The city of Kent Arts Commission’s Centennial Center Gallery, 400 W. Gowe St., hosts the work of artists Lisa Myers Bulmash and Kathleen McIver through Oct. 27. The show is free and open to the public, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Myers Bulmash is a collage and book artist who works primarily in acrylics, paper and found objects. Informally trained, Myers Bulmash began her career making handmade cards. After her father’s death in 2006, she felt compelled to take more personal risks in her creative life. Questions of identity, family relationships and the human impulse toward sanctuary now drive most of her work. She aims to nudge the viewer into recognizing shared stories.
Myers Bulmash is the winner of a 2016 Sustainable Arts Foundation grant, she has partnered with Artist Trust as a public speaker, and her work and commentary have been highlighted in five books. In November 2017, Myers Bulmash will open the first solo museum exhibit of her work at the Northwest African American Museum.
McIver worked in the promotional and display design field, developing creative concepts for several major retail companies. She is now retired and getting back to working on her personal art. Her work has appeared in a number of juried shows and auctions, including the Pacific NW Arts and Crafts Fair, Seattle Women in Design Auction, Safeco Co., Bellevue Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Allied Arts, Kent Summer Art Exhibit, Group Health Invitational, Family Services of Seattle Invitational and Desert Montessori School Invitational in Santa Fe, N.M.
McIver’s current body of work, “Skins & Shells” focuses on expressing, outer, protective coverings. Bark, or a tree’s “skin,” is essential for its health and life. Eggshells are a “skin,” protecting life within. Her goal was to express the quiet strength, tenacity, and life-saving qualities that these “skins” provide.
Centennial Gallery shows are produced by the City of Kent Arts Commission. For more information, visit kentwa.gov/arts/gallery/.
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Inner Strength, an acrylic and attached twig and nest by Kathleen McIver. Courtesy graphic, City of Kent
