How wild can a garden be before it’s not a garden anymore; but a tangled, disappearing abstraction of a gardener’s composition? New paintings by Seattle-based artist Isabelle Grizzard Robertson transcend traditions of landscape and botanical painting to explore this border territory. Intricate leaves and stems disappear in the frenzy of drawing, sometimes reappearing as marks in the foreground, sometimes assembling into the structure of a flower, a garden hose, or a field of gravel. Verdant and bursting with color, the paintings transform the interior walls of the gallery into a vertical garden.

". . . As a young traveler in Asia and Europe, I was struck by the power of the centuries-old frescoes and how the patina of time made them even stronger and more curious. My experience working with dynamite and construction added another appreciation for how things look when they have been 'worked'. This 'working' of the paintings is as personal as the way I talk or walk, and equally as hard to explain." - Paton Miller

Artist Bennett Grizzard lived in rural Cambodia during 2007/2008, volunteering with the organization Veterans International. This show is the first of a series exhibiting his drawings, paintings, and photographs.

Each sculptural bowl made by Seattle artist Laura Yeats begins with the discovery of the unique form that emerges from a familiar material: wood. Yeats uses reclaimed green wood from around the Puget Sound region, freshly cut trees that change drastically as she works. Each bowl is turned on a lathe, air-dried, and finished with non-toxic, food safe finishes.

Featured photographer Murray West: "I have tried to capture the unique nature of these ancient olive trees: "'The forceful, yet bizarre shapes of these olive trees, these Mallorcan foster-fathers, are unequalled. The islanders swear that no plantation is more recent than the time of the Romans. Even if I wished to, I cannot dispute this, for I have no way of proving the contrary. After one look at their daunting appearance, the incredible size and frenzied attitudes of these mysterious trees, my imagination voluntarily accepted them as contemporaries of Hannibal. In the evening, when walking in their shade you have to remind yourself that they are trees: for if you believe your imagination and what your eyes see, you would be terror-stricken by these fantastic monsters...' (A Winter In Mallorca, George Sand)."

Our first Open Studio in Seattle!