Exhibitions

Image: Federico Estol

Federico Estol – Shine Heroes

Location: Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave.)
Dates: April 9 – May 28, 2022
Days/Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5pm  

Members & Press Preview: Friday, April 8th, 12 – 5pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 12 – 5pm

Artist Talk: Wednesday, April 20 @ 6pm.

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Blue Sky Gallery will be presenting the work of Federico Estol, the Photolucida Critical Mass Solo Exhibition winner for 2021!

“There are 3000 shoe shiners who go out into the streets of La Paz and El Alto suburbs each day in search of clients. They are from all ages and in recent years have become a social phenomenon in the Bolivian capital.

What characterizes this tribe is the use of ski masks so they will not be recognized by those around them. They confront the discrimination they face through these masks; in their neighborhoods no one knows that they work as shoe shiners, at school they hide this fact, and even their own families believe they have a different job when they head down to the center of the city from El Alto.

The mask is their strongest identity, what makes them invisible while at the same time unites them. This collective anonymity makes them tougher when facing the rest of society and is their resistance against the exclusion they suffer because they carry out this work.” – Federico Estol

Image: Melissa Ann Pinney - Lizzy, Senn High School 2022

Melissa Ann Pinney – Signals & Mysteries: Photographs from Chicago Public Schools

Location: Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave.)
Dates: April 9 – 30, 2022
Days/Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 12-5pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, April 9, 12pm

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Image: Peter Dawson

2022 Pacific Northwest Drawers

Location: Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave.)
Dates: April 2022 – March 2023
Days/Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5pm
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8, 5-7pm + YouTube Live

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Debuting on April 1st, each artist will be represented by 10 original photographic prints or objects from a single body of work in a dedicated archival, flat file drawer at Blue Sky through March 2023:

Christine Armbruster, Adam Bacher, Darryl Baird, Lisa Bauso, Zack Bent, Rich Bergeman, Jeremy Brooks, Wayne Bund, Ryan Cade, Ezra Carlsen, Alan Chait, Pamela Chipman, Meghan Crandall, Jessica Daugherty, Peter Dawson, Jordan DeLawder, Lucas DeShazer, Josh Dupuis, John Francis, Robert Gervais, Barbara Gilson, Joseph Glode, Lauren Grabelle, Tyler Green, Emily Gresham Beamer, Lorraine Olivia Hamberger, Sophia Hatzikos, Jessica Hays, Patrice Helmar, Paul Higgins, Julie Jacob, Lauren Johnson, Laurel Kadas, Beth Kerschen, Emma Kisiel, Brian Kosoff, Zachary Krahmer, Trevor Kubat, James Lommasson, Stuart McCall, Sandee McGee, C. Meier, Christian Orellana Bauer, M Prull, Shawn Records, Zachary Reno, Isaac Sachs, Ryan Skut, Jerry Slough, Deb Stoner, Barbara Strigel, Cristal Tappan, Kelda Van Patten, Mike Vos, Thanh Vu, Alice Christine Walker, Aaron Wessling, Alan Wieder, and Yuyang Zhang

Image: Jennifer Timmer Trail

Jennifer Timmer Trail – Saccharine 

Location: Strange Paradise Gallery (8371 N Interstate Ave, Studio 4)
Dates: April 18 – May 31
Days/Hours: Saturday, 12 – 3pm or by appointment
Receptions: Friday April 22nd 4-7pm + May 7th, 5 – 8pm

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Jennifer Timmer Trail is a photographer, curator, book designer, and co-founder of Small Talk Collective and Strange Paradise Photo Space in Portland Oregon. Trail’s work often explores the longings that exist within relationships, things we wish we could change or hold on to but can’t, lineage and the nostalgia that accompanies the process of aging. Her most recent completed series, ‘Saccharine’, is a two-year-long project documenting her daughter’s transition into her teenage years, along with all of the love and hardships that period represents, and set against the backdrop of a world riddled with uncertainty and challenges during an epidemic. The images on view are a selection from nearly a hundred photographs in the series.​​​​​​​​

Image: Ruth Ross

Ruth Ross – August 6, 1945 · 8:15 a.m.

Location: Pushdot Studio (2505 SE 11th Ave, Suite 104)
Dates: April 8th – May 27th, 2022
Days/Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 5pm
Opening Reception: April 8th, 2022 6-8pm

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“I want to honor the memory of the victims of the devastation of Hiroshima. And, perhaps, put to sleep my own unrest and rage. I have incorporated images into a body of work that combines cyanotypes with textile and stitching to attempt to convey my enduring response to the tragedy.  I wanted the results to be beautiful to my eyes, yes, but the key element, the “heartbreaking-ness” would be my mission and challenge.”  – Ruth Ross

Image: Becky Wilkes

Becky Wilkes – Ditched

Location: Camerawork Gallery (301 N. Graham Street, Lorenzen Conference Center, Legacy Medical Center Campus)
Dates: TBA
Days/Hours: Monday – Saturday 9am – 6pm; Sunday 10am – 4pm
Reception: TBA
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