More fossils from The Book of Shadows appearing in Pioneer Square this month
The Book of Shadows: Trilobites: kootenia burgessensis in the 2026 CoCA Members' Show, Multitudes, opens July 2, First Thursday, from 6-9pm. The CoCA Gallery at 114 Third Ave. S. in Seattle, WA is open from July 2 to July 26, 2026.
My acrylic mixed media door painting will be in Pioneer Square in July 2026. The 2026 CoCA Members' Show, Multitudes, is being held at Center on Contemporary Art's Pioneer Square Gallery at 114 Third Ave. S. in Seattle, WA from July 2 to July 26, 2026. Opening night will be July 2, First Thursday, from 6-9pm. The exhibition will be open during the nearby Seattle Art Fair, July 23 -26 (https://seattleartfair.com/). CoCA's gallery exhibition hours are Thursday - Saturday, 11am - 4pm https://www.cocaseattle.org/
The painting's acrylic mixed media includes crackle paste (delicate), referring to the predominantly dry context of carapace fossils. I also centered the relief print fossils on Arches hot press watercolor paper, mounted on door section with hanging mounting on reverse. Images depicted are of middle Cambrian arthropods found in the Burgess Shale, and the Mt. Stephen trilobite bed. I hiked Mt. Stephen, near Field, British Columbia, with my family and collected rubbings of various trilobites over 25 years ago.
Fossils are a kind of residue, often invoking books and their pages. Artwork can also be a glossary or time capsule for decoding history.
This work appeared in a CoCA members' catalog in 2013. It also has appeared in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 111 SW Broadway, Portland OR.
The juror for the exhibition, David Francis, PhD, asked some questions about some issues about our current art practices, especially in the material context. Here are some drafted responses:
The conflict of arts and science funding is very frustrating to me. It reflects the same pattern of social divisions the ruling class seeks to exploit among workers and producers. Apparent comic attempts to pursue cultural hegemony reveal the confusion of our present overlords and their obsession with control. I include theft and destruction of cultural heritage among crimes against humanity. When art and science come from our communities’ imagination, our strength increases with our solidarity.