STONE & STEM

Please join us for a reception for STONE & STEM, introducing Ayame Bullock’s first formal exhibit of paintings and her newest sculptures, on Sunday, August 16th at Crow Valley Gallery from 4-5:30pm.   Raised on her family’s permaculture farm on Orcas Island, the artist developed an early intimacy with the cultivated and wild landscape. She studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was increasingly drawn to ceramics. Returning to the farm, she established an art practice shaped by her ancestry and the land and, more recently, returned to painting—allowing the two disciplines to inform and unsettle one another. Her sculptures and paintings emerge from close observation: light shifting across a leaf, branches dissolving at dusk, the changing abundance of a garden. The work follows the seasons and often incorporates flowers gathered by her daughter and offered with the words, “This is for you, Mom.” Through color, texture, and form, she gradually loosens the botanical image from representation. What remains is not a record of a particular flower or plant, but an evocation of nature’s movement, tenderness, and continual transformation. Refreshments will be served. Th e show is made possible by in-kind support from Crow Valley Gallery + the Hub for Arts & Literature on Orcas (HALO). HALO’s mission is to raise the visibility of our contemporary fine artists and support and inspire the next generation. Ten percent of proceeds will help fund resources for local artists.