Curation & Scholarship
Fine Art & Figurative Realism
Our team has curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary fine art, with a special expertise in figurative realism, including local, national, and international group shows. We are also writers and scholars in this genre. We have also designed and organized exhibitions leveraging site-specific custom installations (design and fabrication), and interactive artworks with digital design components.
Exhibitions
Group Show of romantic works featuring: Michael Newberry, Max Ginsburg, Dave Clay, Dominique Aristides, Daniella Astone, Tenaya Sims, Christopher Remmers, Allison Rose, Cory German, Agustina Forest, Elijah Evenson, Jen Dale. February 2024. Figure Ground Art Gallery.
Solo Show Retrospective featuring mythological works and nudes. Figure Ground Art Gallery. January 2024.
Alicia Ponzio Solo Show featuring bronze sculptures that seek to capture ideas and feelings that make up archetypical aspects of the American identity. Figure Ground Art Gallery. December 2023.
International Group Show featuring Paco LaFarga, Jorge Abbad, Rocío Cano, Carmen Mansilla, Eduardo Millán Sañudo, Irene Cuadrado, Nacho Vergara, Christopher Gallego, Peter Van Dyck, Dean Fisher, Josephine Robinson, Zoey Frank, Larine Chung, and Adam Cohn. Oct-Nov 2023. Figure Ground Art Gallery.
Group show featuring Sabah Al’Daher, Dave Clay, Jeanne Ferraro, and Cyra Jane. Curated by Cyra Jane. August 2023. Figure Ground Art Gallery.
Michael Newberry Solo Show featuring a diverse collection of landscapes, nudes, figures, and still-lifes. Figure Ground Art Gallery. June 2023.
Liza Brenner Solo Show featuring abstract still-lifes. Figure Ground Art Gallery. ay 2023
Juliette Aristides and Dominique Medici Duo Show featuring: figures, nudes, interiors, and florals by two of Seattle’s respected atelier instructors. Figure Ground Art Gallery. April 2023.
Digipen Institute of Technology Faculty Invitational Show. Curated by Danny Samuels. Figure Ground Art Gallery. March 2023.
Kevin Cosley Solo Show featuring abstract floral-like works with sculpture by Sandy Frank. Figure Ground Art Gallery. February 2023.
International Group Show featuring work by Jerusalem-trained artists: Adam Cohn, Ady Graff, Clare Haward, Elisabeth Larson Koehler (Guest Curator), Maria Levitan, Osnat Oliva, Mika Salamon, Raphael Shalem, Yuval Yosifov, Chani Zada. Figure Ground Art Gallery. December 2022 - January 2023.
Narrative Paintings of Cautionary Tales featuring: Aron Johnston, Carl Dobsky, Chris Pothier, Greg Hergert, Michael Tole, Steve Chmilar, Vince Calenzo, and Jen Dale (Curator). Figure Ground Art Gallery. October 2022.
Group Show featuring: Ed Praybe, Dean Fisher, Michael Newberry, Riley Doyle, Michaela Moffett-Yoro, Kimberly Trowbridge, Chris Liberti, Claudia Rilling, Paul Rutz, Tracy Everly, Rani Laik, and Taalay. Figure Ground Art Gallery. September 2022
International Group Show of Perceptual Realists featuring: Alix Bailey, Ann Gale, Catherine Kehoe, Christina Weaver, David Baird, Dean Fisher, Diarmuid Kelley, Ed Praybe, Stephanie Pierce, Eric Elliott, Jordan Wolfson, Mathieu Weemaels, Osnat Oliva Ruth Miller, Stanley Lewis, Wilbur Niewald, Ying Li, and Zoey Frank. Curated by Eric Elliot and Jordan Wolfson. Opened at Figure Ground Art Gallery in Seattle and Sugarlift Gallery in New York City. August 2022.
Martijn Caspar Swart Solo Show featuring works that aspire to timeless and classical beauty and draw on the rich tradition of tragicomedy from the ancient Greeks, Roman poet Ovid, and Shakespeare. Figure Ground Art Gallery. July 2022. Review by Jen Dale.
An epic mythos of narrative illustration by Elijah Evenson, featuring figurative sculpture, creature design, concept art, graphic novel pages, and full-size puppets. Associated with the show was a live storytelling event. Figure Ground Art Gallery. July 2022.
Grace Flott Solo Show. This show was Flott’s first gallery solo show. Works were “paintings of intimate moments for public consumption.” Figure Ground Art Gallery. May 2022.
Jen Dale Solo Show. Canadian-born artist’s allegorical and narrative works tackle provocative themes, often using herself as a model. Figure Ground Art Gallery. March 2022
Alicia Ponzio and Hanneke Naterop Duo Show. A pairing of two women artists, featuring San Francisco-based figurative sculptor Ponzio and The Netherlands-based painter Naterop. Figure Ground Art Gallery. January 2022.
Solo Show. This Portland artist offers beautiful observations of homelessness, as well as paintings of ordinary objects imbued with personal meaning, inspired by his daughter’s battle with disability. Figure Ground Art Gallery, Seattle WA, December 2021.
Sayen Rodriguez Solo Show. An argentine sculptor, performer, and makeup artist offers free-standing and wall-hanging sculpted portraits focused on gender identity, race, immigration and sexual diversity. Figure Ground Art Gallery. November 2021
The Art of the Nude was a salon-style group show of 65 nudes by 33 regional artists, ranging from students to seasoned painters. Figure Ground Art Gallery, Seattle WA, Oct 2021.
Michael Newberry Solo Show featuring a collection of contemporary impressionist pastel landscapes. Figure Ground Art Gallery, Seattle WA, Sept 2021.
Duo Show of evocative landscapes by Kyrgyzstan-born artist Taalay, and local Riley Doyle. Accompanying the show was figurative sculpture by Mike Magrath. Figure Ground Art Gallery, Seattle WA, Aug 2021.
Solo Show featuring works from direct perception. Figure Ground Art Gallery, Seattle WA, July 2021.
Understanding Ourselves, an exhibition of narrative paintings at the Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg OR, April 2021. Featuring: Aaron Johnston, Austin Eddy, Caitlynn Abdow, Chris Pothier, Elliot Wall, Greg Hergert, Joshua Langstaff, Maria Housley, Tammy Jo Wilson, Tanmaya Bingham, and Jen Dale (Curator).
Our Curatorial Team
Brett Holverstott and Jen Dale together operated the Figure Ground Art Gallery from 2021-2024. Both combine their curation with scholarship in art; Brett authors Profane Art, and Jen Dale authors Narrative Painting. Contributing curators have included Eric Elliot, Elisabeth Lawson Koehler, Cyra Jane, and Danny Samuels.
Keith Alnwick has helped design and organize a wide array of exhibitions, custom installations, and special events, including drawing and models exhibitions for Allied Works Architecture, design and fabrication of installations for invited exhibitions, and collaboration on site-specific, interactive artworks with digital design agencies.