For the month of April Make.Shift invites you to step outside of the gallery and into an environment that welcomes curiosity and play. Spring has sprung and it’s time to invite your inner child to Playful Creatures, a partially interactive exhibit showing a combination of local, regional, and international artists in Bellingham Washington.
The exhibit is focussed on spreading a spirit of playfulness and imagination. Our featured artist this month, Sophia Munic, originally from Minneapolis, moved to Washington to pursue an education in Sculpture and French Studies at The University of Puget Sound. She is now based out of Tacoma and has become a fixture in Tacoma’s local art community. Her work is intended to create “a warm sense of nostalgia” using bright colored materials and toy-like forms.
She is quoted saying “Creature like shapes reignite a sense of wonder when trying to figure out what exactly they are and how to place them in our memories. Reconnecting to these memories is an act of imagination. To rekindle that sense of imagination I create objects of play.” Due to her emphasis on play, her featured installation is fully interactive.
It is intended to immerse you in nostalgic interactions. A drawing table will be set up for viewers to color in coloring pages or draw their own responses to her work.
Keiko Scott, a BFA graduate from WWU’s art department, now based out of Tokyo, Japan, will be displaying multiple mediums of work including fiber and video. Their work touches on personal experiences from their own childhood as well as their queer identity.
Bellingham artist, Spiderleg, an Atlanta transplant, will be showing work from a series of unstretched canvas acrylic paintings. The subjects are creepy monsters and critters painted in the most delightfully vibrant color palettes. Suzie Marco, based out of Bellingham, is a current WWU BFA student. She will be showing oversized plush art that references both play and nostalgia.
Lily Foss, a Bellingham based textile artist, is also a student in Western’s art department. Her work has been described as visual equivalents to the Mother Goose stories. This exhibition displays her current work in textile animation and plush paintings.
Join us on our journey down memory lane for a show bound to bring you back to a colorful past.
The opening will be on Art Walk Friday, April 3rd from 6-10 p.m. For more information about the Art Walk or Make.Shift please visit our website at makeshiftproject.com or contact Gallery Director, Gabrielle Olson, at gallery@makeshiftproject.com.
About Make.shift: Make.Shift Art Space is a 501 ©3 nonprofit DIY venue dedicated to providing a space for all-ages art and music in Bellingham. The 8,000-square-foot space includes
21 studios, an award-winning gallery, a live music performance space and a low-power radio station KZAX 94.9. We are an all-ages space dedicated to a policy of no booze, no drugs, no jerks.
Accessibility Information: Make.Shift strives to create a safe and inviting space for all to enjoy and utilize. There are two ramps at Make.Shift: one at the front door that provides access to the gallery, office, upstairs studios, and bathrooms. All of these doorways are 3’ wide. The other leads to the basement and provides access to the stage and main concert area. This doorway is 3’ 5”.
