There is so much going on in the arts community these days, we are just about bursting at the seams trying to contain it all. As always, this newsletter isn’t comprehensive, but it is quite open - please send in your ideas.

Here’s a tip: This newsletter is so long, your email is probably going to clip it. Try clicking the “Read Online” link in the top right corner to make sure you don’t miss the good stuff towards the end. (We’re working on fixing this, thanks for your patience.)

More importantly, we are tickled to introduce three of our new additions today! It’s what you’ve been waiting for!

#1: Monthly Artist Feature! Writer extraordinaire Katie Clary profiles Gail Baker, an Issaquah-based artist and teacher who is a walking inspiration. To anyone looking for a creative spark, Gail is a pure source.

#2: Monthly Audio Interview! (Don’t call it a podcast…yet…) Ali Marcus is spending some of her time recording conversations and learning from amazing arts leaders in our region. Here’s a tidbit of our conversation:

To hear the full conversation, become a paid subscriber.

#3: Artist Listings! A place for you to discover local artists and makers who are out there hustling, most likely in a community space near you!

Do you have questions? Let’s see if we can anticipate them:

A CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST GAIL BAKER

"What's Going on for Me? What's Going on for You?"

She would cover the studio floors with tarps and the six-hour class would unfurl as a kind of colorful paint-splattered silent meditation, from morning until afternoon.

“My job was to keep people painting. Keep the brush moving and the mind quiet,” says Gail Baker, who has been an artist and art educator for nearly half a century.

Her classrooms have changed with the decades: a small preschool on Puget Sound; an elementary school in Alaska; a senior center in Bothell. One of her favorites was Issaquah’s ArtEast, which closed in 2019. “I could teach what I loved, which was called Painting from the Fire Within. It’s process painting. There’s no instructions except silence and big pieces of paper on the wall.”

At 76, her creative output is different these days, with sunlight streaming through the windows of her corner apartment. Slower, but still in process.

Since Baker was diagnosed with bronchiectasis in 2020, a lung condition unrelated to the global pandemic that shuddered arts venues and galleries across the country, her artmaking has become more personal.

“The one thing I’ve learned is little steps,” she says. “For a while, I gave up because I felt so crappy health-wise. I thought, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ And then I thought, ‘Nah, just do it differently.’”

She gestures to her paintings hanging on the wall, filled with figures, patterns, and animals in acrylic paint. “I can say these paintings are in process—and they’ve been in process forever—because even 15 minutes at night, I can mess around with them, and then, that’s good. I would say I’m not stuck.”

Her stamina has changed, but not her intention.  

“Celebrate whatever you’re doing. You’re not stuck. You’re slow,” she says. “Just one baby step at a time.”

Today you might find Baker’s paintings in unexpected places. She has had gallery shows at the Kirkland Arts Center and Alaska’s Pratt Museum, but she also shows work in local shops like Sundew Records and Plants, Issaquah Coffee Company, and Happy Time Studio. Her art even adorns an electrical utility box in Bellevue, her hometown throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

She says her exposure to the arts in the Bellevue School District was formative.

“This was in the late ’60s when psychedelics were coming on, and our teacher Beaudette Smith was really into [the band] Jefferson Airplane, and so she would play music and she would just let us go.”

One day, her high school teacher gave her a gentle nudge to explore a broader color palette. “She said, ‘You tend to use very subdued colors. You could try different combinations if you want.’”

Baker adopted that compassionate approach for her own teaching style.

“I never say ‘You should.’”

In 1971, Baker went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a minor in graphic arts from the University of Washington. Disillusioned with city living, she left Seattle in search of a simpler life.

“I dropped out in the ’early 70s, that was the thing to do, because the politics were messed up.”

She spent the next two decades living in Hood Canal, first in a Plains style tipi and then, after marrying and having a daughter and son, in cabins. As a mother, Baker often relied on art and handicrafts to keep her kids busy, whether that was with silkscreen, painting, or drawing around the kitchen table, and later at a community preschool she founded.

They moved to Olympia in the 1990s, where she explored printmaking and photography at Evergreen State College, as well as mask making and fabric design elsewhere. In 2000, Baker earned a master’s in psychology with a focus on creative expression from Sofia University (then called the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology), and that same year moved to Alaska. She arrived in Issaquah in 2009.

Across geographies and across the years, Baker says art has always been about having a conversation.

“What’s going on for me? What’s going on for you?”

She says some people liken art to beauty, and while she too can appreciate the way daylight slowly changes the tree branch shadows outside her window, she sees art as a means of human contact.

“The point for me is it’s another way to communicate. I feel like it’s another way for human connection to begin, to persist.”

And for artists, that means you have to show your art to others.

“What’s your voice? I want to hear you. I want to see you. That’s what it is.”

Explore more of Baker’s work at www.gailbakerartmaker.com, and you are welcome to send her an email through the website if you would like to receive her newsletter.

ATTEND A LOCAL EVENT

WORTH A ROAD TRIP

There’s nothing like a trip to the islands in the stark winter months. Depending on the angle of the sun, and the preponderance of clouds (or not), it feels oppressive, gloomy, liberating, incandescent, mysterious, muted, or infinite. Such is the glory of the Pacific Northwest. It’s no wonder artists like it here.

Head out to Vashon Island this weekend! Don’t worry about the rain! Just bring some layers and do it! If you haven’t hunted for Oscar, the Bird King (Thomas Danbo’s troll) in Point Robinson Park, it’s time to make the trek out there. He’s hiding…but when you find him, it’s going to feel like a discovery. Plus, you can walk down to the beach while you’re there, at the tip of the middle of nowhere.

Why this weekend? It’s closing weekend for “Creatures Among Us,” a multimedia exhibit at Vashon Center for the Arts that is full of ideas about our relationship with animals. It’s an expansive selection, with over 50 artists from around the state wondering things like, What does an animal symbolize? How much do they know about consciousness? Why do animal forms rouse such strong feelings among humans?

You’ll find this newsletter’s featured artist Gail Baker has a piece there called “My Girls.” Her paintings have a way of striking an emotional chord when you are standing in front of them. The exhibit also features another Issaquah local, Laura Garzon (of Ecodog Roll Call) with her piece “Bear Mask #1,” hand made of foraged and dried cattail, juncus, fern, and horsetail.

While you’re on the island, stop by May Kitchen - they don’t open until 4pm but if you like Thai food, you’re going to love this place. And get some ferry popcorn on the ride home. It tastes better on the water.

ASK A GRANT EXPERT

Dear Grant Expert,

I am a newer artist, interested in building a business from scratch, but I've never done this before. If my goal is to raise money to make my work sustainable, where should I start?

-Desperately Seeking Dollars

It’s really common to wonder, “How can I make money from my art?” If you type this into Google or Chat GPT, you’ll get some very specific lists with concrete ideas, like online sales, festival sales, teaching, licensing, on-demand production, grants, crowdfunding, etc. The internet is eager to show you popular websites to use, how-to videos, and other types of information that is either aggregated by an algorithm or posted by some other creative person trying to monetize their skills.

Here’s the thing: if you start by chasing the money, you might find some success. You might make some money, and you might learn from your failures.

But. Imagine you are captain of a sailboat, and you have a mast and sails and a steering wheel to help you through, but you’re without a compass or barometer to understand where to aim. How will you read the water? How will you know what lies ahead, or underneath?

Raising money as an artist is just like raising money anywhere else. You need a direction and a goal. You need to have a clear sense of where you want to go, and you need the tools to navigate how to get there.

None of this requires your direction to be permanent, nor your goal to be huge. Here’s the sequence I recommend:

You ask how to make your work sustainable, and I counter: what does sustainable mean to you? What will keep you motivated to contribute your time and resources to this for the long game?

In any business endeavor, it’s all about retention. And the key person that needs to be retained is…you! What will it take?

If you know that, then you know what needs to be done.

In Solidarity,

Ali

ARTIST LISTINGS:

Did you know?

There are hard-working artists and makers all over the place who are trying to get your attention. We’re going to show you some.

Check these folks out:

CALL FOR ARTISTS!

We are seeking artists in all genres for this curated section of artist listings!

Would you like your art to be displayed in this section, to an audience who is especially tuned in to artsy experiences and ideas?

These Artist Listings are a low-cost advertising opportunity with the goal to connect artists and audiences via trusted sources.

Here are the criteria for inclusion in this section:

To apply:

Priority will be given to the artists with the most compelling artist statements as well as meeting the stated criteria. Spaces are limited.

MAKE MORE ART!

THERE ARE A LOT OF PUBLIC GRANTS OUT THERE

WANT TO SHOW YOUR ART?

Show Your Art is a unique and amazing resource for emerging artists. You won’t regret taking the time to explore their offerings. Pre-order the 2026/27 edition now, which features 200 artist-friendly venues from Olympia to Everett!

GET DISCOUNTS TO ART AND MUSIC CLASSES

We can now offer a 20% discount off of up to three classes per year at Happy Time Studio!

To be eligible, all you need to do is become a paid subscriber to the Open Studio Newsletter. The discount can be used at any in-house art class, and for the deposit for the 12-week music classes.

You may use this perk once per calendar year, or, if you subscribe for a full year, you can use it up to three times in a calendar year.

Upcoming classes:

LOOKING FOR MORE EVENT CALENDARS?

BelRed Arts District - The ONLY arts-focused calendar for the Eastside! Take a look and add your events!

Visit Issaquah - Issaquah’s most comprehensive collection of goings-ons, arts and otherwise.

King County Libraries - So many types of free arts events all around the county! Our libraries are amazing.