About LupaYou know that kid who spent all her free time outdoors, turning over rocks, catching garter snakes, and learning the names of the trees? I’m that kid, all grown up. I currently reside in Portland, Oregon, though I am frequently found in the wilderness areas infusing and surrounding the metro area. I also garden, create kitchen alchemy (also known as “cooking”), and read as much as I’m able to make time for.

Most other relevant information about me and what I do can be found scattered throughout this site. Suffice it to say that I aim to be a creative polymath with a wellspring of ideas and inspirations, and I am restricted primarily by time. I am fortunate enough to be fully self-employed through my creative endeavors, and I greatly appreciate those whose purchases and other support have made that possible.

Artist’s StatementWe live in a time and place of convenience; everything is neatly packaged and sanitized, and we acquire our food, shelter, medicine and other needs with relative ease. In the process, we have lost touch with where these things come from, where in the earth, water and air they have originated. We forget that we are Animalia Chordata Mammalia Primates Hominidae Hominini Homo sapiens sapiens–in short, the last remaining human ape. And in our forgetting, we have enacted some great atrocities on our planet, our fellow beings, and ourselves.

Through my art, I am a voice crying out in this silicon and concrete wilderness we’ve built for ourselves. I use three-dimensional sculptures as statements on the problems we face, pairing aesthetic attraction with harsh realities. But I also invite others to seek solutions, offering relationships with sacred artifacts and the transformational rites they may incite in one’s life. I draw on the tradition of the wunderkammer, the cabinet of natural curiosities that serves as a personal museum, to encourage people to bring reminders of the nonhuman world even into their very homes. And I write about it all, through pixels and pages, sharing my path with whoever will walk it with me, even for a little while.

For it is not enough to merely rail about the tragedies. One must have hope, and must know that it is not too late to rebuild connections long lost. Through reclaiming discarded materials and showing them respect, through encouraging a more mindful and eco-conscious view of the world, and through offering an invitation to return to the greater communities of ecosystems and the planet itself, my creations serve as a bridge between us and everything else, and I am the intermediary setting the sacred space for that process of healing.

Current and Past Art ExhibitionsCurious Gallery 2017 (Organizer and Artist)
01-07-17 to 01-08-17 – Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown-Convention Center, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: The Tarot of Bones: Magician, The Tarot of Bones: Hermit

Flora and Fauna
4-1-16 to 4-29-16 – Splendorporium, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Tree Octopus, The Wood remembers, Curiosities, Deer Fern, Wilderness Offering

Northwest Tarot Symposium Art Show
3-4-16 to 3-6-16 – Monarch Hotel, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Four of Pentacles, Two of Wands, Moon, Strength, Hermit, Survival of the Most Adaptable, Conflict (Two of Swords), Earth

Curious Gallery 2016 (Organizer and Artist)
01-09-16 to 01-10-16 – Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown-Convention Center, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: The Wood Remembers, Cumulus, Replica Azure-Winged Magpie Nest, Wilderness Offering

The Tarot Show
10-2-15 to 10-30-15 – Splendorporium, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Conflict (Two of Swords)

Group exhibit
4-3-15 to 10-4-15 – Pacific Northwest Sculptors Gallery, Pioneer Square Mall, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Tendrils, Nature’s Treasure Chest, Curiosities, Foxes in the Henhouse, Survival of the Most Adaptable, Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat)

Loved to Death: A Taxidermy Show
4-3-15 to 4-24-15 – Splendorporium, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Wolf Headdress, Foxes in the Henhouse, The Fruits of Our Labors, Fox Skull Necklace, Wolf Knife, Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat)

NorWesCon38 Art Show
4-2-15 to 4-5-15 – DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport, SeaTac, WA
Pieces shown: The Teacup Tauntaun, Red Coyote Cloak, The Sun Returns, Stag’s Flight

Zodiac
3-6-15 to 3-27-15 – Splendorporium, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Ascendance

Northwest Tarot Symposium Art Show
3-7-15 to 3-8-15 – Monarch Hotel, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Four of Wands, Temperance, Justice, Ace of Coins, Blight (Five of Coins), Cynomys, Solar Serpent, Lunar Eclipse, Flora et Fauna II

MythicWorlds 2015 Fashion Show
2-21-2015 – Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Airport, Seattle, WA
Pieces shown: Assorted costumes

Curious Gallery 2015 Art Show (Organizer and Artist)
1-10-2015 to 1-11-2015 – Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown-Convention Center, Portland, OR
Pieces Shown: Foxes in the Henhouse, Curiosities, Blight (Five of Coins), Deer Fern, Jaws Agape, Nature’s Treasure Chest, Flora et Fauna II, Peacock Costume

12th Annual Something Red
12-3-14 to 12-31-14 – Salem, OR downtown businesses (Travel Salem)
Pieces shown: Flora et Fauna I

The Cabinet of Steampunk Curiosities
11-14-14 to 11-29-14 – The New Zone Gallery, Eugene, OR
Pieces shown: Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat)

OryCon 36 Art Show
11-7-14 to 11-9-14 – Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Portland, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: The Teacup Tauntaun (won first place in the Popular Choice category), Jaws Agape, Boar God, Lunar Eclipse, Tree Fern, The Spear Carrier, Coyote and Deerskin Cloak, Baby Shoe Terrarium

The Tarot Show
10-3-14 to 10-31-14 – Splendorporium, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Blight (Five of Coins)

marrow, moss: New Works by Lupa
09-6-14 to 10-16-14 – Custom Cranium, Eugene, OR
Pieces shown: Several new assemblage pieces, viewable in my portfolio

May the Force Be With You: A Star Wars Themed Group Show
5-2-2014 to 6-1-2014 – Good: A Gallery, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: The Teacup Tauntaun

Mounted: A Taxidermy-Themed Group Show
3-7-2014 to 4-1-2014 – Good: A Gallery, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat); Sun Hunter

Curious Gallery 2014 Art Show (Organizer and Artist)
2-1-2014 through 2-2-2014 – Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Portland, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Cervus canadensis; Anput headdress; Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat); Sun Hunter; From Naught to Naught (collaboration with Jim Towns); The Green Wolf headdress; Cougar Pull Toy; Spring Swing; Bird in a Basket

FaerieCon West 2014 Fashion Show
2-22-2014 – Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Airport, Seattle, WA
Pieces shown: Assorted costumes

GEAR Con 2013 Fine Art Salon
7-5-2013 through 7-7-2013 – Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Portland, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Pteropus vampyrus communique (The Mail Bat)

FaerieCon West 2013 Fashion Show
2-23-2013 – Renaissance Hotel, Seattle, WA
Pieces shown: Assorted costumes

RAW Artists: Mixology
7-19-2012 – Bossanova Ballroom, Portland, OR
Pieces shown: Assorted, including personal gallery and fashion show featuring my costumes

FaerieCon West 2012 Fashion Show
2-18-2012 – Renaissance Hotel, Seattle, WA
Pieces shown: Assorted costumes