Dozens of artworks, all the exact same 12″ square size, strung out in a line to create a ribbon of art viewing: what a wonderful vision! Nothing symbolizes the energy and community of my local gallery, artEAST Art Center, like this show. 150′ Feet of Art has been a spring fundraising tradition for them and this year is the last show.

Well, I sure wanted to be part of that! The first time I entered the show was serendipity. Here I was, working in that 12×12 format anyway, checking out a little gallery space in Issaquah, and there they were, calling for a show. I entered Verdant Haze and have had an association with artEAST ever since.

The curveball this year was a call for collaboration. I immediately thought of Becky Brooks: I met her when she was running artEAST’s Education program by herself, offered to help out on the technical side, and found myself on a non-profit volunteer committee that actually worked like a dream. Our common interests have seen us through many projects since then.

 We came up with an unusual method for working together that suited our independent, geeky selves. First, we agreed on a color scheme and common elements: text and paper samples. We were toying with the idea of a grid system, but didn’t want too structured a piece, so we came up with a way to split the 12″ square into varying sizes of rectangles and squares. Then we worked separately on our own 12″ square collage pieces, (Becky’s on the left and mine on the right) and got together for the reveal.

Using our grid system, we chose elements from each of our collages to create a new piece like a puzzle, left. The leftover pieces looked good together too, so we added just a few unifying elements to finish our 2nd piece, below.

Come see how we did, and find out who else worked together! This show is always great in person. All the juried contributions will be available for viewing at artEAST from May 2nd through the 17th. I’ll be there both nights, and would happily meet you there any day in between those two.