ARTIST BIOS & PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS
Portland, OR
Film, Documentary
Amrita
Onyx (she/her) is working on a documentary film called ‘Amrita,’ which follows three groups of women across the globe who are merging science + spirituality in their efforts to conserve wild honeybees amidst a challenging modern landscape. She will be screening a short sample from the feature length film in progress.
Onyx is a published scientist, honeybee conservationist, and a filmmaker. She graduated with an M.S. in Fisheries + Wildlife from Michigan State University in 2015. She is currently directing/producing a documentary called ‘Amrita,’ which follows the stories of three groups of women across the globe who are merging science + spirit in their efforts to conserve wild honeybees. She has received support for this project from Open Signal, as well as grants from RACC and the Roger Family Foundation.
Lane Bestold
Seattle, WA
Fiber Arts
Lane assembles quilts based around tactile movement and colors that scream at him. His pieces consist of second hand fabrics, found objects and whatever else sparks his attention. He combines inspiration from the environment, past experiences and others who inspire him.
Lane is a queer, transman who focuses on textures and color when piecing together textiles. Hand sewn / machine sewed vintage fabrics into wares including quilts, garments and other charms. Sewing helps me ground and feel connected to my ancestors. Through the process of hand stitching I find calm and purpose. This is a labor of love!
Bellingham, WA
Multidisciplinary
Grandma is a Poem
Centered as an ode to aging and the natural world, place-based masks and sculptures will be created and animated by performance and installation from this artist pair. Elements from the sea will be incorporated into the piece, along with archival sounds from Gracen’s family.
Gracen Bookmyer: As a master’s student in gerontology and is endlessly inspired by older adults. She is drawn toward building paper mâché masks that resemble her ancestors and creating wearable sculptures and relics to be worn and embodied by older adults themselves. Rowan Walton works as an interdisciplinary artist propelled by a fascination with materials and a reverence for storytelling. Their work is often characterized by a sense of whimsy, regardless of subject matter or tone
Portland, OR
Sculpture, Ceramic
Michelle Briones (she/they) is combining sculptural and painterly elements with the functionality of the common household object: The mug. This multi step process brings to life miniature 2D and 3D scenes inspired by Sou’Wester artists.
Michelle plays between sculptural and utilitarian. “Briones Made” creates ceramic drink ware that tells a story through clay. Multiple surface textures, glazes and design all come together to create magical and cozy mini scenes.
Portland, OR
Music
“Resonant Reflections: A Cello Centric Sound Journey”
Elizabeth Byrd (she/her) composes and records captivating Cello-centric Sonic Meditative Experiences using the distinctive Campanula Cello, with sixteen additional resonating strings. Blending visual inspiration from the surrounding beauty and the collective human spirit into her performances and recordings, she strives to evoke a sense of reset, renewed energy, balance, and harmony.
Elizabeth Byrd brings her cello, not only to traditional settings but also into the world of theater, world music & sound healing. Described as “Classically trained, Musically free,” she’s focusing on blending multimedia mindful Cello-centric soundscapes & sonic meditations. She is on the faculty of Clark College & Mt. Hood Community College. Training: NC School of the Arts (BM); The Juilliard School (MM); Certifications: MusicforPeople.org, Advanced Crystal Master, Reiki, & CST therapy.
Portland, OR
Social Practice
Olivia DelGandio (she/they) is inviting individuals to view and participate in A House in an Alternate Universe; an interactive, community based work dedicated to grief and keeping the memory of those loved and lost alive.
Olivia asks intimate questions and normalizes answers in the form of ongoing conversations. They explore grief, memory, and human connection and look for ways of memorializing moments and relationships. Through their work, they hope to make the world a more tender place and aim to do so by creating books, videos, and textiles that capture personal narratives. Olivia’s current interests include untold queer histories, family lineage, and the intersection between fashion and identity.
Vancouver, WA
Installation, Painting & Drawing
Embrace
“Embrace” is an installation presented in the woods near the Sou’wester. Erin Dengerink (she/her, they/them) uses paper and other fragile materials to create a space where you can feel cared for, held by the trees and the land around you.
Dengerink creates paintings, drawing, and sculptures that focus on humanity and mortality. She is most proud of her temporary site-specific pieces. Those works have been seen in the Bellevue Art Museum, Columbia Springs, COCA Seattle, and the Corvallis Art Center, among others. They works are meant to draw our attention to the present while also pointing to the temporary nature of everything. She makes work that is helpful, by constructing places and objects that soothe and engage.
Portland, OR
Painting
Brainstorm Painting
Kamala is creating a painting inspired by randomly chosen words and ideas submitted by a variety of Pacific Northwestern schoolchildren.
Kamala makes paintings inspired by scientific illustration, Art Nouveau & Deco, nostalgia, kitsch, childhood experiences, fairy tales, psychedelia and the endlessly bizarre wonders of nature. Kamala graduated from CCA with a BFA in photography and currently does fine art paintings, private commissions and photography.
Matt Emmons
Portland, OR
Musician
Aeolian Flute Ensemble
A sound installation on the beach consisting of an ensemble of handmade overtone flutes played by the wind. The pressure of the wind determines the pitches the flutes play creating an ever changing natural improvisation. The sounds of the beach installation are recorded and used as the foundation for his performance.
Matthew Emmons is a musician and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon.
Seattle, WA
Dance, Performance Art
Choose Your Own Performance
Mary Ferrario (she/her/they/them) is facilitating and presenting ‘Choose Your Own Performance’ a participatory project which will delight your ears and eyes. Join her to experience a gently guided meditation on the elements and intentions of improvised performance.
Mary Ferrario began studying classical ballet and modern dance in Anacortes Washington. She first started choreographing movement at the age of 15. Since 2014 she has danced and performed with artists Joyce Liao, Ilvs Strauss, Alex Tapia and Brooke Emrich. In 2018 she formed the contemporary performance collective Etiquette with William Brattain. She currently performs with a musical performance project called SHAWNS in and around the Seattle area.
Portland, OR
Musician – Alternative, Dark Pop, Garage
Roseblood
Long time Portland musician, Kathy Foster (The Thermals, Hurry Up, All Girl Summer Fun Band), works on new music for her solo project, Roseblood, inspired by the coastal surroundings and the Arts Week theme: Currents & Frequencies. She will perform the new material at the end of the week.
Kathy moved to Portland, Oregon in 1998 from Sunnyvale, CA. She has played in several bands and collaborations since she began playing music in 1992, and continues to do so today. She writes and records her own songs under the name Roseblood. The debut Roseblood LP will be released in the winter or spring of 2024.
Douro, Ontario, Canada
Sculpture
Terra Precarium
Garrett (they/them) presents their metal sculptural installation that delves into the intricate interplay between natural phenomena and human impact, encapsulating the evolution of landscape, climate, and industrial impacts on the world and human labour over time. The installation integrates electronics that are linked to the shifting sculptures.
Garrett originally trained as a welder before completing their BFA at NSCAD University, briefly studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Acadamie in Amsterdam before setting up a permanent studio on a former goat farm in rural Ontario. Their work is characterized by the use of a handheld plasma cutter to intricate cut work based on local plant species and often incorporating found objects ranging from humble handsaws and tools to car hoods, boats, and shipping containers as sculptural installations.
Portland, OR
Musician, Art Direction
Hannah Glavor’s (she/her) trademark deadpan humor and DIY aesthetic are featured in her self-directed and handcrafted installations, photoshoots and music videos themed around her forthcoming album (Spring 2024).
Hannah Glavor is a Portland based artist with a cinematic range of indie rock revelry and raw folk spirit, clutched together by catching pop elements. She has been on the West Coast scene for the past decade sharing the stage and touring with a broad range of sound like Joseph, Y La Bamba, and Liz Vice. Her cry for peace and hope, even in the worst of life’s storms, is an invitation for all to fight to see and love others around them.
Bremerton, WA
Textile, Fiber Dye Arts
Kimagureya
Erika presents a series of hand-dyed katazome pieces inspired by Sou’wester and the Pacific Northwest Coast ecosystem. Demos of the katazome process will be presented throughout the day.
Erika, the maker behind Kimagureya, is a Bremerton, WA based textile artist and hedge witch. She mainly works with katazomê, a type of Japanese dye method that involves the utilization of hand-cut stencils, rice paste resist and mud and botanical dyes. Her work is inspired most by her bicultural roots, her ancestors, and the forest that surrounds her home.
Georgia Harter, Cadence Godula
Portland, OR
Mixed Media Artists
Georgia and Cadence’s (she/her) studio tour features a whimsical nature reel, shot on 16mm B+W film stock, observing and interpreting the conversations taking place within the moonlit forests of Seaview. Elements of the environment have been collected and used in the film development process.
Georgia & Cadence are Portland-based mixed media artists. Georgia’s recent work documents her experiences with intimacy and friendship in a collage of VHS home movies, audio recordings and 35mm portraiture. Cadence experiments with 16mm hand-processed film and is interested in how this process can portray altered states of consciousness. As artistic collaborators who live together, G+C are constantly practicing communication and seek to explore it as a central theme in their work.
Mikey Kampmann, Travis Woolsey
Ojai, CA & St. Louis, MO
Writing, Comedy, Film
Untitled Seekers
Untitled Seekers, Mikey and Travis live in separate states. Sou’wester is the meeting ground. In our week, we will film a short comedy video to present on the weekend and we will begin writing on a longer project.
Mikey Kampmann: Outdoor Educator, and Travis Woolsey: Elementary School Teacher, get together every couple years to write and film comedy sketches. Their first work was produced at Sou’Wester Arts Week 2021.
Portland, OR
Performance, Installation
“Confessional Jukebox”
Confessional Jukebox is metaphor and ritual that aims to create magic through sound, movement, exchange and improvisation. Pains, secrets, confessions and regrets will be collected throughout the week culminating in a performance and shrine informed by these experiences gathered from fellow artists and the public.
Trevor – Inspired by subcultures of music and art, I question power dynamics between popular aesthetics and the regional folk/subcultures they grow from. He creates art knowing that culture is collectively rooted in community. Gino’s work is driven by social interaction and shared experience. Gino focuses on collaborative art that blurs artist/audience lines in hopes of generating curiosity in the viewer/s, inviting participation and collective introspection.
Portland, OR
Multimedia Art
Big Pauper – Drift from Clock Time in a Dropped Frame World
‘Drift from Clock Time in a Dropped Frame World’ is a ten minute multimedia piece created by Big Pauper (he/him) with hacked broadcast equipment & vector scan processing tools. The visual component will be projected and accompanied by a live performance of the soundtrack, composed at Sou’wester Arts Week.
Drew McIntyre (known in some circles as Big Pauper) is a multimedia artist, producer & glitch video tool maker residing in Portland, OR. Drew employs an arsenal of self-hacked and forgotten technologies to create video work that celebrates and revels in the beauty of failure. His musical productions explore synthesized ambient realms, classical motifs and sample drenched psychedelia. Drew has been designing glitch video art tools for video freaks all over the world as BPMC since 2009.
Portland, OR
Drawing, Mixed Media
Heather McLaughlin explores the deep blackness in nature that mirrors the phantasmagorical moments in life. Personal despair, ambient floating, beautiful distractions, endlessness, spatial illusions, and heightened senses are all present in nocturnal landscapes. The images are based in reality but created emotionally, with the moon lighting the way.
Over the last two decades in Portland, Heather has served on the board of Flight 64 Non-profit Printmaking Studio, managed the Printmaking facility at Pacific Northwest College of Art, coordinated programming at True North Studios and assisted with numerous art events. In addition to serving local studios, Heather started her career as a private art instructor in 2005.
Boulder, CO
Visual Art, Sculpture
Asa Mease (he/him) creates situations for the collective investigation of the ecologies of Seaview. An installation on the Sou’wester property considers various time scales and the intersections of built and natural environments.
Asa Mease is an artist, gardener, researcher and baker. His work in sculpture, community engaged practices and food stuffs consider how economic, social, and natural ecologies are situated within the landscape. Originally from Williston, Vermont, He received his BA in studio art and biology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. After relocating for the Pacific Northwest, he is currently pursuing an MFA in Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Portland, OR
Music, Artful Bows & Bowed Sculptures
Sonority Between
For the performance installation “Sonority Between”, Mitas (he/they/him) is making artful bows and bowed sculptures out of found objects, exploring the tension that exists between gravity and objects, and traditional craft and invention. The project culminates in a program of music played by Mitas on the sculptural instruments Saturday.
Jacob Mitas is a violin bow maker and owner of the violin shop Mitas Bows in Portland OR. Jacob arrived to the luthier craft 23 years ago as a visual artist, curator, sculptor, violist and composer. The craft of bow making coalesced his artistic practices into one that he has excelled at. Mitas maintains his art practice watercoloring landscapes, drawing and playing viola for movement classes and in the band Latourel.
Anis Mojgani, Nicky Kriara, Cory Gray, Rachel Blumberg
Portland, OR
Poetry, Music, Visual Art
We are merging the improvisation of our respective processes, in their varying forms of text, sound, and picture, the natural setting and aural input from our fellow artists, to present a performance, an installation and a recording accompanied by a book of writings and visual art.
Anis is Oregon’s 10th Poet Laureate. He’s authored 6 books & was a 2022 GLEAN artist. Nicky is a 2D & 3D artist, who’s worked on 3 feature films with LAIKA Studios, & created past installations for Spaceness & The Sou’wester. Cory is leader of the psychedelia-jazz-shaped instrumental group, Old Unconscious & a member of The Delines, Graves, & Federale. Musician/animator Rachel Blumberg has made work for or with so many, including The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, Michael Hurley, & Califone.
Portland, OR
Film
Cuimhne [queenva]: Uncle David
Kelly (she/they) maps the memory and death of her great uncle David, who was an Irish Canadian Immigrant, Queer Artist, and WWII Veteran. David was brutally murdered in Toronto’s Gay Village in 1981. This memoir film ‘Cuimhne’ is woven with family photos, super 8 footage, David’s artifacts and Kelly’s rituals.
Nesbitt is a transdisciplinary performance and video artist whose creations are rooted in movement based theater, performance art and somatic clown psychology. Nesbitt’s body of work pushes beyond disciplinary confines, tugs at heartstrings and shines light on the underbelly of modern America. Audience members have described Nesbitt’s live performances, characters, and films as transcendentalist hilarity, utterly inexplicable, and earnestly epic.
Portland, OR
Clown, Performance Art
In Search of the Clown
Newton’s (she/her) creative process relies on listening to images that arrive and linger in her imagination. Pierrot, the white faced clown; stock character of pantomime/commedia dell’arte (now represented in popular culture as a fellow sufferer of the human condition) is one of those images. In this performance, Newton becomes Pierrot.
Emily June Newton is an international comedic performer. She creates and performs fully embodied characters that live in direct contact with an audience. Best known for Frank (world’s most entertaining entertainer), Australian: Pat McKensie and The Rat King, she has been described as ‘comedic gold’ by Broadway World and a ‘standout clown’ by The Mercury PDX. Emily holds an MFA in Physical Theater from Dell’Arte Intl. and teaches clown at the Institute of Contemporary Performance (PDX).
Port Townsend, WA
Graphic Journalist
Oysters of Ilwaco: Their History and Future
Nhatt (she/her) is drawing a comic about oyster farming in Willapa Bay. Her project covers the extinction of native oysters, the history of commercial oystering, and the concerns invasive species and climate change bring to the future of oyster production. In it’s final form, the comic will be displayed at the Columbia River Heritage Museum.
Nhatt Nichols is a multidisciplinary artist and writer raised on a mountain in the Okanogan, Washington State. She uses drawing, poetry, and comics to break down political and environmental issues. You can find her work in High Country News, Edible Magazine, Civil Eats, and The Daily Yonder. Nhatt is a 2023 GAP Grant recipient. Her first book, This Party of the Soft Things (Bored Wolves, 2022), is in its second printing, and Morels, an illustrated novella, is forthcoming from Bored Wolves.
Portland, OR
Film, Animation
Aarica North is screening the first film in her mixed media visual album: a series of music videos questioning the definition of “home”, and exploring the experience of moving and placelessness through a unique blend of animation techniques, home video footage, and found (or rediscovered) objects.
Aarica North is a stop-motion artist, currently based in Portland, OR. Raised internationally in Mozambique, San Salvador, Moscow, and the US, she brings unique perspective and collaborative community-centered energy to her work. She has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU Tisch and has continued to travel as an adult, working in NYC, Portland, Oakland, and LA. Notable credits include Boots Riley’s I’m A Virgo, Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild, and KidSuper’s 2020 Paris Fashion Week runway show.
Portland, OR
Mixed Media Installation
Fascinator
A recent shift in bird behavior has revealed that many species are building their homes with human detritus, which is increasingly easier to find than natural materials. Reflecting on this, Hilary (she/her) is creating an installation in the Art Trailer Gallery of nest forms made from found plants beach trash, and mixed media materials.
Hilary Pfeifer’s art explores the ways that humans attempt to control nature, and in turn, nature finds a way to adapt or reassert itself. She expresses these struggles through craft-influenced sculpture and site-specific installations. Her approach to subtly using found art materials sparks curiosity. Hilary has been featured in American Craft Magazine, and in the permanent collection of the State of Oregon, The Museum for Art in Wood, the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and the White House.
Astoria, OR
Painter, Textile Artist
Embellished with intricate ink drawings and acrylic paint, Jenny Rideout’s (she/her) textile constructions are assembled from quilts beyond repair, old drop cloths, curtains, sails, and other found materials. Her most recent body of work, “Sails, Freq Flags; and Bonnets for Space Exploration”, explores the culmination of experiences alchemized for maximum propulsion.
Mikaela Shafer, Daniel Overstreet
Olympia, WA
Mikaela: Mixed Media Textile Painting
Daniel: Analog Liquid Light Art Projections
Mikaela (she/her) and Daniel Overstreet/Fennel (he’s n hymns) of Dog Bog Studios, are artists working in fine art to street art. Mikaela focuses on matrilineal storytelling through mixed media art and will sew plein air paintings. Daniel, blending oil, dyes, and video, will create psychedelic analog liquid-light experiences.
Mikaela is an indigenous woman on a journey to find her way in her culture and build a relationship with her culture. Her work is a visceral display of grief, loss, reconnection, and healing. Danial does liquid light art paintings and projections. Together they run the collective art studio, “Dog Bog Studios” inside the Historic Olympia Knitting Mills.
Salem, OR
Visual, Performance Artist
Local Portals
Cayla Skillin-Brauchle’s (she/her) “Local Portals” is place-based performance art captured with digital photography. The resulting images visualize slipping into an alternate reality heralding collaboration with the environment and eachother. On view in the Boles Aero Trailer or join a community portal building event on the beach.
Cayla Skillin-Brauchle believes art has the capacity to allow us to envision and practice life meaningfully. Her artwork and performance art pieces have been in over 100 exhibitions across the world. She earned a BA in Studio Art from Beloit College and was awarded an MFA from Ohio University. Skillin-Brauchle lives, works, and gardens with her family in Salem, OR where she teaches at Willamette University.
Portland, OR
Embroidery Animation
Charlie Wilcox (he/him/they/them) presents a site-specific film created using his fusion of hand embroidery and stop-motion animation. This animation is screening on loop in the Red Bus Theatre and Charlie presents behind-the-scene artifacts and process work in their studio space.
Charlie Wilcox is an embroiderist-animator with roots in small town Minnesota. Charlie’s practice reimagines animation as a craft-based, material process that reveals new modes of collective visioning and art-making. Through solo and collaborative works, Charlie shows how animation can be seen as a hands-on craft that can exist in novel domestic and social spheres. He is currently working towards a Master’s Degree in Design Systems at PNCA and plays tuba and bass in PDX-based punk band Horsebag.
Midnight Variety Hour: Fern Wiley, Maura Campbell-Shun, Sean Christensen, Lee Wilmoth
Portland, OR
Interdisciplinary Performance: Maura (she/her): Video, Theatrics, Comedy. Sean (he/they): Sound, Vision, Drawing. Fern (she/her): Movement, Object Inventing/Reinventing, Sound. Lee (they/them): Movement, Voice & Sound, Facilitation.
Midnight Variety Hour
MVH is a performance collective of multi-disciplinary dancers, performers, musicians, and filmmakers. Through the build up of layers, patterns, imagery and sound, MVH builds a world of distorted time and space. Distinct sections of improvisation emerge through the tension and release of accumulated instrumentation, dance, and video.