Marjan Anvari 

With years of experience in the restoration of Persian manuscripts, Marjan Anvari has developed a deep understanding of traditional techniques and the intricate beauty of Tazhib. Working with these ancient artworks sparked her interest in this beautiful art form, leading her to study and reinterpret its delicate patterns.In her own work, Anvari simplifies traditional Tazhib motifs, using solid and bold colors rather than the complex designs of the past. This approach allows her to merge the beauty of Persian art with contemporary sensibilities, creating artwork that is both timeless and relevant. Through her creations, she invites viewers to explore the connections between tradition and modernity, encouraging personal interpretations and reflections on cultural heritage.

See more from the artist: https://www.anvaristudio.com/

Kirsten Bauer

Kirsten Bauer is a multidisciplinary artist and sign-painter based in Portland, OR. With a background in Art History & English, she previously worked for several arts organizations in both educational and curatorial departments. These years of study developed her eye for design, color, understanding of visual forms, and ability to pull from a vast inner library of aesthetic references. Kirsten is a graduate of the Los Angeles Trade-Tech Sign Graphics program, the only formal sign-painting training program still offered in the United States - taught continuously since 1924. These two years of study prioritized letterforms, layout & design, and color. To her, sign painting is the act of beautifying our commercial landscape; a way to organize our world and permeate our everyday lives with handmade acts of artistry. Look for Kirsten’s sign painting work on the ACLO gallery windows during this exhibition!

See more from the artist: https://kirstenbauer.com/ & @kirsten.m.bauer

Francesca Capone

Francesca Capone is a materials designer, visual artist, writer, and educator. Her work is primarily concerned with the creation of materials and a poetic consideration of their meaning. She is interested in how tactile forms simultaneously serve as functional surfaces for daily life and as a mode of communication or symbol within the cultural paradigm.

Her interdisciplinary practice takes the shape of visual art exhibitions, readings/performances, and the book form. Her books Woven Places (Some Other Books, 2018), Text means Tissue (2017), and Weaving Language (information as material 2018, Self Published 2015) focus on textile poetics. They are in the library collections at the MoMA Library and the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery in London, LUMA/West- bau in Switzerland, Textile Arts Center in NYC, and 99¢ Plus Gallery in Brooklyn. She has been an artist in residence at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Andrea Zittel's A-Z West. Her academic work includes lectures and workshops at Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, Reed College, University of Washington, and Alberta College of Art and Design, among others. Represented by Nationale, Portland, US.

See more from the artist: https://www.francescacapone.com/

& @franny_capone

Sally Jablonsky

Sally Jablonsky is a painter, plays traditional Oldtime fiddle, and teaches music and art. Born and raised on a farm just south of Spokane, Washington, Jablonskys’ life and work are infused with experiences of wilderness and of being small on a vast and powerful planet. Her (art) work is influenced by experiences of nature and of being a body, and plays in the space between. Using the body as a source of information, Jablonsky aims to reveal the human fantasy as well as create a new framework to live within–showing the human experience in the greater context of the natural world. Jablonsky is the President and founding member of the Try Harder Society, holds a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, and an MFA in Visual Studies from that same school. Sally lives in Spokane where she teaches art at Eastern Washington University, is building a fiddle army, making art, and watching the trees move in the wind.

See more from the artist: https://sallyjablonsky.wixsite.com/sallysworld & @the.try.harder.society

Emily Katz

Emily Katz is a multi disciplinary artist, author, and creative entrepreneur, from Portland, Oregon. She has taught macrame, is a designer of clothing and home goods, creative consultant, food lover, creative director, and musician. Emily’s work has been featured in Forbes, The LA Times, London Daily Mail, Buzzfeed, Nylon Magazine, Ku:nel, Popeye Magazine, and Elle Japan, Elle NL, and Elle France, to name a few.

“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”

Hillel the Elder (c. 60 BC-10 AD)

See more from the artist: @emilykatz

Frankie Krupa-Vahdani

Frankie Krupa Vahdani (b. 1991, she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Skagit Valley, WA. Krupa Vahdani graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Studio Art. Krupa Vahdani has been a resident at Centrum in Port Townsend, WA and has exhibited work at The Warehouse Museum in Milwaukee, WI, Geheim Gallery in Bellingham, WA, and Fuller Rosen Gallery in Portland, OR and Philadelphia, PA.

See more from the artist: https://www.fkv-art.com/ & @frankieweirdlastname

Zhang Mao

Zhang Mao is a self-taught artist and poet from China. She started creating in 2012. During the 2020 pandemic, she left her home with only a single bag, marking the start of a new chapter in the United States and a significant change in her life and artistic career. Zhang Mao's work is deeply influenced by the generational stories of her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. This rich tapestry of personal history is reflected in both her poetry and visual art, exploring themes of identity, community, and emotional complexity. In 2019 she published a book of poems entitled “The Wild Mint”, which has influenced many of her paintings. Her artistic style blends spontaneous creativity with refined technique, resulting in evocative abstract forms with rich textures. Zhang Mao has balanced various roles throughout her life, including caregiving and professional responsibilities, while continually developing her artistic practice. Her paintings, which serve as visual extensions of her poems, have been showcased in various exhibitions. Her studio is now based in Portland, Oregon, where she continues to explore themes of language, emotion, and scenes of daily life in abstracted form, inviting viewers to join her on a journey of self-discovery and connection.

See more from the artist: @mao.zhang.161446

Heather Watkins

Heather Watkins’ work explores the nature and possibilities of the drawn line – materially and symbolically. Working with ink, cord, thread, cloth, and paper, she submits these materials to many cycles of saturation, compression, intertwining, and transference. Through these physical processes, she investigates phenomena such as flow, stasis, circulation, and gravity. Her work takes many forms: sculpture, drawing, text-based work, printmaking, and artist’s books.

Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, at venues including: PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Planthouse Gallery, New York, NY;  the lumber room, Portland, OR; Front of House, Portland, OR; The Art Gym, Marylhurst, OR; and Nine Gallery, Portland, OR. Her work is held in private and public collections including the Portland Art Museum, the Miller Meigs Collection, the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s Portable Works Collection, the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, Portland State University, Reed College, and Rhode Island School of Design Artist’s Book Collection. She has been the recipient of grants from Oregon Arts Commission, The Ford Family Foundation, and Regional Arts & Culture Council, and has been awarded residencies at Caldera; Sitka Center for Art & Ecology; Oregon College of Art and Craft; and at Em Space Book Arts Center. Watkins holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and is represented by PDX CONTEMPORARY ART.

See more from the artist: https://heatherwatkinsstudio.com/ & @heatherwatkinsstudio

Amanda Wojick

Amanda Wojick’s visual art often combines sculpture, collage, and painting. Using ordinary materials such as paper, glue, wood and tape, Wojick creates brightly colored dimensional fields of irregular lines, circles, and rectangles. She is interested in the friction between public and private space, as well as the politics and potentials of materiality. Her projects have engaged subjects including landscape, routine, history, and the cultural space of the home. Wojick is the recipient of national fellowships and awards from the Macdowell, Yaddo,, Mass MoCA, the Ucross Foundation, the Portland Art Museum, the Oregon Arts Commission and Ford Family Foundation, the Ragdale Foundation, and Sculpture Space. Her work is in public and private collections including the Portland Art Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum, and she is represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Wojick is a Professor and co-chair of the Sculpture program at the University of Oregon. She lives in Eugene with her husband and two sons.

See more from the artist: https://www.amandawojick.com/ & @amandawojick