My student artist this yearwas Finn, he wrote... "This is my biome! I put a castle in it because I think castles are really historical and cool. I put Ada, mom, dad, me (my family) in the doorway of the castle because they are super important to me. I made a special stage for Drake because he is my favorite singer. He has a great voice. I made lots of grassy hills because I think it would be fun to roll down them! That’s my biome for you!"

Artist: Karen Hanrahan /she

Title: Finn’s Biome

Medium: stitched collage

Price: $75

Gift to student artist if not sold

Bio: Karen Hanrahan found her way to WA State in her mid-50's after living most of her life in the midwest. She has grown children, a cat, she loves road trips, scratch cooking and anything made out of glass. She lives small in less than 300 square feet and values light, quiet and privacy. She makes quilt like mixed media pieces out of paper. Her materials are gifted or found, which keeps her making very low cost and sustainable. She has been a collage artist for over 25 years. Her work has shown in galleries all over the country.  She teaches others the creative subconscious mind collaging process.

These are the 10 images that I selected this year for Essence Of Bellingham.  

I will update this post in a month if I am awarded. 

UPDATE :: May 2022. The image below was given an honorable mention. yay!! The city shared that they will be displaying those awarded from 2020 - 2022 at city hall this year. All images are archived at Whatcom Museums Photo Archives. 55 Photos rec'd awards out of 315 submissions. 

here are former years, if you feel curious.

* 2016 - no blog post

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

These are some of what I didn't select but what I captured as potential to submit. 

I liked the two season representation of these

and the saga of a curbside chair. 

to quote my kids when they were visiting. "what could she possibly be taking a photo of?"

It was this.

I submitted to a call for art with Roaring Artist Gallery, with the theme title of Audacity. The call for art was juried by Artist Martin Lee Martinez. 

I personally resonated with their prompt: 

"Claiming space in the Art World requires scrappiness, tenacity, and… AUDACITY! So often, the path of women artists is nonlinear and unconventional, and we want to celebrate this! Audacity explores the concept of the “self-taught artist.”  But since no one is entirely “self-taught” we're interested to hear YOUR interpretation of the meaning as it relates to YOU and YOUR approach to art making. Are you an artist who was unable to shoulder the financial obligation of higher education? Did you have a later start to your creative pursuits, because an art education was “off-limits?” Have you earned a photography degree, but have found yourself working in fiber arts? If you see within your path that space where you had the audacity to push aside “imposter syndrome” and create regardless, then we can't WAIT to see what you have to ROAR!"

The show opens virtually April 1st. 2022 

Click HERE to view the virtual exhibition

28 Artists are participating. 

I was one of 9 artists invited to give an Artist Talk!! Wow! I can't even believe it. Katie, the gallery founder and curator wrote about how they select those artists and shared that she "generally compares notes with the juror whose art and stories stood out to us"  The artist talk slot that I selected will be on Mothers Day. May 9th. More on that later

UPDATE - Here is the YouTube link to my artist talk if you'd care to listen!!

I journaled quite a bit about this one. The topic brought up a lot about my upbringing and how I was educated. It brought up a lot of not so great memories and limitations. I decided not to go there with my submit and instead focus on something I did in recent times that I taught myself. That I am still teaching myself, and that I am proud of.

Here is what I wrote: 

I taught myself how to make wonky stars this year. I perfected a form of crazy quilting the year before after months and months of trial and error. I learned how to bind with a background, the year before that. What makes all of this so remarkable is I did all of this quilt like making with paper! It all began when I was trying to make paper art that would hang and appear finished looking without a frame. I was beginning to participate in exhibits and the cost and storage of frames was too much for my budget and very tiny space living. 

I stumbled upon an example of a wonky star in a YouTube tutorial dive. My first attempt warmed my heart. I loved the asymmetry, the wonky, the mismatched of it. It felt honest and authentic. It made me want to play. 

I’ve produced a prolific volume of paper art. Especially in the last 5 years. That work has had multiple expressions. Adding machine stitching to my collage work was definitely a feat of self instruction. Making wonky stars within that realm is still a work in progress, but in 2021 I definitely made a dent in learning that process. Applying quilting techniques to paper is the quilter wanna be in me. I will admit that real quilting with fabric intimidates me. But with paper, I feel rich with resources and able. 

I studied art and I attended art school, but there is no degree. I had abilities, but I had no idea what to do with them. I put aside my creativity to marry and raise children. The artist in me was there, but she again had no idea what to do with that all of that sensibility. My life has been a path of fits and starts, trauma and heartbreak, pain and drama. I believe that surviving in life nudged me to make. For those that know me they say that I am resilient.The audacity to create with “signature” took me time to find. I had to learn to not compare and to make art for myself. 

These two wonky star stitched collages are titled flight. They speak to the feeling of fight or flight or the stress response. During a particular rough patch of life I had finally found safety. I realized that in those years I barely took a breath. I never stopped fighting. I was in flight for a very very long time. I had to learn to breathe again.

The gallery selected the first one

here is my first wonky star attempt. (which I just love) Talk about wonky!

second attempt - I went more traditional and stitched it like quilters do. very tedious, and not very exact.

third attempt - I decided that cutting or my own way was a better way to go. I thought to myself...I like this!

many attempts and many versions later. these are the wonky stars I made. 

they may seem simple but they are tricky. they fool you!!

I am still perfecting!