Discover the bold and brilliant minds behind our art — meet this month’s Featured Artists.
Where passion meets canvas — explore the stories behind every masterpiece.
Fabric
Hi, I’m Deborah Ann and being an artist has been my air ever since I can remember. As a child I did artwork in my bedroom before I got a floor loom and was allowed to take over a part of the basement.
In the early 1960’s I found weaving, then macrame and crocheting and finally fabric art in the early 70’s and I’ve followed that path ever since. I love to push the fabric medium to see how far from quilts and close to painting I can get without actually using paint.
Felting
Kay Bae is a Seattle-based artist specializing in collage and mixed media, blending creativity with a systemic approach influenced by her scientific background. Through her work, she explores the beauty of lines, shapes, colors, and spatial relationships in both nature and the man-made world.
Her art has been exhibited in galleries, commissioned, collected, and recognized with awards. Drawing inspiration from both Eastern and Western cultures, she layers paper and fabric to create rich textures, dynamic compositions, and a sense of movement.
Kay’s artistic journey reflects her commitment to creativity, capturing the essence of nature while fostering community through art.
In the early 1960’s I found weaving, then macrame and crocheting and finally fabric art in the early 70’s and I’ve followed that path ever since. I love to push the fabric medium to see how far from quilts and close to painting I can get without actually using paint.
Linocut
oil on canvas
Creating has always been a part of who I am. I love working with my hands, and experiencing fully the medium that I use. Abstraction is what I am most drawn to, and I strive to create works that offer something new each time they are viewed.
I have an art degree from the University of Washington, and have been a student at both Kirkland Arts Center and Seward Park Clay Studio.
I am a mom of three grown human children, and a dog, cat and chickens.
Linoleum Reduction Print with relief inks
Hi, I am Beka Bielman. I’m an artist living in Duvall, WA with my husband and son.
The markmaking of both Van Gogh and M.C. Echer inspire me. I like how Van Gogh uses brushwork to mimic swirls of wind in the sky and how Echer repeats his mesmorizing patterns. They both use techniques that draw their viewers in for a closer look.
I love creating abstract artwork and enjoy experimenting with new techniques. I use watercolor, ink, archival markers, and pens to create artworks like Symphony. I am currently testing out the reductive printmaking process for my landscape art.
Ceramic
Charles S. Bigger Is a potter and sculptor who lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Mr. Bigger has an extensive history as a potter and sculptor, with public projects and private commissions on his resume. In addition to his public work, he has worked with adults and children of all ages to produce tile projects for schools and corporate sponsors. His personal work includes free standing and wall mounted sculptures, using clay and glass as the basic building components. In addition to his artwork, Charlie is an amateur jazz musician and an avid hiker.
acrylic
Celebrate the strength, prosperity, and beauty of the purple gladiolus (劍蘭, Jiànlán) with this striking floral artwork. Featuring a single, bold stalk adorned with bright purple blooms, this composition is set against a soft sky-blue background, creating a visually stunning contrast that embodies balance, renewal, and festive joy. In Chinese culture, the gladiolus symbolizes resilience, integrity, and good fortune, making it a perfect addition to Chinese New Year celebrations and home décor. The vertical composition highlights the elegance of the flower, drawing the eye upward, while the vivid purple petals bring warmth and energy to any space.
Glass
In his 50-year career as an Art Educator, Carl Clausen (M.Ed.) taught k-12 for 35 years in Bellevue School District and more recently in Northshore School District. He currently teaches preschool through 8th grade Art at a parochial school as well as elementary art at Kirkland Arts Center. A former Co-President of Washington Art Education, he has received recognition for his Art Education advocacy at the local, state, and national levels.
Watercolor on paper
Karine Dulyan is a Japanese-Armenian artist who feels a profound connection between art and nature. She explores this bond, allowing rhythm and movement to flow through her work. With a background in architecture, she masterfully blends structure with spontaneity, using acrylics, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, and collage.
Embracing imperfection as a path to discovery, Karine seeks new truths within mistakes. Her art is layered, raw, and ever-evolving—like cities, like emotions, like life itself.
Karine has exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Yerevan. Through her work, Karine continues to engage with new places, people, and ideas—always searching, always transforming
Acrylic on Canvas
Juliet Fiss is an abstract painter and computer scientist from Kirkland, WA. She has a B.S. in Imaging Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington. Juliet’s paintings are colorful visualizations of mathematics and computer science algorithms, inspired by her interests in computer vision, signal processing, quantum computing, and the colorful patterns of birds and nature. Her work is included in the collections of the Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation at Seattle University and the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT.
Acrylics on wood
Anna-Julia, was born in 1981 in Hamburg, Germany.
After earning a Master’s Degree in Education and Visual Arts she worked as a teacher around the world, including in Brazil, South Africa and Germany. When she moved to the U.S. in 2013, she joined a gallery and realized her lifelong dream to open ANNA’S ART LAB, where she creates and teaches art to children and adults.
Anna is a painter, sculptor and ceramic artist.
Children inspire her with their free spirit and positive attitude towards life wherever she works with them and creates art.
Alcohol ink on Yupo paper
Sok Grant is a mixed media artist based in Kirkland, Washington. Her abstract works are inspired by the raw beauty of the Pacific Northwest, blending textures and layers that reflect the region’s landscapes and natural elements. Using a variety of materials, Sok creates dynamic pieces that evoke emotion and invite reflection. Her art captures the interplay between nature’s chaos and harmony, resonating with the serene yet unpredictable essence of the Northwest.
acrylic
Art, for me, is a source of joy—a way to create and share happiness. Through my paintings and resin artworks, I explore colors, textures, and movement, aiming to evoke a sense of wonder and positivity in those who experience my work.
My process is intuitive, allowing each piece to unfold organically as I experiment with layering, depth, and fluidity. Whether through the reflective beauty of resin or the expressive strokes and flow of paint, I seek to capture the harmony between nature’s forces and human emotion.
Ceramic
Photography
Jeremy Hurd-McKenney is a Seattle-based photographer specializing in horror vignettes and architectural abstracts. He is the Gallery Director at Kirkland Arts Center.
Ceramic
mixed media
Cheryl King is a locally grown artist that has devoted much of her career to animals and animal conservancy. She has close ties with Woodland Park Zoo and a developed market in Montana. She expresses her love for all critters with the use of bold brushwork and color, yet is also experimental using black and white. Her artwork is a true appreciation of mother nature’s denizens.
Giclee print of acrylic original
Art has been a great passion of mine since I was a baby. I enjoyed drawing on the walls of my house as a toddler which motivated my parents to enroll me in art classes. I started classes when I was six years old and immediately loved it. I enjoy drawing and painting animals, landscapes, and anything that is interesting or meaningful.
My favorite medium is acrylic because it is forgiving and with it I have the ability to splash bright and versatile colors onto the canvas. Recently I have been doing acrylic pours, drawing everyday objects, and painting landscapes.
Ceramic
I am a hand builder and I love the flexibility and the unlimited range of possibilities that one can explore with hand building in clay. I enjoy playing with bright colors, textures, and unusual shapes.
I am currently working with low-fire terracotta and love the richness and depth of its color. I strive to create a striking contrast between unglazed terracotta and smooth glossy glazes in my finished pieces
linocut
David Lynx is the Executive Director of Kirkland Arts Center. His work has appeared in over 60 solo and group exhibitions.
mixed media
Koray Lynx’s cloth doll art consists of textiles, sculpting, and various forms of mixed media. He makes cloth dolls based on various current and universal themes. Koray has been handcrafting art dolls since 2014. He started working on a doll to take his mind off some issues that were going on in his life. It was an effective distraction for a while. Then, he took a hiatus for a few years, only to come back to it again. When he creates a doll, he decides on a theme, but doesn’t know how it will turn out until it is finished. His latest work centers on issues and represents a message with each doll. He finished a doll about breast awareness, and another on the problems of Muslim women. One of his most recent dolls incorporated the Turkish eye and addressed the concept of superstition.
oil and mixed medium
Anna Macrae is a British born artist living Seattle WA, she is a a process driven artist. Her work is generated in response to the materials that she uses together with the techniques and processes that she has developed. She is interested in texture and surface and playing with nonprecious unconventional materials. Macrae’s intention with her artmaking is to make beautiful relatable messy imperfections.
Mixed Media (acrylics, inks, collage)
Mixed Media (acrylics, inks, collage)
A native of New Delhi, India, Rohini Mathur is a self-taught floral and botanical painter who enjoys creating vibrant floral, botanical and garden paintings with colorful garden pollinators that pay homage to the immense wonders of Mother Nature.
Rohini is an award-winning artist and her artworks have won several accolades and awards and have been juried into several exhibitions and shows. She is also a Public Artist with floral art installations around several cities in the Puget Sound area such as in City of Bellevue, Issaquah, SeaTac and Kent, among many others.
Porcelain
I have been working in ceramics for 25 years and became interested in the Korean tradition of double walled ceramics early on. My inspirations for patterns and forms come from all over the world. Most importantly, I am sustained by the Kirkland Arts Center community and all the staff and artists that have made it my artistic home.
Oil on canvas
I paint predominately with oils on canvas, often incorporating line drawn with charcoal or china marker
I love to portray narratives through a cast of characters in unexpected contexts, and to create the worlds they inhabit with graphic blocks of color, something now known as Ninaland. I find intrigue in translating traditional landscapes and backgrounds into fractured geometric fields, using color to communicate temperature and mood.
Painting as a form of storytelling is my passion, and ultimately what inspires me to continue studying the masters while guarding the original style that beats within my soul.
Ceramic
I have been exploring with clay since I first started taking classes at a community center in Boulder, CO in 1997. Later, as a student, an apprentice, and an occasional instructor at Clayworks in Binghamton, NY, I had the opportunity to learn and experiment with firing techniques such as high fire reduction, wood-firing, soda firing, Raku, and pit/sawdust. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, the primary focus of my work has been making functional ware on the wheel. I love wheel thrown forms and like to alter them to create one-of-a-kind pieces. As I explore different clays, methods
ceramic
Merino wool and cashmere blend
Dedicated to teach and share the craft of knitting
Acrylic and colored pencil on wood panel
Abi Prie is a PNW based and raised artist. Her work explores the interaction between life, death, heritage, existentialism, and folklore. When she isn’t painting, she is working as a fused glass instructor, collecting bugs, and exploring her Pacific Northwest home.
Prominent imagery in Abi’s work include: monsters, Magic, quilts, skulls, doorways, serpents, acrobats, Divinity, daggers, hands. Blurring the lines between the physical and mystical worlds, she creates windows into tales that may have been and that still might be. She incorporates Celtic and Hispanic stories from her own heritage, creating mythologies that feel both old and new.
Oil and cold wax on panel
Flora Ramirez-Bustamante makes paintings and small sculptures that integrate personal and cultural symbols in figurative or abstract compositions. She paints from found photographs, and art historical paintings. De-construction, ambiguity, raw and bold depictions are in the root of her art processes.
Ramirez-Bustamante is a Spanish-born visual artist based in Seattle, Washington. She received her BA in Spanish Linguistics from the Universidad Autonoma of Madrid, Spain, and her PhD on General Linguistics and Spanish Grammar from the same university years later. She is the second generation autodidact artist in her family.
Ceramic
As a child, hours spent in the Northwest woods, playing with creatures, and making mud pies, informed the creation of Juliette Ripley-Dunkelberger’s work. Meshing human figures, nature, social justice, and deep knowledge of emotional realms creates powerful, timeless figures and forms. An active artist for over thirty years, she enjoys artistic collaborations, curating, and teaching. As an expert in creativity, she works with individuals and organizations, empowering their innate creativity and driving innovation.
Fused Glass
Working with clay and more recently with fused glass, I aim to attract the eye with form, color, texture and depth to draw the viewer in for a closer look. I strive to create display-worthy, functional and decorative objects that honor the handmade aesthetic and reflect the idiosyncrasies and uniqueness inherent in the process.
Ceramic
This bowl represents a celebration of nature.
Serigraph on paper
Singletary’s art has become synonymous with the relationship between Tlingit culture and fine art. His glass sculptures deal with themes of Tlingit mythology and traditional designs, while also using music to shape his contemporary perspective of Native culture.
marigold petals (fresh and dried), mixed media
Paige St-Pierre is a Seattle Fiber Artist and Educator. She co-creates with nature by infusing her reclaimed textiles with color grown from her own backyard dye garden. She showcases the botanical alchemy of her surface design process through the perfectly imperfect process of coaxing color from flowers, bark, leaves or insects onto paper and cloth. With a curiosity for the natural world and a reverence for humanity’s long history of creative reuse, her up-cycled designs are inspired by patterns and artful mending techniques from around the world such as shibori, tataki zome, bojagi, kantha, and sashiko.
Ceramic, Ash Glaze, Scallop Shell
Jonathan Steele has been making pottery since 2009 and received an MFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2016. He was Resident Artist at Pleasant Hill Pottery from 2016 to 2018 where he developed his precise style for woodfired teapots and the supporting vessels for gongfu cha. In 2024 Jonathan was selected as resident artist at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan where he made a body of work with new and expansive influences. Jonathan was a student at Kirkland Arts Center in 2011 and returned as an instructor in 2024.
Ceramic
My love for throwing on the wheel stems from the mesmerizing process of shaping raw clay into form and function. I find great joy in creating functional pieces that serve a purpose and evoke beauty and emotion.
For me, the exploration of color, texture, and surface design is where ceramics truly come to life. Each piece is an opportunity to experiment with new ideas and techniques and create a distinct and visually captivating piece.
porcelain, glaze, sound
Timea Tihanyi is a Hungarian born interdisciplinary visual artist and ceramicist living and working in Seattle, Washington. Tihanyi holds an MFA in ceramics from the University of Washington, where she is an Emeritus Professor.
Her work has been exhibited in the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Europe. Tihanyi is the recipient of the 2018 Neddy Award in Open Media. She founded and directs Slip Rabbit, a unique technoceramics research and mentoring studio in Seattle.
Acrylic on Canvas
Untrained, untamed, unscripted, unapologetic. Valerie was born in NYC, resided in the USVI, and traveled abroad. Her collectors are as wide-ranged and varied as her artistic expressions. Her work is in Seattle, Kirkland, and Cle Elem WA, Gilbert and Scottsdale, AZ, Calistoga, Oakland, CA, Boston, MA, Bend, OR, Alpharetta, GA, Nuevo Vallarta, MX, and Tomar, Portugal. Valerie is an African American emerging talent and through her art, she seeks to evoke emotions, foster harmony, empathy, and unity.
Fused Glass
Scandia Wood-Blackwell is a long-time kiln forming glass artist and glass fusing instructor. While she is primarily and passionately now focused on her fused glass Frit and enamel landscape paintings, she also still enjoys exploring various techniques and glass fusing artist materials made by her friends in the art glass manufacturing community. It’s very much about the joy of the creative process at this stage in her career. Custom artwork requests are always welcomed.
Oil
This is a studio piece developed from a smaller plein air study done at the Libby Beach on Whidbey island in the summer of 2024. The golden glow of the setting sun casting on the water and cliffs captivated me.
by Ann, Deborah
Fabric
Hi, I’m Deborah Ann and being an artist has been my air ever since I can remember. As a child I did artwork in my bedroom before I got a floor loom and was allowed to take over a part of the basement. In the early 1960’s I found weaving, then macrame and crocheting and finally fabric art in the early 70’s and I’ve followed that path ever since. I love to push the fabric medium to see how far from quilts and close to painting I can get without actually using paint.
by Bae, Kae
Felting
Kay Bae is a Seattle-based artist specializing in collage and mixed media, blending creativity with a systemic approach influenced by her scientific background. Through her work, she explores the beauty of lines, shapes, colors, and spatial relationships in both nature and the man-made world.
Her art has been exhibited in galleries, commissioned, collected, and recognized with awards. Drawing inspiration from both Eastern and Western cultures, she layers paper and fabric to create rich textures, dynamic compositions, and a sense of movement.
Kay’s artistic journey reflects her commitment to creativity, capturing the essence of nature while fostering community through art.