Karey Kessler / this underlying structure
Peggy Murphy / The Radiant Now
Shift Gallery



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EXHIBITION: September 7-30, 2023
Opening / First Thursday Art Walk: September 7, 5-8pm
Peggy Murphy
These days I’m trying to pay attention-to moments, to situations, to images- any thing that might elicit a glimmer of wonder. After the last few years of isolation and personal loss I’m ready to be made anew and find a little magic in the world. The paintings in The Radiant Now, act as imperfect reminders of the pleasure and wonder of simple moments. Peggy Murphy
Karey Kessler
Artist Talk: September 23, 1pm
Closing/meet the artist: September 30, 2pm-4pm
The title of this show, this underlying structure, refers to the possibility of an invisible scaffolding that holds up the universe — an intangible essence existing beneath the more familiar structures of the visible world. I paint about this current moment of climate change anxiety and explore the entangled ways in which my mind, time, and place are deeply interconnected.
In my last body of work, Solastalgia, I drew imaginary contour lines on mulberry paper and layered them with watercolor and words about vanishing wilderness, the passage of time, and the vastness of the universe.
These new paintings are more painterly and gestural. For this series, I painted on traditional watercolor paper that allows for more dripping and blending than the mulberry paper. The end of covid restrictions and the expansion of where I can travel and be in public spaces affected this body of work.
My work plays with the fact that the Hebrew word for ‘the Place,’ ha-Makom, is also used as a name for God. In my paintings, “here” can be a specific, known physical place, or it can be an infinite conceptual space—a spiritual realm— an underlying structure of our world.

312 S. Washington Street Seattle WA 98104
Fri-Sat 11-4
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ABOUT THE GALLERY
Shift is an artist-run gallery that opened in December 2004 in the renovated Tashiro-Kaplan arts complex, an artist live/work building in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle. Shift supports a cross-section of Northwest-area artists who work in a variety of media and who are dedicated to creating challenging and innovative art. Shift’s exhibition space allows its members to test ideas, take risks or refine directions that advance their work