Shunpike

🌟 If you caught this year's NW Folklife poster, you've seen some of Charde' Brown's work! This prolific painter, working under her brand Mirrors of Melanin, is a current resident at Shunpike's 1401 4th Ave Artist Residency. Head to the corner of 4th Ave and Union St during open hours or next Downtown Art Walk on June 22 to visit her studio and shop for great artwork!

--------------------------------------------------

🏵️ Charde’ Brown is a visual artist and creative entrepreneur whose work centers Black womanhood, resilience, and the reclamation of softness and power after trauma. Through layered mixed media and painting, she builds imagery that blends realism with symbolism, often using motifs like roses, seeds, halos, letters, and fractured surfaces to speak to survival, healing, and becoming. Her practice treats storytelling as both archive and offering, creating work that holds complexity without turning pain into spectacle. She is committed to making art that is emotionally honest, visually cinematic, and rooted in community care. Alongside studio work, she designs creative experiences that invite reflection and connection, using art as a bridge for wellness and dialogue. Through her brand, Mirrors of Melanin Galleries, she aims to expand access to her work while continuing to develop cohesive series and exhibitions that honor Black humanity with intention and depth.

--------------------------------------------------

🕙 1401 4th AVE OPEN HOURS:
Mon: 11 AM – 5 PM
Tue: 11 AM – 5 PM
Wed: 11 AM – 5 PM
Thu: 2 PM – 6 PM
Fri: 11 AM – 7 PM
Sat: 12 PM – 5 PM
Sun: 12 PM – 5 PM

Learn more about Shunpike's Storefronts and Artist Residencies at shunpike.org/storefronts

photos by Jay Jackson

Natural Becoming by Tesla Kawakami is a window exhibit at 906 Alaskan Way visible from the sidewalk! Heading to Pioneer Square Art Walk tonight? Be sure to walk down Alaskan Way and see Natural Becoming up close!

In a world where departure often seems the only rational response, Natural Becoming, poses a radical question: what happens when we choose to remain and bear witness? This exhibition confronts our emotional paralysis by transforming overwhelming climate data into scenes of unexpected aliveness. The paintings depict crumbling infrastructure reflected in flooded water and familiar Pacific Northwest flora and fauna rendered strange in harsh landscapes, creating scenes of magical realism where tender life and violence coexist. The work is established through layered processes that enact what they depict. Surfaces are built using masking and revelation, concealing forms before excavating them through reductive scratching that simulates erosion. Beneath oil paint layers, neon acrylic underpaintings generate visual vibrations—color fields pulsing with anxious energy, suggesting beauty perpetually on the verge of collapse. These paintings offer the perspective that existing in harsh conditions is an act of rebellion and protest. Natural Becoming is not merely documentation of loss, but a vibrant testament to persistence.

Learn more about Shunpike's Storefronts and Artist Residencies at shunpike.org/storefronts

Photos by Jay Jackson