Friends of Cascadia Gallery
Check out the amazing artists and their work, celebrating the connection between whole health, women, and art.
Manda Borealis
I’m a Portland-based feminist artist. I am fascinated by the tango of feminine and masculine energies, and how it impacts the modern realms of love and abuse; within relationships with others and ourselves. Through art, I explore my personal experiences within these realms by showcasing the balance of the dark and the light.
The painting titled, “Mom”, a mixed-media painting showcases the inner struggle of a woman’s identity and how she is bound to society’s preconceived notions of womanhood and demands of life while submitting to impermanence. (Large canvas, 30×40)
Meghan Caughey
I am Meghan Jisho McDonald Caughey, MFA and I am a visual artist, writer, and musician. My drawings and paintings have been shown and published nationally, and my essays published in internationally respected books and journals. I have performed both symphonic and conceptual work on my cello.
In the first half of my life, I was hospitalized in psychiatric units over one hundred times, and had electric and insulin coma shock, plus was often in seclusion and four-point restraints. I am currently the senior director of peer-delivered services at a Cascadia, have designed innovative behavioral health training curricula and programs, and I am a clinical faculty member of the Psychiatry Department at Oregon Health and Science University. My visual art and writing sustain me, and my service dog, Ananda, is my muse.
I am pulled into the gorgeousness of natural, human, and animal forms. The brilliance of line and color will not let me rest. I must paint the emotion and forms that relentlessly hurl me into life. To live–art is essential. Imbibing the life force– is essential for making art. I survive because I am able to draw and paint the edge where I find myself.Sometimes the images tear me apart–but by painting them, I am transformed and made whole— the action and images restore my soul.
My memoir, “Mud Flower: Surviving Schizophrenia and Suicide through Art ” will be released May 1, available through Amazon and others in paperback, hardback, ebook, and audiobook.
Jamila Clarke
My name is Jamila and I like to tell stories.
I live in the urban wilds that are the Pacific Northwest, its cities, forests, and seaside providing a backdrop for my work. I discovered my first camera at eight and fell in love with film in middle school but it wasn’t until I discovered digital photography that everything came together. I was able to create impossible moments, narratives worthy of folktales and add a little magic to everyday life. When I’m not creating surreal and fantastical narratives, I’m hiking, reading sci-fi/fantasy, sewing costumes, or crafting.
The artwork shown here are two pieces that were part of HEART in 2018, entitled “She Would Only Watch” (part of a series about the seven deadly sins; this one is “envy”) and “A Circle of Words”.
www.instagram.com/lightplusink
www.facebook.com/JamilaClarkePhotography
Select prints are available on Etsy.
Karin Conrad
1525 is a woman-owned and operated business based in Tigard, and specializes in creative promotional solutions that honor the identity and individuality of our clients. The small but passionate team loves helping companies bring their brands to life with promotional campaigns that leave a lasting impression. The companies that choose to partner with us value the expertise, experience, energy, and high attention to detail we give to each and every project.
#domoregood
Weina Dinata
I am an artist/designer and owner of Poppy & Fitch. I have a BA in Graphic Design and a deep love for plants, how they grow and how they interact with animals. I am passionate about leading creative native plant workshops for educational groups and private parties and helping educate about the purpose of native plants. I love being able to use my design skills to help people experience the beauty of giving the earth what it needs. I believe we have to plant locally and think globally. The plants we put in our gardens will feed the birds and butterflies and all the other wildlife around us. I challenge all of us to redefine beauty and perfection in how we garden. To me, the beauty lies on the ecological purpose of native plants and the cycle of life; we’re all connected.
Inspiring, healing, and connecting people with nature through my one-of -a-kind table-top living altar garden, capturing the beauty, versatility, and purpose of our PNW native plants for our habitat and community. Studying native plants led to self-discovery of accepting and nurturing what we inherited naturally and who we are unconditionally.
Kristina Bell DiTullo
Kristina Bell DiTullo is a visual artist who lives and works in Portland, OR. She grew up in New York State and has lived throughout the United States. Kristina earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kristina’s work is informed by her knowledge of psychology and human behavior stemming from her background working as an art therapist. She uses a precise, controlled, repetitive visual language to examine themes such as trauma, relationships, resilience and other various states of being.
Uncertain Connections 2020, collage on paper, 14” x 11”
Instagram: kbd_art
Ashleigh Flynn
I started as a solo artist, but in 2017 I teamed up with an amazing group of women musicians and formed Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters. Our inaugural LP hit the streets in 2018 featuring a sound that hearkens back to early Stones, ‘70s psychedelic country rock, and alternately “charms like a Sunday afternoon front porch session”.
Check us out — and hopefully, we will have more live shows coming soon!
www.ashleighflynnandtheriveters.com
Instagram: @afandtheriveters
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ashleighflynnandtheriveters
Zoë Heins & Jo Ann Kassebaum
Emma Hodges
I started exploring photography as a wee fifth grader after receiving a hand-me-down camera from my grandma. It has since developed into a passion for capturing authenticity and true emotion to help inspire connection.
emmaelise.com
Gabriella Karp
I am a secure residential treatment specialist at Cascadia. You can check out my recording “Back to the Ground” youtu.be/zO0NbG_f0vs
I’m also working on recording an album this year and anyone interested in keeping up with my progress can follow me on Instagram @gabzilla96
Kacie Kulser
My paintings are inspired by surrealism and the relationship between nature, wild spaces, and the imagination. I enjoy working with symbols and exploring colors. Painting is very meditative for me and helps me feel connected to the world.
Pari Mazhar
I created the first women’s program in Farsi and occasionally bilingual (Farsi & English). After two years volunteering for KBOO, a community radio station, I was able to master engineering and then learn production, I worked with KBOO to developed a show reflecting women’s voices from the Middle East and other parts of the world. And “Saba Program – Voices of Women” was created! Since then with help of other co-hosts and women in the community who have been interested to help, I have been on the air for almost 25 years. The program includes art, culture, music, and interviews with women who are making a difference. Saba also brings women’s voices from all over the globe and also connects the Persian community in Portland for any event, news, and public affairs.
You can listen to Saba every first Sunday at kboo.90.7 f.m.
Sarah Love McCoy
Sarah Love McCoy is an artist, writer and teacher working on awakening the power of love in herself and human hearts everywhere. Creator of the “I Stand For Love” Calendar (in its 18th year!), Sarah’s best known for her daily nuggets of wisdom. She’s dedicated to delivering a message of love and inspiration to help cultivate hope for tomorrow.
This painting is called “The 3 Muses”. It’s 30″x40″ acrylic on canvas. This piece represents a shift in the stories we tell ourselves. What if we believed that the Sun, Moon, and Earth itself loved and supported us every day? Would that change how we feel on the inside?
Check out Sarah’s recent podcast interview on Mind & Matter.
Kat McQuaw
Trenisha Shearer
I’m 17 years old and currently a senior at De La Salle North Catholic High School. I made this short film in June of 2020 and the poem read is one that I created for a Black History Month celebration earlier that same year. I was prompted to make a short film about something that mattered to me while participating in the Youth Media Program through the Representation Project. It’s called “Black Till It’s Backwards”.
Watch “Black Till It’s Backwards”
