1. 6 May


    Galileo Galilei and His Telescope, acrylic paint and sumi ink, 2013 Hard L Presents: Painted in the Dark by Liana Kegley Thursday, May 23rd 6-9PM One night only! When I was four years old I fell asleep on the sidewalk while my mom was digging for clams on the beach below.  I woke up with strangers crowding around me, and a bad man trying to take me to his home.  An old woman who lived nearby took me into her home, fed me a bowl of cherries, and waited for my mother to collect me.  She later became my music teacher.  After that event, my mother kept me very close to her.  I accompanied her to art classes where I would watch her paint Korean landscapes and spin pottery.  Art was a large part of her life, as it was for my father.  My grandmother once showed me a reproduction of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers my father had done with a kitchen spatula.  She had locked him in a room with oil paints and a canvas after he had served in Vietnam.  It was her way of helping him cope with PTSD. After returning from Aberdeen to Seattle I was diagnosed with PTSD.  With my father’s encouragement I began painting again. Music, art, physics, people and places, moments in time, and reoccurring flashbacks are my biggest influences and help me manipulate the canvas.  Most are painted in the dark. When people see my paintings for the first time, some mention they are very dark.  I encourage them to take a second look.  My father and I see faces.  They may be faces of spirits, men in celebration, a watchful eye, or a look of disappointment.  Whatever it may be that one sees, I hope it brings a sense of peace, if only for a while.   Liana Kegley was born and raised in West Seattle by her Korean mother and Irish father. She is the youngest of five siblings. Facebook event here.

    Galileo Galilei and His Telescope, acrylic paint and sumi ink, 2013

    Hard L Presents:

    Painted in the Dark

    by Liana Kegley

    Thursday, May 23rd 6-9PM

    One night only!

    When I was four years old I fell asleep on the sidewalk while my mom was digging for clams on the beach below.  I woke up with strangers crowding around me, and a bad man trying to take me to his home.  An old woman who lived nearby took me into her home, fed me a bowl of cherries, and waited for my mother to collect me.  She later became my music teacher.  After that event, my mother kept me very close to her.  I accompanied her to art classes where I would watch her paint Korean landscapes and spin pottery.  Art was a large part of her life, as it was for my father.  My grandmother once showed me a reproduction of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers my father had done with a kitchen spatula.  She had locked him in a room with oil paints and a canvas after he had served in Vietnam.  It was her way of helping him cope with PTSD.

    After returning from Aberdeen to Seattle I was diagnosed with PTSD.  With my father’s encouragement I began painting again. Music, art, physics, people and places, moments in time, and reoccurring flashbacks are my biggest influences and help me manipulate the canvas.  Most are painted in the dark.

    When people see my paintings for the first time, some mention they are very dark.  I encourage them to take a second look.  My father and I see faces.  They may be faces of spirits, men in celebration, a watchful eye, or a look of disappointment.  Whatever it may be that one sees, I hope it brings a sense of peace, if only for a while.

     

    Liana Kegley was born and raised in West Seattle by her Korean mother and Irish father. She is the youngest of five siblings.

    Facebook event here.