I am excited to announce the 2026 Spotlight North Studio Tour May 16-17. I have been hard at work preparing for this event, which is an opportunity for neighbors, friends, and a wider community to meet North Seattle artists in their native environment. What I love about the open studio environment is that I can show work from every phase of my career: the finished, the unfinished, and the experimental. I like nothing better than talking to people about process and media and seeing how people respond to new directions.
Each artist will have their individual studio open from noon to five. The map will go live on the Spotlight North website in May, and there will will be another post coming in May with additional previews of work I will be showing. This time I will be offering framed and semi-framed drawings (protected with glass and clips) as well as my ongoing print series, framed miniatures ranging from botanical to abstract, and a new card line just introduced this week.
Since my last post I have continued my return to the contemplative silence of pure graphite drawing, immersing myself in fragile beauty and channeling the analog simplicity of another time. I think often of Brantwood, the home and studio of John Ruskin, which I visited in England’s Lake District in 1990. I was still a full-time calligrapher then and had no idea I would pick up a pencil 30 years later and know what to do with it. The pencil was always a tool I felt belonged to other people, who “knew” something. It still confounds me that the pencil itself knows, and in that simple graphite lead is some spiritual connection backwards in time.
I draw, as the radio tells me the Iranians have misplaced the mines they dropped in the Strait of Hormuz. I draw as the pumps in Ireland run dry and traffic grinds to a halt and farmers blockade the roads in protest of impossible prices. I listen to the glass walls shatter at Iran’s Golestan Palace and the breathing of the astronauts looking out at the dark side of the moon. The modern world roars, yet still: I can smell the musk of old papers and iron gall in John Ruskin’s studio and feel the floorboards under the window above the lake. On Easter I move my pencil along the edge of an egg and study how light falls on fragile things, just as it did in 1872. I have perhaps never been more grateful for history itself, and how we can enter it at any point in the stream. They say Chat GPT knows everything, but history knew it first.
I have been drawing on gessoed and stained panels as well as paper, and have been pleased to find a new fixative that can protect the surface without altering colors or values. For those who don’t have the patience to try every fixative ever made, this Virgo has done it for you. After days of frustrating tests with fixatives designed for pastel and charcoal, but which all altered the surface and dulled the whites, I discovered Simply Elegant Print Guard from IT Supplies, where I get my digital ink and paper. This archival UV spray is a miracle, and will allow me to forgo glass on some of my mixed media work. These are two of the several miniatures that I will be float framing.
In looking through the lens of time I have returned to images I made in a series inspired by tintypes. Years ago, after a week in Sharpham at Stephen Bachelor’s Buddhist retreat at Gaia House I found myself at a flea market in Lisbon. Although I have always filled my suit case to bursting with souvenirs when traveling, I only came home with two things from Portugal: an ancient tile of an angel’s wing, and a plastic bag of watch faces missing their hands. These watch faces sit on display in a tableau I see every day, and periodically they enter my work. The first set in my new card line, The Mysteries, features these magical planetary orbs, and a mesmerizing gate that became a muse for the intersection of botanical forms and architecture. Two other sets of cards are coming, and will be introduced in the next news letter. These will be available in person for the first time at Spotlight North. As I never know how to gauge interest or how much to print for these events, if you would like to reserve a set to pick up at the opening an order form is provided below. Simply print or take a photo with your phone and email to me with your choices indicated (iskra at iskrafineart dot com).
In other news, my photographic art continues, and I have been happy recently to see some of my favorite pieces find homes. “Beachcombers in Golden Light” was accepted by 4Culture as part of Here and Now in the King County Public Art Collection. This image is from the At the Shoreseries created to celebrate a rare window during pandemic when we returned to the life of the beach and human connection. This scene is a glimpse of Golden Gardens, and the eternal wonder of children discovering the shore.
Other projects with interior designers and galleries are in the works. I am grateful for the many connections in my diverse art community that allow me to follow my intuition and follow whatever unexpected paths appear before me. I hope to see you this May at the open studio!
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