Winter Art Show at Windermere Mount Baker

Later this month, my office, Windermere Mount Baker Real Estate will kick-off our Winter Art Show with an Artist’s Reception on Thur., Jan. 26, from 5 to 8 pm. Everyone is invited.

Featured South Seattle artist Isobel Davis works in cyanotype process and encaustic monotype collage.

Isobel’s interactive installations feature tactile objects made from encaustic wax and fiber that include text and photo imagery. Her installation projects demonstrate her strong interest in social ecology, connecting viewer’s lives to sustainability issues through engagement.

“I see edges, the way light and shadow wrap itself around objects delineating shape and form,” says Isobel. “I experience edges, because of the transition between one life experience and another, piercing through the protective shell and stepping into the unknown to find vibrancy and freedom. We all participate in cultural edges, where diverse ethnic identities overlap and create new rhythms. In ecology, this transition zone is called the ecotone: a place where two ecosystems intersect, a transition occurs and new thriving biodiversity results.”

Isobel was nurtured in childhood by her experiences kicking around in the mountains, island farms and briny shores of the Pacific Northwest. She spent many hours in her parents ornamental garden, pondering big questions, creating illustrated stories, writing poetry, and making up games. In her 20’s, a stint working on a naturalist ship and research vessel on the high seas introduced her to birds, numerous creatures, endless shorelines, glaciers and icebergs.

She was engaged by the ever-changing play of light on the water and experimented with infra-red photography as a tool to see her environment differently. This natural world has inspired her work and provides a framework for her discussion of things spiritual, philosophical and sociopolitical. Nature is important to her as metaphor, essential life-support, familiar comfort and creative power.

“I choose mediums that force me to partner with nature’s unpredictability, which allows me to create my work in a space that holds the energy and uncontrolled aliveness of the ecotone workspace,” she says. “My work is a conscious response to compelling issues that strike my heart, whether they are environmental, humanistic, or spiritual. In both my bodies of work – poetic framed works and socially engaged interactive installations – I like to create art that captures the energy of a thriving ecology while honoring what’s precious and vulnerable in the world.”

The show runs January through March at Windermere Mount Baker Real Estate (4919 S Genesee St, Seattle, Washington 98118). Learn more about Isobel at her website.

Photos/Featured South Seattle artist Isobel Davis works in cyanotype process and encaustic monotype collage.