2023 The creative spirit continues to flourish at CORE gallery!
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January
CORE Group Exhibition
celebrate the creative vision of the CORE 2023 artists
The creative spirit continues to flourish at CORE gallery! Celebrate with us as we showcase our 2023 gallery artists in our annual Group Exhibition! We are thrilled to present another year of colors, textures, stories, and ideas within which to find inspiration.
Exhibition on view: January 4 - 28th, 2023
Pioneer Square Art Walk and Artist Reception: January 5th, 6-8pm
Ceramic sculpture by Rob Droessler
November
HINTERLANDS & CREATURES
Cindy Small
“Hinterlands” interpret personal experiences to our Pacific Northwest landscape. I am not a biologist so therefore do not attempt to create scientific illustrations of such. Instead, I am more interested in the intuitive reactions and conjured memories that occur as we spend time immersed in a rainforest. Each painting’s story is an amalgamation, a collage of emotional memories providing the foundation for color, texture, space, and details.
The “Fantastic Creatures” connect to a time of Wonder Rooms and Cabinets of Curiosities when category-defying objects and creatures were collected and displayed. They cannot possibly be real yet are very familiar at the same time. That familiarity is felt through the materials, both natural and manmade.
The “uncanny valley” space is where these creatures and landscapes exist. It’s very much like that sound you hear at night in the forest which cannot quite be identified, you cannot put an exact finger on where or what, but you do not doubt its existence because you have felt it. That place and its inhabitants have already rented space in your consciousness, and the stories are forming.
Special Event: November 11th, 3:30pm - meet the artist Cindy Small and poetry reading by Nancy Kiefer, followed by a question & answer session!
Nancy Kiefer is also an exhibiting painter and published writer. Her memoir Twenty-Third Street was published in Unmuted: Stories of Courage and Resilience from the GenPride Community in 2021. Kiefer collaborated with writer Rebecca Brown on the book Woman in Ill-Fitting Wig.
November
HOLDING SPACE
Tracy Simpson
As with most of my endeavors anymore, the challenge I thought I was taking on with this series of potato prints was not even remotely the primary challenge I actually faced.
The challenge I thought I was taking on was maintaining a calm, dogged effort at printing crisp diamond-, rhombus-, or triangle-space after crisp diamond-, rhombus-, or triangle-space until each of the dozens (or hundreds) of such shapes that I had penciled out were all filled in. I thought it was going to be a lot of Dory channeling – “just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”. And it was that.
But the bigger challenge was holding space for mistakes.
I made them over and over, printing in spaces that were “supposed to be” voids and then having to punt/pivot/regroup and figure out how to redraw the lines to make something work. Over and over, starting with the first black and white piece (aka Untitled 1) and going all the way through to the final blue-hued piece (aka Holding Space) – I screwed up. Or, put more kindly, I deviated from the original plan. And I would be lying if I told you that I rolled with these mistakes, because I didn’t. Every time they landed emotionally in terribly outsized ways and every time I had to talk myself through and just keep printing.
I don’t have a lot else to say about this body of work except that in the end, I’m proud of it.
Now on the other side, I rather like the messy bits that show up in the “primary” prints (the ones with the more saturated blacks and blues). At least it’s clear that a very human human made the pieces. I also really like the unexpected gifts that show up in most all of the “secondary” prints (the ones that look rather ghostly and have what look like creases running through them). It’s almost as though the chance alignments that turned up in the secondary prints, which I couldn’t have executed if I’d tried, were signs that the Universe was smiling (or laughing out loud) at me and my worries over the unplanned deviations in the primary ones.
Holding space, indeed.
October
ABOVE BELOW & IN-BETWEEN
Jessica Dodge
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Focusing My Restless Mind…
You and I know about the years we have recently experienced,
together, and alone, in our various ways,
thinking our various thoughts.
The work in this show reflects some of mine.
Initially, with so much happening in the world, it felt daunting to settle on which issues called to me the most, and for a long while, it wasn’t clear how to best wrangle my many thoughts about these crazy times we’re in.
But then, at the first blush of summer, I just started painting, and without overthinking it too much, it became evident that two insistent themes kept emerging from the chaos of my restless mind:
— Our ongoing sense of isolation from each other and our environment, greatly magnified by the pandemic.
— The urgency of climate change and the world’s deeply inadequate response.
Through the long hot summer months, I was able to martial my unruly thoughts in a few different ways:
Revisiting themes I’ve used in my work before (e.g. Elephant in the Room, Frog in a Pot of Water), but made over in new forms.
Manifesting images from a day-dream I had of everyone suspended by balloons: often isolated, but also in sight of each other somehow; sometimes only remotely aware of others and their surroundings, beguiled by our devices; our position fragile and precarious.
Finally, there are the comic, allegorical characters who I can’t help but invite to the party; I always enjoy an eclectic gathering,
By the time the season’s heat had been quenched by the Autumn rains, I had put those restless thoughts into action and created the body of work you see here today.
September
ANTHROPOCENE
Sonja Henrixson
ANTHROPOCENE is about loss. The loss and the accelerated damage of the earth’s ecosystem and climate system.
Mixed media installation and ceramics.
September
How to Love the Whole World?
Kate Harkins
Portraits from life or invented characters which, once created, seek to speak for themselves and participate in the conversation we are having now, about the life and world we navigate and constantly reinvent.
August
OPEN WATERS
Perri Lynch Howard
OPEN WATERS unites three distinct bodies of work - in drawing, painting, and sound - to explore sense of place in a changing climate.
August
HIDDEN LANDSCAPES
Žanetka K. Gawronski
New paintings reveal landscapes that are neither here nor there, always shifting with every step you take, barely caught out of the corner of your eye. You can never quite retrace your steps back to these moments that leave you wondering what you perceived.
July
Capturing Spirits in a Box
James Cheng
Since my youth, I've been fascinated by the concept of spirits. Mother would share tales of wandering souls, which only fueled my curiosity. I've encountered a few inexplicable occurrences throughout my life. Still, it wasn't until I became an adult and began making photographs that I recognized the significance of spirits in my art.
It's interesting how people view cameras as capturing reality in their photographs, but I'm wondering which camera and reality they mean.
As someone who values the art of storytelling, I enjoy exploring new methods to weave narratives through photography, mixed media, and multimedia. While the end result is significant, I place more emphasis on the creative process of self-exploration and constantly learning novel and innovative methods to convey my artistic expression to others.
July
Earthscapes
Deirdre Wilcox
How might we see our extraordinary planet beyond confines of form if we used our deeper seeing, our “inside eye” instead of our human eye?
Using mixed media, this collection explores earth’s “scapes” as seen through the lense of that eye. Earth life is energy in form for a very short time. The human tendency to see non-human life as “other” enables us to imagine we are separate, that our fates do not depend on a harmonious and cooperative relationship. Without our physical forms we’d see no difference between ourselves, bees or trees.
June
OUBLIETTE
Drew Dyrdahl
Releasing a new batch of Little Creepers that are particularly troublesome... come and meet the residents of my oubliette.
Image:
IRON MAIDEN
Mixed media:
found objects, recycled cloth, recycled batting, and sand
June
UP TO SOMETHING
Stuart Kleiger
Up to Something is a series of paintings started by the artist. The artist provides imagery and the active mind of the viewer provides the story. The active mind, which is always up to something, completes the work.
Image:
THE MUSIC LESSON
40"X30"
acrylic on canvas
May
THIS AND THAT
Rob Droessler
This and That is a mix of pieces created in the last few years consisting of ceramic and mixed media work. It is literally a little bit of this and a little bit of that, it's a bit of a departure from the architectural forms I had been making.
During the pandemic, as an instructor, I was stuck at home and began working with alternative materials and was inspired to create work that felt different. Some pieces are inspired by the isolation of the pandemic. Some are all about exploring something new. I started experimenting with basket weaving reed to create sculptural forms that continued the architectural imagery but with a different medium. Most recently I have been exploring iconic bust forms inspired by historical classical Greek and Roman busts. I'm exploring the figure but with a twist. Clay is so versatile, I wanted to incorporate its ability to look like other materials. I am inspired by one of my favorite artists Marilynn Levine and her Trompe-l’oeil sculptures.
When I am asked “what does your work mean?” or “what are you trying to say with your art?” I hesitate to answer. Honestly, I make work that is exciting to me. I'm fascinated by texture, color, light, and shadows. I'm not interested in making a statement. I prefer the quiet. Not all art needs to be about making a statement. Sometimes we like things because we like them. There's no need to dissect and analyze the reason why. Just enjoy it.
May
LIMINAL
John Leahy
Liminal means to occupy a position at or on both sides. For me this is a lot of what this body of work is about, a liminal state in between the conscious and the subconscious.
There is a famous story (perhaps apocryphal) about Salvador Dali trying to paint when in this state by drifting off to sleep with a spoon on his nose, so that when it drops, he wakes up and can paint in that close to subconscious state. For me it is more about tuning in and opening up to a process of painting that invites my mind to find the flow state. To turn off the inner critic and ambassador to imposter syndrome and just let myself be creative in dialogue with my muse instead of my doubts. Exhibiting the work is a process of curating these moments. It feels both necessary and vulnerable to share, and I appreciate you taking the time to participate by looking at the work and reading this statement. Thank you!
April
IN DARKNESS
Amanda Hood
In creating a sublime emotional dreamscape, dark needs light.
During the Romantic era In historical landscape painting, the sublime manifested as an exploration of the tension between intense beauty and destruction in nature, a sense of loneliness and alienation, and a nervous apprehension of rapidly changing technology brought on by the industrial revolution.
Today, post- pandemic society has brought a heightened awareness of all that is fragile and ephemeral in our lives. As we navigate the digital age, environmental loss and destruction, and increased levels of isolation, romantic topics feel as relevant as ever. Altered by technology, our visual encounters with the sublime through our environment, film and media help connect us with our own sense of identity and duality. How do we handle a world filled with extreme beauty and pain simultaneously? “Bittersweet” author and researcher Susan Cain notes that self transcendence actually increases at these heightened times of transition, ending or death. While the sadness associated with these cycles of endings and beginnings in life is often viewed negatively, allowing for the full expression of our joy and sorrow, longing and desire, or bittersweet strengthens our sense of creativity, compassion and connection with others. Through images, we are able to explore and access the dark places where language ends.
Contrasting tensions between light and dark, blurred and defined, I am interested in the ways in which dualism and the sublime presents itself in contemporary culture, and how visual imagery can inform how we identify and process complex emotional experiences in life.
April
“Bound” © 2023 Ann-Marie Stillion / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Defying the Male Nudity Stigma
Link to Artists Up Close interview and
artist talk with Ann-Marie Stillion.
Part 2 of this conversation, a free event
happening Saturday, April 22nd, 3pm
BOUND
Ann-Marie Stillion
Photographic works on silk and aluminum exploring moments of covering, unwrapping and struggles to be free of society’s constraints. Bound began as a series responding to censorship of male nudity in art and society.
When I started photographing the nude figure in 2013 there was little contemporary art showcasing nudity but I was not prepared for how relentlessly we have turned our backs on our own bodies, especially images of men.
Women’s bodies are uncovered everywhere but when we see men we rush to cover them up, make a joke or, worse, turn away calling it porn or caging it as merely “for homosexual” viewing.
I discovered that challenging the idealized notion of the male hero in particular – armored and invincible – and even suggesting the importance of vulnerability is a crack in the armor that many people are not prepared to confront.
We speak of being naked when we are found out in a conversation. We hold ourselves close in our coats, blankets and towels when we feel too seen or too vulnerable. We steer the conversation away from difficult realities with invisible walls, paths not taken.
Bound explores these seemingly infinite moments of covering, unwrapping or struggling to be free of invisible constraints. These images conjure birth, wedding, being held, holding. The womb. A shroud.
Bound consists of 8 works, four are archival prints with velvet lamination on aluminum and four are dye sublimation on art silk all available as editioned to 25 plus one AP.
March
Light Hours: Solstice Series
Andrea K. Lawson
My Light Hours: Solstice Series chronicles atmospheric rhythms, seasonal cycles, and luminous patterns. The Light Hours records observations of changing light over time, from dawn to dusk and over changing seasons. Painting from first to last light at each equinox and solstice for several years, I traced changes in sea and sky, from dawn to dusk. I set my brush to a new canvas every hour to express the light, color, gesture and movement of Port Townsend Bay on the Olympic Peninsula. Waking early to nature’s sounds, smells and light, bundled against the sunrise chill - and ending the day in the same way, sunset colors combatting the numbness gripping my fingers.
This meditative series of 8 x 10” paintings will be exhibited at Core gallery in Seattle in 2023, as an installation grouped by vernal, autumnal equinox, summer and winter solstices, exploring time, light and change. The multi-panel groupings combine to create single artworks composed of multiple images. As they are created on individual boards, different configurations of the panels are possible. Also on view are related individual landscape/seascapes expressing northwest light.
Fascinated by nature, my art explores the magical world around me, of sea, sky, latescent light through foliage, from the majestic tableaus of vibrant sunsets to the microworld of tenacious lichen. My creative process dances between figurative imagery and abstract material processes that propel my forms into a world of the unexpected.
March
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WATER + SALT
Tara McDermott
I stumbled upon the incredible landscape of the Great Salt Lake almost 10 years ago and have been consumed with returning ever since. In 2021 I finally made it back, going on a road trip to investigate all the back roads and access points I could imagine to truly explore this vast body of water. I was legit obsessed and went back an additional 2 times in 2022 to see the lake and surrounding areas during differing weather conditions. Out of those trips circumnavigating the lake was born this series of images, all revolving around the elements of water and salt.
Human exploitation, overuse, and global warming are having a devastating effect on the lake, and many consider it a time of crisis. It is widely believed that we have reached the tipping point where the lake’s diminishing water levels cannot be reversed. I am thankful I’ve been able to capture such an important and magical place at such a crucial time in history.
All photographs are taken with film, a vintage Hasselblad camera and a plastic Holga toy camera.
February
BREATHING SPACE
Liz Ophoven
As a multi-disciplinary artist it is a challenge to choose my favorite medium, however, photography was my first love and will always remain dear to my heart. For this body of work I am delighted to show imagery from across the last 20 years, some captured with film, others digital and all combined here to show as high resolution digital giclée prints.
The magical liberation of the imagination manifested through travel unlocks an emotional landscape in me and a drive to capture and cultivate the mood in a tangible and cathartic image. Mystery in the weather, drama in the land, history embedded in the geography, desire floating in the air, I can feel the impartial longing on the horizon. Each of these images were shot during a pivotal and embodied moment, a crossroads if you will, a time of reflection.
February
RELEASE
Uyen Tran Gjerde
My work expresses the vulnerable parts inside me and embraces the emptiness and void that ceases to relent. There’s something magical about seeing the beauty in darkness.
December
Sunflower on Fire, Ukraine
– Decennial Retrospective
As part of our mission at CORE, during our Community Show we offer the gallery to highlight the important work being done in our greater community. Join us in celebrating this important work!
Featuring visual works by internationally renowned photographers, Sunflower on Fire, Ukraine is a
visceral, thought-provoking, cross-cultural immersion exhibit highlighting the humanity of a nation
defying war, defending independence and fundamental human rights, and demonstrating to the global community our higher potential through virtues of dignity, care, bravery, unity, endurance and resilience.
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS:
• Maks Levin (posthumously)
• Dmytro Kozatsky
• Mykhaylo Palinchak
• Oleksandr Ratushnyak
• Anastasia Vlasova
• Yan Dobronosov
• Maxim Dondyuk
• Ivan Bogdan
• Oleksandr Piliugin
• Serhiy Hudak
• Oleksandr Khomenko
• Valentyn Kuzan
• Ivan Stetsenko
• Oleksandr Goncharov
• Igor Chekachkov
• Ingwar Dovgoteles
• Vasyl Salyga
• Petro Chekal
• Vyacheslav Onyshchenko
Sunflower on Fire, Ukraine is an ongoing, decade-long, research-based, documentary, multimedia
project spearheaded by O – Ukrainian, US-based, socially engaged artist, curator, producer and
educator – in collaboration with TYPONEXUS international, multidisciplinary collective she founded
and leads under the motto “Think Global, Act Local.”
