Member Directory

I’ve been creating since childhood, back when crayons, scissors, and glue felt like tools for making my own little world. Shows like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers shaped my early imagination, opening me to different cultures, perspectives, and a sense of curiosity that never really left. My creative path has wandered through many forms. I started in film photography, stepped away for years, then resurfaced through small handmade crafts before finding collage. Both traditional and digital collage feel natural to me. I love gathering existing images, choosing the pieces that resonate, and letting them arrange themselves into something new. My process is instinctive and unforced; music often sparks the flow.

Lea Basile-Lazarus is an intuitive abstract printmaker and papermaker who has been an artist and educator for most of her life. Lea’s passion for printmaking grew in undergraduate school, at The College of New Jersey. She received her MFA with a concentration in Printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For 25 years she was an art educator in the northern suburbs of Chicago, IL. Lea has been a recipient of a teacher Fulbright to Japan and spent three weeks in Africa visiting Ghanaian schools and villages, in both cases studying their culture and educational system. Lea has exhibited nationally and is featured in numerous collections. Over the past few years she has participated in one person shows or group exhibitions at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking in Atlanta, GA, Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Bainbridge Island, WA, Mavi Contemporary Gallery, Gig Harbor, WA, Alki Arts, Seattle, WA, CoCA, Seattle, WA, and Gallery 110, Seattle, Wa. In 2026, Lea exhibited in national shows at Slip Stitch Gallery, WA, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA, Brand Library and Art Center, CA, and Remarque Print Workshop, NM. Lea moved to the Pacific Northwest almost 6 years ago, now living in West Seattle. She is an active member of the Seattle art community and is currently Co-Chair of the West Seattle Art Tour and is responsible for hanging exhibitions at the Women Painters of Washington Gallery in Columbia Towers, Seattle, WA. Most recently, Lea was awarded a residency at the Remarque Print Workshop. She is also a member of Seattle Print Arts, California Society of Washington, and CoCA, Seattle WA.

Artist Bio Mimi is a self-taught, Seattle-area mixed-media artist who began painting just one year ago. What started as a personal and therapeutic creative outlet has quickly grown into a passion for painting, making, experimenting, and transforming everyday materials into original works of art. Her approach is intuitive and exploratory. She works with bold color, texture, collage, abstract forms, photography, found objects, and repurposed materials while continuing to discover and develop her artistic voice. Upcycling is an important part of her practice. Old canvases, previously used frames, recycled materials, leather jackets, and unexpected objects can all become surfaces for something new. She is drawn to the idea of transformation—seeing possibility and beauty in something that might otherwise be overlooked or discarded. Right now, Mimi is especially inspired by the vibrant color, energy, and visual storytelling found in Caribbean art and artists; wolves, which she identifies with as her spirit animal; flowers and botanical forms; sacred geometry; and the beauty, shape, texture, and presence of large, magnificent Afros. These influences appear in her work through color, pattern, symbolism, organic shapes, portraiture, and experimentation. Art-making is also deeply therapeutic for Mimi. Creating gives her a place to decompress, reflect, process emotions, and become completely absorbed in working with her hands. The experience of making the artwork can be every bit as important as the finished piece. Only a year into painting, she embraces being a beginner rather than trying to hide it. Her practice is about curiosity, experimentation, learning, and giving herself permission to create without being confined by traditional rules or a single artistic style.

Milla Petrova is a Seattle-based contemporary visual artist born in the former Soviet Union. Working in oil, acrylic, and pencil, she reinterprets the iconography of her childhood through the lens of contemporary life, layering inherited symbols with the imagery of surveillance, biology, protest, and technology. Realistic in execution and emotional in essence, her work explores memory, identity, and human vulnerability.

Self-taught as an artist, I am blessed with a very active curiosity and a lifelong love of learning. I continue to explore new photography techniques to create non-traditional art through photography. In 2024, a workshop in Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) reshaped my vision—and a feature on my shift appeared in the online March 2025 issue of “ICM Photography Magazine.” I entered my image “Moonrise Over Peter Kirk Park” in two shows and was awarded a 2nd place ribbon in the 2025 Cascadia Competition cell division at the Washington State Fair and 2nd place People’s Choice at the Kirkland Seniors Art Show. As a former ribbon winner, I was on the Kirkland CIty Hall TWIK podcast on April 16, 2026 to discuss my art and the Senior Art Show. My "Two Painted Turtles Basking on a Log" received 1st place in the Senior Art Show in 2025. I was born in Massachusetts , but lived in many states. My favorite is Washington state. My family has been in Washington since late 1889. When I moved in 2017 from Southern California to Kirkland, WA. I felt like I had arrived home. Though I spent over three decades in IT positions, computer programming and web development, my creative side was always quietly growing. I have been making photos since my teens. My first darkroom class at UMass, Boston in the 1970s was exciting and I never stopped learning. Three years as a bookkeeper for Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts exposed me to a range of contemporary art.

I am a Bellingham, WA-based mixed-media nature artist with over 40 years of experience. As a teenager struggling with undiagnosed PTSD, artmaking was lifesaving for me, providing a calling, a practice, and a sense of generativity. I attended the Rhode Island School of Design and afterwards worked as a full-time artist–painting, exhibiting, visiting schools, libraries, and synagogues, and publishing two picture books–while raising my sons. In 2007, I returned to school for education, earning a master’s in 2009 (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and a doctorate in 2018 (Northeastern University), focusing on language and literacy for nontraditional and multilingual students. Until 2022, I taught academic writing to students of all ages and backgrounds, from incumbent workers at Boston hospitals to nursing students at UMass Boston and first-year Boston University students. The pandemic brought me back to the studio full-time, transformed. This year, I am participating in Surge, an art/science collaboration through the Museum of Northwest Art, and in 2024 I served as Visiting Artist at the Native Plant Trust in Massachusetts. I have exhibited and sold my work widely. View my work at https://www.juliebaer.com.

PA - 30years, NYC - 20years, Seattle Area - 6years. Aquired a chronic illness along the way. Artist, Writer, Tattoo. Living the best I can. Open to conversations.

Catherine is a native Seattleite and retired therapist. She has lived in the humidity of South Carolina, Japan and Hawaii, and has enjoyed temperate Seattle for the past twenty years. Catherine works primarily in cold wax and oil on cradled birch panels or paper creating abstract art with a variety of tools such as brayers and squeegees and even an occasional brush!

a person that really enjoys doing good, and works to add interesting ideas into life.

Jen Monteleone is an abstract intuitive expressionist drawing from deeply rooted emotions to create vibrant works that explore self-awareness, transformation, and rebirth.

Vicki Basta, is an artist, altar maker, nature connector and workshop facilitator. Her work focuses on pressed pressed botanical, land art, collage and photography.

Jessica Nash is a mixed media artist based in Fall City, Washington, creating work inspired by the wild edges and quiet rhythms of the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Alaska, she carries a lifelong connection to nature, movement, and creative exploration. After years in health care and a long season of creative experimentation, Jessica found her enduring artistic home in painting. Her mixed media practice blends intuition, layered color, and organic forms, echoing the landscapes and lived experiences that continue to shape her work. She lives in Washington with her husband, their two young boys, and a lively mix of pets. Balancing family life with her studio practice, Jessica draws steady inspiration from time outdoors—hiking, exploring, and cooking for the people she loves.

I'm from California, moved to Seattle at 17. Found creativity in painting. Created, artistic value, & paint to enjoy myself in a wonderous soulfulness energy.

I'm a lifelong lover of the Surreal and Nature. I tend to incorporate colors and shapes found in the everyday, abstracting them into something unique and engaging. -Nick

39 • navy veteran • life long self taught artist • I currently work with acrylics and ink, but work with other types of mediums.

As an abstract expressionist painter, Matt’s work is vibrant, expressive and huge!

Although art has always been a central thread in her life, Kelsey only recently began claiming the title of artist. A cross country move and the loss of nearly all her art supplies forced her to strip her practice down to its essence. With limited space and resources, she began experimenting with charcoal powder and intuitive mark making, allowing process and instinct to guide her rather than perfection or external expectation. This shift became a turning point, marking the beginning of what she describes as her Awakening. Follow on Instagram @krlang_art for updates on recent works and links to her portfolio and shop. KRLang Artworks studio is located in downtown Port Townsend (929 Water St, Unit B4).

Brittani Dinsmore is a Washington-based artist whose work explores curiosity, transformation, and the space between intention and intuition. Working primarily in acrylics, she creates expressive paintings that prioritize emotion, movement, texture, and discovery over realism. After more than 15 years leading marketing and business strategy for technology companies, Dinsmore returned fully to painting following a series of significant life changes that reaffirmed the importance of creativity in her life. Her work is influenced by travel, dreams, music, humor, and the unexpected forms that emerge through an intuitive process. Through both abstract and representational subjects, Dinsmore explores themes of identity, perception, connection, and the often-unspoken aspects of the human experience. She views art as a way to reconnect people with curiosity, authenticity, and a sense of shared humanity. Her ongoing aquatic-themed series uses fish and marine life as metaphors for human behavior, corporate culture, social dynamics, and personal growth. Through humor, symbolism, and layered visual narratives, the work invites viewers to look beyond surface appearances and question assumptions about themselves and the world around them. At its core, Dinsmore’s practice is rooted in curiosity. She sees art as a way to bridge differences, encourage reflection, and reconnect people with their own creativity, intuition, and sense of wonder.

Cathy Braasch is an artist, architect, and educator. She is the principal of Braasch Architecture and was an associate teaching professor in Penn State’s Department of Architecture. Her research interests include foundational design pedagogy and diversifying participants in the built environment. She founded the Robert Reed Drawing Workshops, celebrating the pioneering educator and artist, the first and until recently only tenured Black professor at the Yale School of Art. Braasch Architecture’s work consists of commercial and residential projects, emphasizing flexibility. Previously, she worked at Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Stephen Yablon Architect, and Della Valle Bernheimer. She began the Daily Drawing series in 2014 and has exhibited iterations of the work in 2017, 2019, and 2025. She received a Master of Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts at Yale in painting and printmaking. She relocated to Seattle in January 2025.

Local Wizard selling wares with an affinity for nature based solutions!

Washington-based multidisciplinary artist Vincent Keele employs bold color, rhythm, and texture to create a sense of movement across a range of abstract expressionist and symbolic figurative works. Keele’s work retells the rich history of African Americans, bringing back phenomenal people and places that have been misplaced, forgotten or unknown. He uses various techniques, from traditional to contemporary, to portray his visual narratives. Keele was born in Los Angeles, California where his passion for art began very early. His first influences of art came from a complete course of art books passed on to him by his mother, artist Mary M. Scott, an alumnus of the Art Institute of Chicago. With these materials, he learned to see and produce art in a wide variety of methods. Keele is a self-taught artist whose work is underpinned by meticulous compositional planning and a deep appreciation for art history and his signature Rhythm Writing technique. His attention to these historical and artistic influences manifest at every level of his work. African American experiences are essential in the creation of Keele’s bold paintings and you can find diverse motifs from all around the African continent. Keele’s work has been showcased in numerous countries around the world and featured on Fox TV.

A visual artist based in Seattle, WA. I focus on creating original intuitive paintings, custom colored pencil and intuitive painting commission without a fixed plan, letting color, texture, and instinct guide the process; as well as mindful decor pieces that bring a sense of stillness and calm to living spaces rather than just a standard decoration.

I apprenticed as a metal worker decades ago. Since 1992, my art career has focused on large-scale public artworks although my portfolio contains works of all sizes. I do all my own fabrication in stainless steel, bronze, aluminum and other metals.

I create textured, layered work that explores a sense of place and time, blurring the boundaries of photography, collage, and printmaking; of hands-on and technology. Find out more at https://linktr.ee/lizruest.

I'm a Seattle based artist, but hail from the Midwest. I bring my myriad of experiences into my art practice, pulling from past lives in architecture, sustainability, interpretive design, lighting design, and performance art. I studied art and architecture at the University of Arizona and University of Illinois, along with classes at Gage and Pratt in Seattle.