2025 The creative spirit continues to flourish at CORE gallery!
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January
CORE 2025 ARTISTS
Group Exhibition
Celebrate with us during the month of January as we showcase our CORE 2025 gallery artists in our annual group exhibition! Enjoy the creative spirit as we present another year of colors, textures, stories, and ideas within which to find inspiration. It's going to be another great year!
September
FITTING IN waves fish scale
Steve Gawronski
This show is a whimsical musing on the icons of wave and fish at different scales.
Typically rhythmic in nature, waves** are caused by something else, they are a resultant of other forces at work. They deliver or imply change, motion, incremental movement.
The moon, the slap of a hand, the strum of a violin bow: all produce waves on earth. Within these waves there are things like fish, sound, light, destruction, etc. etc.
It all depends on scale – small waves can be relaxing and inconsequential while large waves can be transformational. Our behavior causes waves in the environment around us.
We all make waves every day – how are they effecting the fish/ people around us? Are they little relaxing waves or transformational waves? We go to work every day (or telecommute), we eat lunch, we talk to people, we build, we go. With every interaction, our person bumps up against other objects emitting energy into the universe in waves, carrying attitude, change, fear, love. We are constantly creating change and simultaneously, we are always trying to fit in*, create community.
*not everyone is trying to fit in, for good or for ill, they are still making waves.
**In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Periodic waves oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some frequency.
In physics, a wave is a disturbance that transfers energy through a medium or space. Waves can be described as a propagation of a disturbance, not a "thing" in itself.
AI Definition from the web: The word "wave" as a greeting likely originated from the Old English word "wafian," meaning "to move to and fro," and is related to the broader concept of moving one's hand in a back-and-forth motion. This gesture, initially a way to show non-aggression and a lack of weapons, evolved into a common form of greeting and farewell, particularly among soldiers and sailors.
September
UNEXPECTED
Žanetka K. Gawronski
What swirls into view when you shift perspective and the memories that are brought forward like long-lost guests.
I continue to be interested in what is often overlooked, yet with a second glance is revealed to be precious. There are moments in a day that quietly slip by without notice, the time in-between memories. These quiet, in-between moments are filled with possibility and are large enough to contain the imagination.
I hope to evoke a sense of quiet reflection in the viewer, perhaps tickling past moments you may have forgotten.
You are invited! Artist Talk
Friday, September 26, 5-7pm
A casual evening to see my work, ask questions, and chat about my process and all things art. I hope to see you at CORE!
August
EXPIREMENTS
Lynn Schirmer
Experiments is a double entendre. Although I love oil paint, I have a terrible reaction to any kind of solvent, so I experimented with open acrylics. I also love to draw at life size scale, but the media I prefer is temperamental and prone to buckling. I found and experimented with a new paper that doesn't wrinkle.
Discovering the other meaning of "Experiments" is wholly up to you, the viewer. This is visual communication. The work either does its job, or not, or somewhere in between. The meaning lies in whatever it evokes in you, and that is up to you and your experience.
If you are curious as to my inspiration for the blended figure imagery, there is extensive biographical information on my website(s). Suffering is part of the human condition. It’s what we do with it that counts. I hope my work also evidences resilience and love, and touches on other universal truths.
The choice is yours. Enjoy the show.
Image: Indexing, oil on canvas, 28x22 inches, 2025
August
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Jessica Dodge
Many years ago, for several years, I was part of an annual residency of artists visiting the Duwamish River basin to create art in response to, and learn more about, this fascinating area in our own backyard. One thing we often incorporated into our time there each year was making art in the decommissioned Georgetown Steam Plant.
Whenever I was working in the GSP, I was struck by a feeling of the lingering presence of the people who had built that brilliant grid of pipe, stoked the furnaces, and kept the steam flowing through those enormous generators to produce power for the homes and businesses of the region.
In 2014/2015 I conceived, with the invaluable help of the marvelous photographer Steven Miller, a short film I called "Ghost in the Machine" to evoke those unknown workers' spirits that seem to still inhabit that arcane facility; it has never been shown anywhere, till now.
Recently, I recalled this little film, and it wove together with thoughts I was already having about the hidden forces behind the winds of influence and habit, comfort and anxiety, that permeate our modern existence and so, in addition to the short film, there are a variety of my free-wheelin' visual takes on the subject.
Most of the paintings in this show were created over the last couple of months, a few are from earlier eras of my work, but the underlying thread that connects them is the exploration of an unseen, but often keenly felt, animating spirit behind seemingly ordinary occurrences, and whatever shared sense of reality we still retain.
Image: I Am What You Get When, reverse oil painting on glass, 23" x 19", 2025
July
BECOMING
Michelle Smith-Lewis
A continuation of the "Be Well" series. This new work represents the next phase of my personal journey, focusing on self-reflection, healing, and redefining my sense of self.
Similar to the "Be Well" works, my primary inspiration for "Becoming" stems from my garden. Through this new series of images, I aim to visually express my thoughts, dreams, and personal growth.
The intentional smaller size of the pieces invites viewers to engage with them intimately, as if they are private moments for quiet contemplation and close examination.
Ultimately, "Becoming" represents the transitional phase between who I am in this present moment and the person I am evolving into.
July
Artist talk & live music July 26th, 2-5
Andrea K. Lawson and Nancy Lawson Carcione, will discuss Synergia, Andrea’s artistic process, journey and the evolution of her new lichen inspired series, with Q and A.
Followed by Live music! WB Reid and Bonnie Zahnow’s traditional fiddle tunes and songs!
SYNERGIA
Andrea K. Lawson
A solo exhibition of new work inspired by lichen and symbiosis
Before my family retreated from the flood prone tidelands of the Tsetsibus shoreline in Port Hadlock to the woodlands of Marrowstone Island, my paintings series Light Hours focused on changing light on sea and sky over seasons of time. Now, in the woods, the green light of the forest fills my eyes and my attention. I have turned from the horizon to focus on the microcosm of plants and minutiae of forest lichen.
Thousands of species of lichen can be found in the Northwest on twigs, logs, rocks, walls, and statues, in an amazing variety of forms and colors. Neither plant nor animal, lichen are a unique life form, a reciprocal community of algae and fungi. Mesmerized by these communities, I began transforming minute observations of lichen into layers of vibrant gestures using paint, mixed media, and my own abstract visual language. My prints are etched with ferric chloride on copper plates. I experiment with non-toxic techniques to create texture using household ingredients like coffee, sand paper, sugar, and snack chip bags. Often, I purposely let the edges of my plates corrode, yielding an organic edge. While traditionally the etched metal plates can withstand the pressure of multiple printings to create editions of identical numbered prints, I enjoy playing with colored ink in combination with monotypes, stencils, or mixed media, more often producing one of a kind original prints.
In my new exhibition, Synergia, I’m compelled to express the profound symbiotic relationship that I feel is missing in our human world, which has been expressed for eons in the microworld of lichen.
Lichen are beings who are more than the sum of their parts, a comingling of wonder living in community. Might they teach us about an imaginable un-hierarchical world of peace and beauty? Could we humans dare to turn our darkness into an epiphany? Can we venture into a world where we live together and find solutions to harmonize with each other and our planet?
June
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Androu Morgan
Large scale paintings of rain, ocean, pools, and puddles.
June
SIGNS OF PASSAGE
Shaun Doll
This work is an ongoing exploration of the transient symbols of the American hobo.
These cryptic marks that were traditionally left by transient workers traveling on the freight trains, most commonly during the great depression, were a means of communication. These symbols, scratched onto fences, carved into wood, or drawn on sidewalks, acted as a visual code of warnings, welcomes, and hard-won wisdom.
Through paintings and sculptures I am giving form to to these ephemeral signs and reinterpret these marks in layered textures and abstract compositions, drawing on weathered surfaces and faded graffiti as both aesthetic and conceptual foundations.
Each work becomes a meditation on movement, memory, and marginalization.
This body of work invites viewers to decode a forgotten language, to see the ingenuity in the overlooked, and to reflect on themes of displacement, mutual aid, and coded solidarity.
By resurrecting these symbols from the fringes of history, I aim to create a bridge between past and present, prompting questions about who gets remembered, who gets marked, and how we read the stories left behind.
May
DAILY GLIMMERS
Lynne Conrad Marvet
I am attracted to and emotionally moved by the things that I photograph. What is see nourishes and replenishes me. It is different from mundane visual perception of the world, There is some kind of spark, shimmer or glimmer of inspiration. I often experience a sense of amazement, wonder, and stillness beyond words, concepts, and thoughts. I know that what I see is fleeting, temporary, and can never be seen in the same way again. That light, time of day, and atmosphere are in constant flux.
Some days I may experience one or more "glimmers". At other times, I do not see "glimmers" at all. Perhaps daily glimmers are offered by the phenomenal world as reminders that everything changes. "Nothing endures but change." (Heraclitus)
Abstract photographs and mixed media offering glimmers -- brief moments that interrupt discursiveness, attract attention, and offer delight, curiosity, ease.
May
DON’T LOOK
Ann-Marie Stillion
"Revising history is one of the hallmarks of a dictatorship." - M H
I can see that as a woman, I was never really in the timeline of history—perhaps tangentially, but nothing more. I can help, give birth, play with lovely things, cook and clean. But I was never meant to lead or rule or be anything significant due to my gender. The recent move by the Trump administration to eliminate the words "women" and “female” in its writings makes this clear.
Simply taking charge of the male body, as I do when I photograph men, has been very satisfying. My work puts something in the world that wasn't there before. I don't render men as real. They are projections of a world I would prefer to live in.
One of the works in the exhibit, “DON’T LOOK” uses a photograph I made years ago at Eagle Falls. It was a gorgeous setting, and I recalled the photographer Edward Weston in its original title. When I posted it on social media, it was censored immediately. Placing words over the man's genitals made it acceptable when I reposted it later.
Women's bodies are shared in every imaginable way, but return the favor and you will find out immediately that men don't want to be seen and everyone has an objection of some kind. So I have continued.
All images © 2025 Ann-Marie Stillion / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
April
FOLKLORE
New paintings of people by Kate Harkins.
Kate Harkins
April
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
Paige Pettibon
This show examines casinos' dual impact on Indigenous communities through paintings of people, playing cards, and dimensional pieces, balancing economy and addiction.
March
OUT OF PROPORTION
Marit Berg
The title of my exhibit is in reference to our realistic expectations of objects in space. I begin my creative process working ideas through a series of drawings in my sketchbook. By playing with scale and perspective I create conflicting depths, in an effort to take familiar objects out of context. By effecting expectations of space, I feel freer to explore the narrative in the work. I might also work some color studies, but color choices are typically decided in the process of the painting or print.
My subject matter is inspired by 16th century Dutch vanitas paintings, a theme previously explored in Roman times. Vanitas paintings are a meditation on the vanities of life; the passing time; and a reminder of the inevitability of death. I am also interested in the Mexican surrealist painters of the early part of the 20th century, particularly Carrington, Varo, and Tichenor. These artists painted intriguing combinations of objects and imaginary figures in landscapes or enclosed spaces. Like these artists, I present a narrative in an imagined space, asking the viewer to consider ideas from different perspectives and contexts.
March
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BREAKING GROUND
Ann Marie Schneider
Ann Marie’s ruptured surfaces and unhinged structures reveal life in the fissures, slips, and voids wrought by deep time.
February
THEY CAME IN PEACE
Kevin Ducoing
Imagining our most obvious legacy -our homes, our neighborhoods, our towns and villages, and our ongoing engineering of the land- as experienced from the landscape's point of view.
What if the land itself could tell the tale of us, the people. Are we just part of the overall surrounding landscape, just another animal making its way? Are we an invasion...or a threat?
In this collection, our presence in the world can be imagined as a flying house moving through the landscape, as from a ghost story, or a science fiction movie.
February
EMBRACING DEPTH
Uyen Tran-Gjerde
Creating through chaos and revealing the true intentions of every artist will demand attention from all corners of the world.
