Opening Reception: July 7th, 2023 – 6pm to 9pm
Location: 1213 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham 98225

Allied Arts of Whatcom County presents “Surface to Strata”, our 2023 Juried Gallery Series exhibit for July. “Surface to Strata” is an exploration of texture and depth in the pursuit of meaning, where each artist and each piece exhibits strong layered qualities. This show features the work of Jeana Esser-Lang, Kevin Hoover, Lucia Enriquez, Marjie Miller, Melissa Morales Rush, and Renee Noelle Cheesman. 

Jeana Esser-Lang’s paintings reflect edgy, stylized and vibrant fun! Sage takes liberties with color, form, and space to create magic in her artworks. 

Kevin Hoover creates original abstract painting, expressions infused with varying layers of texture, color, pattern and motion, informed by the natural art and architecture of the world itself. 

Lucia Enriquez makes work that has to do with journey, myth and dream. Personal experience, immigration and family history drive a lot of her compulsion for art, and her artistic process sublimates these into larger social, environmental and cultural issues. In the last few years she has included pre-colonial Philippine iconography, stories and world view in her work, an effort to get at the richness of her culture of origin in its pre-colonial state. She uses both physical and digital means of manipulating and creating elements of her art. The digital components include emulations of traditional art materials and photography, as well as particle curve visualizations and architectural 3-d renderings. 

Marjie Miller creates encaustic art on wood panels, wood blocks and corrugated cardboard. Encaustic is hot beeswax with dammar resin fused into a substrate. 

Melissa Morales Rush creates fine art with a fluid flare, in a variety of mediums, that are inspired by the intrinsic elements of nature, the psyche, emotion, and the chaos of life that flows through and connects us all. 

Renee Noelle Cheesman’s  art explores characteristics of contemporary American culture. The projects are intended to provoke conversations, facilitate self-reflection, and to comment about the “American” social and cultural landscape. 

Allied Arts is a non-profit gallery, all proceeds from sales go towards supporting the arts in our community.