March 2025 / a garden of connecting paths

a garden of connecting paths

Marcia Jones
Dorothy Frey
Stephanie Pierce
Saya Moriyasu
Heidi Leitzke
Kimberly Trowbridge
Alex Cohen
Sarah Norsworthy
quinn mcnichol
Naima Merella
Lindsey Andersen
James Hartunian
Ayla Jacob
Whiting Tennis
Alex Ballenger

March 06 - 29, 2025

Opening Reception, Thursday, March 06, 5-8pm

Winter Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 11am–4pm

a garden of connecting paths is a metaphor of a garden plot, designed to
express how seeds how seeds of inspiration and roots of thought can spread
through formal teachings, creative collaborations and collective dreaming.

The plants in this garden are a mix of perennials and new growth. Propagation
has occurred by root division or seed spreading. Teachings from one flower
blossom send seeds into the soil, who absorbs this energy, nurtures its message
and digests it - sending sprouts of their own expression to grow and bloom.
Another plant moves its roots slowly under the earth, spreading, shooting inspiration vertically up to unfurl many leaves which reach the open air and expand.

They were made in Pennsylvania, New York, California, Mexico and Washington, spanning across multiple zones of growth. The artists in this show are students, classmates, teachers, friends, collaborators, who all share a common thread of crafting visual art in response to the outdoor spaces they visit, inhabit, dream of and tend; gardens full of herbs, flowers, food; small creatures, human hands and feet, wavering thoughts which meander in their mind as they make images with ink, thread, paint, graphite, cast plaster, wire, clay, electronics and collage.

Marcia Jones was quinn mcnichol’s art mentor in their developmental years;
Heidi Leitzke and Dorothy Frey met in an art program in Italy, and both live in
Lancaster, not far from Alex Cohen; both Heidi and Dorothy were quinn’s professors. Alex has hosted Heidi, Dorothy, Stephanie Pierce and Sarah Norsworthy for shows on his property at Kings Oaks. Sarah met Stephanie and Kimberly Trowbridge in Seattle, met Heidi and Dorothy at Chautauqua in New York. Stephanie and Kimberly worked alongside each other at University of Washington. quinn met Kimberly and Stephanie both at Mount Gretna School of Art, where Heidi takes residence every summer.

Sarah and Saya Moriyasu got to know each other over several years of Seattle Art Scene overlap. Ayla Jacob is a student of Sarah’s at the North Seattle College Continuing Education program. Naima Merella and quinn met and lived together in Philadelphia, and their friendship continues to grow on the west coast, between their respective homes in LA and Seattle. Together they are in creative community with Lindsey Andersen at Wonder Domes in Wonder Valley CA.

In 2019 quinn moved from PA to WA, and met Sarah: together they sat in Whiting Tennis’ garden and mused on the many ways they were connected, and dreamed of how their connections might cross-pollinate and grow in both the near and distant future. Alex Ballinger and Sarah knew each other through the Seattle night scene, and the triangulation of creativity between quinn, Alex and Sarah was formed shortly after quinn and Alex met. James Hartunian is a new member of SOIL, the artist-run gallery where this garden of gonnecting paths grows in March 2025.