Come One Come All to see the beautiful and the bestial in artEAST’s newest Collective Works show

called Animal Crackers! The show features a group of Eastside artists known as the Sammi 7 who have

shown together for the past three years. From the miniature to the mammoth, this group has

interpreted this fantastic and ferocious theme through many different mediums such as encaustics,

metal, fiber, glass, oil, mixed media, & photography. The show’s Opening Reception is Friday August

7th

, 5 – 8pm at Up Front Gallery, 48 Front Street North in historic downtown Issaquah in conjunction

with Issaquah’s Art Walk nights. The show runs August 7 – 29th

, so there’s no excuse to miss the crazy

fun of artists gone wild!

About the Artists:

Ann Elizabeth Scott

1. Favorite Artist? I can't really choose a favorite, but for the purposes of this show, my

top three are: Maurice Sendak, Tamara De Lempicka and Diego Rivera, for their

colors, themes and design.

2. Piece working on right now? Just finished a painting of a Grey Egyptian temple cat

being worshiped by white mice and two matching nightstand tables with a giant bee

on one and lots of little bees on the other. I am also working on a painting of

Artemis, running with an animal cracker deer.

3. What your medium? My medium is traditional and water-mixable oil on canvas and

oil & acrylic on wood.

4. What’s on your playlist right now? Soundtrack from the film Che, Pink, Andres Segovia,

U2 and Lady Gaga.

5. Favorite beverage? Coffee, with water being a close second. I am one of those people

who always has a water bottle in their car. I love Americanos.

6. Favorite Place to unwind? In my boyfriend's living room, right now we are watching

the Rome series on Net flicks. Just finished season two. Spectacular, has

everything, highly unsuitable for children.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? I never grew out of the drawing and coloring

phase most kids go through. I just kept going and really fell in love with

Renaissance painting in college, when I was earning a degree in graphic design. I

graduated, interned in a design firm and spent all my spare time painting. Showing

in galleries seemed like a natural fit.

Kurt Rodenhiser

1. Favorite Artist:? Anyone who never stops creating, but if it’s a name you seek ...

Bernini -love the way he sculpted David and the ecstasy of St Theresa.

2. Piece working on right now? A clay and glass piece. I made a miniature one out of FIMO

first.

3. What your medium? All of them.

4. What’s on your playlist right now? Bran van 3000, .38 special , Ween, They might be

Giants, Pizzicato 5.

5. Favorite beverage? I make a shake in the morning with fresh frozen berries, juice and

whey. It's pretty damn good. Frozen mocha drinks are close.

6. Favorite Place to unwind? Falling asleep while snuggling in the TV room.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? Some people simply need to create stuff to be

grounded.

Carol Paschal

1. Favorite Artist ? Matisse and Gauguin, both were colorists and I love the bold flat

quality of their paintings.

2. Piece working on right now? A series of quilts with a Rain Forest animals theme.

3. What your medium? Fabric and Collage

4. What’s on your playlist right now? Coldplay, Carbon Leaf, Israel Kamakaw, Eric Clapton

5. Favorite beverage? Coffee

6. Favorite Place to unwind? My hot tub

7. What made you decide to be an artist? I always loved to draw and color as a child (a

new box of 64 crayons was the best!). My mom was a seamstress so I always had

fabric and beads around to play with. I learned to sew at a very young age and

pursued fashion design in college. Life took a different turn but I am now enjoying

getting back to my creative roots with fiber art, collage and mixed media.

Jamie McKay

1. Favorite Artist? Marc Chagall, love his expressionistic paintings and the emotions they

uproot!

2. Piece working on right now? Encaustic piece w/ another sacred feminine form and have

started a glass casting of a similar form as well.

3. What your medium? Glass & Encaustics.

4. What’s on your playlist right now? A huge range of World Music, also Playing for

Change’s Stand by Me & Don’t Worry.

5. Favorite beverage? DDP as in diet Dr. Pepper.

6. Favorite Place to unwind? Anywhere on the island of Kauai.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? As a little kid my grandma saved cards and

wrapping paper and all sorts of little “pretties”. When we would come to visit, she would

hand us kids a pair of little scissors and the sears catalog or the Sunday “funny papers”

and let us go nuts cutting out pictures to paste onto the backs of scrap paper. We also

dug thru her box of old cards and baubles to glue collages onto old shingles that we

varnished and gave as handmade presents to our parents. My brother and I progressed

to making pinch pots and animals from the red mud in our back yard that we decorated

with colored noodles or rice and old beads. After our creations dried in that blazing

Oklahoma sun we glazed them with melted crayons or old house paint. You might say

my grandma taught me to love the act of creating something from the things you had at

hand. I know she was ahead of her time in recycled art, and I still have some of those

early artworks!

Joanney Elliott

1. Favorite Artist? Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect; Darren Aronofsky, filmmaker and

Georges Méliés, Magician, and filmmaker, (first filmmaker to create fade in and fade

out and color tinting techniques.)

2. Piece working on right now? Right now I am just getting my feet wet. I did some

architecture shots a few months ago and most recently I have taken some nature

shots.

3. What your medium? Black & White and color photography.

4. What’s on your playlist right now? VAST, Apocalyptica, Garbage, In Strict Confidence,

Prodigy, Kings of Leon and Yiruma

5. Favorite beverage? Vanilla Lattes and favorite adult beverage is Black Cat Porter by

Mac & Jacks Brewery.

6. Favorite Place to unwind? Gold Basin campsite next to Stillaguamish River.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? I discovered I was an artist, when I was in

college. I was diagnosed with a Learning Disability right before my senior year in

high school and all school work was really a challenge for me. The only time I

actually fell in love with school was when I was in Media Arts. For the first time in

my life school wasn’t a difficult for me, it was a love. When I was in media arts

everything seemed to come so naturally for me, which was relieving and exciting at

the same time.

Carol Ross

1. Favorite Artist? Betsy Eby

2. Piece working on right now? Barbie dolls with animals on leashes.

3. What your medium? Encaustic

4. What’s on your playlist right now? I don’t listen to music; I listen to books -

“Enchantress of Florence” by Salmon Rushdie.

5. Favorite beverage (can be an adult beverage)? Mojitos

6. Favorite Place to unwind? At Kalaloch, Washington or the shores of Lake Sammamish.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? Since I was a child I loved to make things that

got people thinking.

Katya Palladina

1. Favorite Artist? Henri Matisse

2. Piece working on right now? Big mixed-media painting of Sirin bird with the face of my

older daughter.

3. What your medium? Anything under my hand at the moment – I am not a planning

type.

4. What’s on your playlist right now? Beirut.

5. Favorite beverage (can be an adult beverage)? Strong black tea, with 2 cubes of sugar

anytime of day.

6. Favorite Place to unwind? Immersed in a creative process.

7. What made you decide to be an artist? I think I was born with the necessity to create

anything. . .

Front: Carol Paschal, Kurt Rodenhiser, Katya Palladina,

Back: Ann Elizabeth Scott, Joanney Elliott, Jamie McKay, Carol Ross