ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: This is the final week to see our Life Cycle exhibit, featuring the exquisite paintings of Kerri Eden. In her artist statement, Kerri shares that she was inspired to create her Tree of Life series during a recent quest for change. If you haven’t already, please stop by to take in these paintings in person. Her work radiates with joy. (Gallery hours: Wed-Sun from 11-6).
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Favorite Seattle neighborhood
• Georgetown.

Favorite local restaurant?
• Anything sushi! Sushi Zone (I live in Bothell now.)

Favorite Seattle park
• Lincoln Park

Favorite style of house
• Architecturally modern ~ lots of angles, unique, skylights, high ceilings…

Favorite museum/galleries
• The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. I was never a real lover of Van Gogh. But I went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and omg it blew my mind. Amazing exhibit! Seeing his work chronologically, you really get to know the painter ~ especially when you can stand face to face and see those brushstrokes.

What is your secret/hidden/useless talent?
• I used to be able to do the splits at whim, but I broke my hip, so I can’t any more.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?
• Kristen Wiig

What was your first concert? Best concert?
• James Brown

Best concert?
• Earth Wind & Fire, Tina Turner.

Where is the coolest place you traveled?
• Mumbai, India ~ food was great, people were wonderful…I traveled to Elephanta Island and I was sitting down eating my sandwich along this cement ledge and felt this tapping on my shoulder. I turned around and there were 3 monkeys!! And suddenly I wasn’t lonely anymore.

What is your go-to karaoke song?
• My Girl.

What emoji do you use most often?
• Heart.

Favorite quote
• I heard this in a self-help lecture. She said, “I was so messed up, I folded like a cheap lawn chair.”

What TV shows are you watching right now?
• Frankie & Gracie, Sex & the City & Seinfeld.

Do you work better in the morning or at night?
• I love to get up around 4 and have coffee, feed [her dog] Oscar, walk him around the complex when it’s dark and quiet. Then I’ll come back and paint for a couple hours. I’m retired, I have a dog, I live alone ~ so I do what I feel like doing.

Favorite studio tool?
• My new easel!

Favorite artists?
• Henri Rousseau. I love Picasso’s line drawings, the simplicity of it, the emotion that is integrated into his linework is soulful.

Favorite color palette/color combo?
• I love shades of turquoise and teal. I’m a bright color girl. Turquoise colors with an orangey-red ~ that really does it for me. I like vibration off the canvas with your color.

• This was really cool thing that came out of it ~ this perfectionism in me, I let that go. I would make mistakes along the way and see pencil marks and say, “That’s just part of it. That’s just part of the painting, part of the process.”

What is your preferred medium?
• Acrylic, china marker, and graphite.

What motivates you to create?
• I just see things differently. I see Life in things. And when I paint, I want that life to be on the canvas. I want something to be alive ~ even if it’s a metal object, it can still be pulsating on the canvas. I can still show that it’s got some sort of emotion or life to it. That’s the key. That’s the juice right there.

What was the inspiration for your current show?
• My whole goal was to be very present and really put my love onto this canvas. I wanted to really put myself into it. Plus the subject matter itself was a big deal to me ~ it came as a vision while I was going through some changes in my life. And I knew I needed to do this. So I did it.

How do you define success as an artist?
• When you can look at your painting more than once ~ maybe more that 10 times or 20 times ~ and love it…I have certain paintings on my wall that are not for sale. They are mine, because they just mean so much to me. And every time I look at them, I go “I can’t believe I did that!” It’s not arrogance. It’s an emotional connection that you have with your painting.

How has your style changed over time?
• I feel like I’ve become more present in my life. So I feel like my art is more zoomed in to the Source. And now, it’s just about creating and continuing to get better with the mediums that I’m using.