Her largest installation to date, "Artificial Light" was recently de-installed from Redmond’s historic Anderson Park until August 2012. While at its third location, the project more than doubled from its original installation to cover 50 trees. Her latest creative endeavor “Luminous,” is brightening up Redmond Town Center until September 2012. |
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Susana Montana
Murdoch Alameda, CA |
When last I lived in Seattle, I was
a creature of the theater. It's been a long road from there to here-with
diversions into fish canneries, academia, and other countries-but in comparing
that time with this, I realize that painting shares a physicality with theater
that I seem to find necessary in art-making. An early immersion in the almost
foreign language of Shakespeare led eventually to a form of contemporary
theater that was similarly "unnatural." It merged poetic language, movement,
and sound in a way that is almost an abstraction of conventional theater, and
in so doing could express the most difficult of subjects: violence, love,
tragedy, genocide, prejudice, hope. As a painter, I am always trying to find a similar form, a hybrid of various influences, to express what is tender and difficult to touch on. While keeping the subject close to the bone in form, I am looking for an abstraction of the visual language that will make my subject accessible…without tipping into sentimentality on the one hand, or alienation on the other. I use mythology and symbolism (including syncretism, the imperfect marriage of differing mythologies), storytelling devices from theater, and cultural traditions like Mexico's Loteria, to circle the central themes that interest me: individual stories (the Character Portraits), the relationship between religious and political power and how art works with both (the Pietà Project and Myth & History paintings), and-in the one series of paintings that stand outside the overriding and largely unifying force of the feminine perspective in my work-the Meditations on Trees , which are essentially totems of nature for urban life. I was born and raised across the Divide in Great Falls, Montana, and spent several years in Seattle in my late twenties. I studied briefly at the University of Washington and worked in Seattle theater (I still have fond memories of stage managing at Seattle Children’s Theater and going on as an understudy in The Three Musketeers!). In 1989 I moved to San Francisco and spent eight years there immersed in theater, acting, and playwriting. I started painting during what was meant to be a year-long hiatus from theater. I needed a self-contained art, and I loved the idea of exploring a form without “knowing how.” A friend provided an introduction to Mexico by way of a gallery of Mexican art in San Francisco named Polanco, and I found in the naïve indigenous works both the inspiration and the permission to paint. Six years later, I went to Oaxaca, where I stayed a year, looking, learning, and painting. The prevalence of religious iconography in day-to-day Oaxacan life reignited a lifelong interest in the relationship between religious and political power and how art works with both, and particularly the relationship of each to the feminine. Oaxaca is where my roots as an artist are planted, and so no matter where I go, Oaxaca now goes with me, as Montana always has before -- thus the name “Montana.” It was given to me by theater friends, and at first I rejected it; I would say (and still do) that what doesn’t kill you becomes your nickname. But eventually I came to feel it was a fair and fitting moniker. Your history stays with you and sometimes allows you to circle back, in different forms. I am delighted for this opportunity to circle back to Seattle after so many years. |
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Daniel Ogden Sammamish, WA |
I am an American Indian, Native
American in today's parlance, my work comes from a historical context. I need
to know the past in order to understand the present, " History repeats itself,
first as tragedy, second as a farce." Karl Marx. I work from both the
historical and the farcical sometimes together. My work comes about as a way to express the maelstrom in my brain. Monotypes have allowed me to work through the anarchy of the world. My watercolors allow me to laugh. I am currently completing my BA at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Applied Design. |
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Yvette Simone Seattle, WA |
I paint in a Contemporary Narrative
style. The paintings are large-scale oils painted primarily on vinyl.
My paintings are thought provoking, bold and active while seemingly child-like and simple but as the viewer unfolds the many layers of my paintings they find my paintings are rich with multiple layers of complex content. They are not as they appear - - children’s comic strips. There is tension created by the subject matter and comic strip like delivery but also by the composition, color, line and shifting prospective taking place within the paintings. Currently, I am working on a large body of work with many series. You can find more information about me or my work at ysimone7.tumblr.com. Born in the Northwest, her family’s story has been featured on Oprah. She has been honored at the White House for her artwork included in the Arts in Embassies program. Simone works in Washington’s flavorful artist neighborhood of Pioneer Square in Down Town Seattle. Simone has completed 17 public art projects, exhibited in 5 museums, exhibited in numerous galleries locally, nationally and internationally. |
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Telepathy
Consortium Seattle, WA Toronto, Ontario Los Angeles, CA |
This project is collaboration
between three artists communicating ideas and using a synthesis of materials
created from remote locations. Artists Jeff Mihalyo, Alan Fulle And Siolo
Thompson will attempt to make finished artwork in 24 hours using the medium of
the internet to connect ideas across time and space. The works will be made
using source materials found in their studios in Seattle Washington as well as
input delivered via the Internet. Real-time transmissions between Seattle
artists on locations in Toronto Ontario, and Los Angeles California will inform
the work. Painter Siolo Thompson will interpret the transmissions and create
innovative compositions during the event. The "consortium" will conspire to
produce paintings that attempt to revolutionize the art making process.
Many artists have left a record of their process or technique to be passed along to other artists. We attempt to employ the magic of collaboration with distance. This will allow us to create this new art form. Please join us in this live one time event. |