August 2024 / Smoke Season
Christian French, Untitled(Exodus series), 2020, Photograph, 45” x 25”
Claire Johnson, summer of a thousand fires, 2023, oil on panel, 111/2” x301/2”
Tim Marsden, Li Po Poem, 2022, Embroidery Thread and Hoop, 8” x 8” x 1”
Janet Galore, Smoke break, 2024, video loop on vintage TV, 3:15 mins, 12” x 18” x 12” (approx)
Smoke Season
Claire Johnson
Tim Marsden
janet galore
Christian French
August 01 - 30, 2024
Opening Reception / Thursday, August 01, 5–8pm
Summer Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12–5pm
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance
Smoke Season: The Anthropocene has become the Pyrocene. Seasons aren’t anchored anymore like when I was a kid. Used to be, they had something to do with the Sun, tied inexorably to weather patterns. Nowadays they’re very fashionable for everything from zucchini to election, baseball to holiday, flu to monsoon. No escape, really. Oh well, to everything there is a season, even if King James and the Holy Rollers did rip off the Byrds.
Smoke Season.
A shoulder season for all seasons. The moment when it hits you and you wonder what to do. Time to pack your bags. Paradise is burning. No time to pack your bags. Jump in the pool. Paradise is still burning. Smoke Season is a quartet of artists (Christian French, Tim Marsden, Claire Johnson, janet galore) staring into the haze for a glimpse of the future. Be ready to squint.
Enjoy the view.
ARTIST STATEMENTS // BIOS
After studying photography and filmmaking in Massachusetts, New York, San Francisco and Tampa, Christian French pried a Studio Art degree from the jaws of SUNY Albany and headed West to search for fool’s gold. A familiar irritant in the local arts community since 1994, he was an early member of SOIL, exhibiting and curating at SOIL, Art Space, Bumbershoot and various venues plus a couple of shipping container sculptures tossed in for good measure. As Artist-in-Residence for Sound Transit he designed the station pictograms as wayfaring aids for the original 13 Link light rail stations, much to everyone’s chagrin. Later studio-based work has included compulsively stacking things higher and higher, leading people to wonder about his safety (and sanity). He likes Spandex, glitter, found objects, hot water, long walks on the beach and playing the lottery in a desperate attempt to come from behind at the last minute.
Claire Johnson has been a fixture of Seattle’s art-making and presentation community for several decades. After studying at the University of Washington and the Academy of Art College in SF CA, she consolidated her degree at Evergreen State college and came to Seattle. A member of Occulus Gallery, and now a longtime member of SOIL, Johnson continues to paint as well as provide independent exhibition support through her company Art Exhibition Services.
Her work has been exhibited in the Seattle region (Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Vashon, and Bumbershoot) as well as nationally in Miami, FL and Bethesda, MD. Earlier this year Claire’s work was included in the exhibit Silva Cascadia at The Museum of Northwest Art
Tim Marsden was born in Liverpool in 1964 and has traveled back and forth between Europe and North America ever since. He studied art in London, had a mural company in Glasgow, and showed with the British Council in Barcelona. Since moving to Seattle in 1997, he has been involved with the local arts community on many levels, as a member of SOIL Artist’s Cooperative from 1998 through 1999, a contributing artist for The Horsehead Sculpture Project in 1998 and 1999, and has assisted in the installation of murals by Sol Lewitt and Shahzia Sikander at the Seattle Art Museum. He has also shown extensively in the area, for the past twenty odd years. Tim’s work is a recognizable figurative style using a bold palette and cartoonish imagery.
janet galore is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in Seattle, working in the intersection of art and technology for nearly 30 years. Her award-winning artwork explores themes in perception, parafiction, and the surreal through short film, animation, installation, and sound. Her work has appeared at venues including Museum of Museums, Orcas Paley, Bumbershoot, Berlin Director’s Lounge, FMX Stu9gart, MTV, ResFEST, BBC, Sundance Online Film FesBval, and Northwest Film Forum. janet co-directs The Grocery Studios with her partner demi raven, and holds a BS in pure mathematics from the University of Washington and over 25 patents. More at https://janetgalore.com, https:// thegrocerystudios.com, and @janetgalore on Instagram.