Recent News at Mihalyo Studios

Happy Fall 2023

October 24, 2023
by Jeff Mihalyo

I hope this message finds you well.
A lot has been happening around my studio this summer and fall. Here are some of the highlights.

This fall I have a show of Crinkle Paintings on display at Paco Bar and Lounge in Seattle.
1408 E. Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122

A closing reception will be held on Friday October 27th from 6-10pm

This is the first time that I have presented my crinkle paintings all in one place. These works were my response to the inscrutable lock-down era of the pandemic, an exploration of the complexities of globally prevalent enigmatic emotions, and the individuated passage of time incapsulated in the process. The result creates a pareidolia effect in the eye of the viewer.
This exhibition is part of the Center on Contemporary Art : ShowWalls project.
More information here:
https://www.cocaseattle.org/2023/poco/mihalyo

Unique, Like Everyone by Nicole Renée La Follette

In August a poetry book by Nicole Renée La Follette was released with my artwork adorning the cover and interior pages. The source image for the cover is my 2015 painting “Flower Temple”. (The original painting resides with a collector in Tel Aviv).

The image was flipped horizontally in order to accommodate the cover text and graphics while interior pages are full page enlargements of cover art selections. I also designed the log and constructed the website/e-commerce platform for the project.

It was a joy to work with Nicole in order to help manifest her dream of publishing her first book.

Unique, Like Everyone is available at Queen Jester Press: https://queenjesterpress.com

2023 Websites:

In 2023 I created and launched two additional art related websites that I am proud of.

Thelabseattle.com is a large collection of art housed in a former industrial laser laboratory in Bellevue Washington. The goal of the site is to showcase the collection and to facilitate engagement, education and research of post-war and contemporary art. There are so many artworks in the collection that I am still adding to the site. It is an honor to be working on this ongoing project.

Shop.ninaladen.com is an custom e-commerce site for the artwork of award winning children’s book author and illustrator Nina Laden. Nina is a fire-hose of content and she utilizes this site sell her artwork directly to her buyers and collectors. As the publishing industry has not provided as much returns for her as in the past, this site has augmented those losses consistently. Currently she sells framed originals and prints. Soon we will add jewelry and other objects of art. We work well together and am happy to help her reach her goals.

Seaside Mural restoration and re-installation

The 600 square-foot Clatsop/Nehalem mural was originally paintings by Roger Cooke in 2006 and was damaged in a car accident last year. The driver jumped the sidewalk and struck the building on which the painting was mounted. The artwork was removed and sent to Seattle for restoration. I spent the majority of my time this past winter and spring repairing the sub-straight and painting.

In early July the mural was reinstalled in Seaside Oregon in its original location. A ceremony was held in downtown Seaside on July 6th 2023 that included tribal members, local officials, patrons and the public. During the ceremony the tribes gifted me with a blanket. It was a powerfully emotional moment that I will never forget.

The Seaside Signal published an article about the project and reinstallation that can be read at the link here:
https://www.seasidesignal.com/news/seaside-mural-honoring-clatsop-nehalem-repaired/article_fc40cdce-1f71-11ee-bd7d-07d47a4a61ab.html

Shop.mihalyo.com

Meanwhile I continue to add available art to my e-commerce site at https://shop.mihalyo.com/
Recent updates include original art, printmaking and Giclée editions of recent paintings.
Thank you to those who have purchased my artwork in recent months. I really appreciate it.

Stay safe out there everyone.

Artist

Happy New Year 2023

February 5, 2023
by Jeff Mihalyo

Hello from Mihalyo Studios. I hope this message finds you well.
Below are some activities that have kept me occupied recently.

The Clatsop-Nehalem Mural Restoration
For the last four months I have been working on a large scale mural restoration project for the Clatsop-Nehalem tribes of Northwest Oregon. This 600sf public-art mural was originally created in 2008 by Roger Cooke (1942-2012) who painted more than 60 murals across the country. Many in Oregon State. In 2021 the mural was damaged in a car accident and removed from the wall on which it resides in downtown Seaside and shipped to Seattle for repairs.

An article about the project written in June 2022 can be read at The Seaside Signal HERE

Interior view of mural restoration job site.

Nearly every inch of this mural needed repairs.
The substrate is Aluminum Composite Material (or Dibond). It is a relatively new product on the market and requires specialty products to repair damaged material. In this case each panel had metal corrosion on both sides, as well as dents, scratches, graffiti and holes. I developed experiments and solutions for each step of the restoration process with the goal of extending the life of the mural another 15-20 years.

Detail section of portrait restoration process (before and after).

Roger Cooke worked with color differently to my studio practice. His use of black mixed into every color was masterful. While restoring his mural I was surprised how effective and efficient his color work was. It has been ten years since his passing and he has a new student in me.

This mural returns to its original location on the Ace Hardware building in Seaside Oregon at Broadway and Holliday Dr. in the spring of 2023. Donations towards the project can be made at their GoFundMe page HERE and will help with installation and ongoing maintenance.

Our last public viewing in Seattle before delivery to Seaside will be held on Saturday Feb 18th, 2023. 2-6pm.
Location:
119 Prefontaine Pl. S,
Seattle WA 98104

The Mannequin Returns

In 2014 I was commissioned to paint a mannequin for a collector. Later it was placed in storage and eventually acquired by someone with another storage unit.
One day a received a call and was asked if I wanted it back. I did. Although scratched and dirty, I spent some time repairing it and added a few new details. It is difficult to find full body mannequins in good shape these days. I’ve had a lot of fun placing this mannequin in various locations and scenes.

Oh, the places we will go. Maybe even the carpool lane.

SeArtNow

In July of 2022 a web based project I’ve been working on titled SeArtNow went live.

SeArtNow logo

SeArtNow.com includes current listings, exhibitions and maps of the regional arts community in Puget Sound. This is a one stop place to find your way around the visual art scene there.

The Seattle Art Dealers Association facilitates the project and hired me to build and maintain it monthly. My focus is on backend and publishing operations as all design-work was established when I came onboard. Plans for expansion are underway. Its a challenging project with many participants and lots of potential. For me this project is a culmination of decades building and maintaining web sites for art galleries and artists in the Puget Sound area.

Happy Lunar New Year of the (Water) Rabbit.
Stay safe out there.

Jeff

Artist

Happy Fall 2021

October 6, 2021
by Jeff Mihalyo

On Saturday October 9th 2021 I will be holding a (masked) in-person closing event at a new micro-gallery pop-up located at 6309 24th Ave. NW in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.

The small and temporary gallery is the facade space of Primal Screens and was created to bring a variety of exhibitions in the coming months. The door will be open for the closing event between 5-9pm, however the entire show is visible through the bay windows until October 12th and is illuminated during off hours. All the available artworks are listed online at shop.mihalyo.com

Opening October 7th 2021 is a group exhibition titled “Artists of the Pub Reunion” that showcase artists that have displayed work at Collins Pub in Seattle over the years.
Thirteen artists kick-off the re-opening of the venue after 18 months of pandemic closure. My contribution are three Covid Crinkle paintings created during this time.

I am currently in a group exhibition in Solingen Germany celebrating 120 years of Sulamith Wülfing produced by Nautilus Studio.
Wülfing (1901-1989) was an artist from Wuppertal Germany that has influenced artists and musicians during the 1970s and beyond. Twenty six international artist celebrate her life with a sprawling exhibit that includes work by Sulamith Wülfing herself. A German and English version of the exhibition catalog has been produced and is available at:
https://www.yumpu.com/s/tISUMRT0AyCqa2WJ

New Giclee Editions are added to my shop monthly. These prints are made with archival inks and paper and can be shipped anywhere in the US.
“A Brief History of Architecture” is a recent commission and ”Onward” from 2015 are now available as 100% scale reproductions.

During the summer months I use the heat of the sun to speed-dry various painting projects in the back yard in order to prepare for winter work indoors.
This year I have also begun to document and create videos of my art making processes. Among these projects are painting commissions, cast paint eggs, spray-paint stencils and more.

Please join my youtube channel to watch these recent uploads and expect to see more videos as they become available.

Thank you for your support in these crazy times.
It is not easy to make, show and sell artwork in a time where so much uncertainty surrounds nearly every aspect of life. I appreciate your engagement with my creative projects and miss seeing your faces in real life.
Stay safe out there.
Jeff

Available art

Happy Holidays 2020

December 15, 2020
by Jeff Mihalyo

I hope this missive finds you safe and well.
2019 was a difficult year for me but it taught me how to deal with the many challenges of 2020. Essentially the core value I learned was to become very focused on what is important.

In May of this year I stepped down as a partner from our Augmented Reality start-up Workshop3D and assumed an advisory role as Senior Art Director. With that decision I pivoted to other creative endeavors in the studio and elsewhere.

I have constructed a new subdomain e-commerce platform attached to my web site at shop.mihalyo.com in order for me to address recent gallery closures and canceled cultural events. The site features original art, Giclee editions and selected downloadable art.

If you are seeking affordable art for your home or as DIY gifts for friends and family, you can now download and print selected artwork that fit selected US commercial frame sizes of 8×10, 8×8, 5×7 and 5×5. I will be adding more images and options to this page at https://shop.mihalyo.com/?product_cat=download-prints

Available downloadable art from shop.mihalyo.com

Madrone Heart is a 12×16 acrylic on canvas painting commissioned by a local forest ecologist. His loves to see his favorite tree the Pacific Madrone in northwest forests while out in the field. Unfortunately he has to relocate to California but he wanted to add something to his art collection that reminded him of his time in the region.

A Giclee of Madrone Heart is also available in my shop and includes a certificate of authenticity from my printing partner Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction.
https://shop.mihalyo.com/?product=madrone-heart-giclee-edition

Madrone Heart acrylic on canvas 16x20 2020 — Madrone Heart acrylic on canvas 16×20 2020

In the studio I have been working on other commissions and developing new “Crinkle” paintings by refining abstract techniques that I’ve been exploring for the last couple of years. These and other selected original artwork can be found at https://shop.mihalyo.com/?product_cat=original-art

Three Crinkle Coved paintings from 2020 acrylic on canvas 24x24 — Three Crinkle Coved paintings from 2020 acrylic on canvas 24×24

Meanwhile The winter 2020 issue of Salish Magazine has dropped and it features one of my paintings and an artist bio within. Salish Magazine is a nonprofit on-line publication focused on the interconnectedness of our natural world through stories and features in our Salish Sea region. https://salishmagazine.org/issue-10/

Stay safe out there.
Best to you and your loved ones in the new year.

Mural

The Lighthouse Roasters Mural

June 28, 2020
by Jeff Mihalyo

In June of 2020 I completed and installed a mural for Lighthouse Roasters in Seattle located at 400 N 43rd St, in Seattle.

During the Covid19 pandemic the business requested artistic signage to adorn their facade while they partially re-open to the public.

light house sketch sketchbook drawing 8.5x5.5 — light house sketch sketchbook drawing 8.5×5.5

The process started with sketchbook drawings. The final design was later scaled-up to the full size panels using roll paper. Once fully drafted, I traced the image backwards and pressure-transferred the drawings onto the final surface in my studio.

Lighthouse drawing graphite on paper 30 x 156 inches

Utilizing traditional painting methods I rendered the image freehand in sections but took care to color match each panel to the next.

Mural in progress Studio view acrylic on panel 30 x 156 inches — Mural in progress – studio view, acrylic on panel, 30 x 156 inches

The first panel installed included signage as the business was open with limited hours. The verbiage requested asked customers to Social Distance, to wear a mask and preferred that they perform card transactions. I made light of bank card aesthetics with type and effects using silver paint and the company logo as the chip hologram.

I delivered the centerpiece and final small panel a week later. The imagery relates to the company name “Lighthouse” and their core business of delivering coffee shots and bags of whole beans or grounds

The Lighthouse Mural, acrylic on panel, 30 x 156 inches, 2020

Humans of all colors casually soak in individual cups of coffee and are tied with payer flags to an uprooted lighthouse floating in the sky. In the distance are mountains of lighthouse labeled bags jutting out of an island of coffee beans.

Coffee Bean Island (detail), acrylic on panel, 30 x 24 inches. 2020

The total width of the mural is just under 13 feet and fills nearly half the hight of the storefront windows. The colors used were intentionally selected to match those of the building. The sectional panels are designed so if the signage needs to be changed in the future, that it can be done so with relative ease.

The mural is visible from across the street or from passing vehicles on the corner of North 43rd and Phinney Ave. North in Seattle’s upper Fremont neighborhood.

Painting

Happy Summer 2019!

June 28, 2019
by Jeff Mihalyo

Much has happened since my October 2018 missive. They are too numerous to mention. While time marches on I stay motivated and focused on meeting the requirements of tomorrow. Here is a brief synopsis of upcoming activity at Mihalyo Studios.

Upcoming 2019 Exhibitions

Opening June 29, 2019
The Nautilus Studio
Easter fields str. 6
42103 Wuppertal, Germany

I will be presenting Giclee reproductions of my paintings along with visionary artists Otto Rapp and Liba W. Stambollion at the new Nautilus Studio in Wuppertal Germany, opening June 29th.
This is my first show of artworks in Europe and is a long awaited dream of mine that has finally come to fruition. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend in person but plan to appear during the opening via Internet streaming.

Opening August 1st, 2019
Colins Pub
526 2nd Ave,
Seattle, WA USA

Opening Thursday August 1st during the Seattle Art Fair weekend I will be presenting a wide variety of large and small scale works at Collins Pub in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. The install date is Sunday July 7th and will run for two months. The show will include representational and abstract works and will also feature a large Augmented Reality painting.

Meanwhile back in the studio I continue to develop various projects such as my beard video, cast-paint eggs, and mini-paintings. My social media links below are the most practical way to follow these activities.

In other news:

You might be aware that I am a partner in WORKSHOP 3D, a start-up company specializing in Augmented Reality services aimed at museums and small businesses. We have attended a number of events since last October.

The largest event was the Western Museum Association conference in Tacoma that resulted in the March release of our latest FarmAR app supporting a permanent AR display at the Quincy Historical Society and Museum in Quincy Washington.

Last week we returned from the Washington Museum Association conference that was held in Spokane WA. There we demonstrated our Quincy Museum project to the staff of dozens of museums from around the state. Many were interested in adopting our technology for future exhibits and we look forward to working with them. We are already booked to attend this October’s Western Museum Association Conference in Boise Idaho.

Have a great summer!

video

Mihalyo’s Beard Video at Borealis a festival of light…

October 9, 2018
by Jeff Mihalyo

Borealis is a new light-art festival in Seattle featuring video projection mapping, light sculpture, light art and interactive light experiences. I am proud to be selected as one of this years participants. I will be projecting a segment of my ongoing Beard Video project on a 60 x 100 foot wall on the corner of Thomas Street and Westlake Avenue North throughout the four nights of the festival. The festival is free and open to all ages 6-10pm OCT 11-14th. For more information visit https://borealisfestivaloflight.com

In addition to participating in Borealis as an artist, the festival promoters have contracted with our company WORKSHOP 3D to construct and deploy an Augmented Reality app for this event.

Our app festivAR is free to download on Android and iOS. (Search: festivAR) The app is a self-guided walking tour of all the installations and it includes location information for parking and other South Lake Union neighborhood festival services.

Drawing

Mihalyo’s sketchbook-porn article at Seattle’s CityArts Magazine.

April 5, 2018
by Jeff Mihalyo

Seattle’s CityArts Magazine published a selection of my sketchbook pages from 1980-2018.

Jeff Mihalyo’s Fantastic Realms

(Original text and link bellow.)

I draw almost every day. Drawing is a lifelong foundational activity of my art making process. Since the late 1970s I have maintained a practice of creating sequential pages within dated sketchbooks. They chronicle observations, ideas, styles and the practice of material usage, while also serving as a visual diary and archive that I regularly mine for painting ideas.

This collection of images spans 38 years. As a self-taught youth I had derived inspiration from Escher, and da Vinci as well as science fiction and fantasy media. When formalizing my education at art school my sketchbooks explode with works in collage, charcoal, ink, paint, coffee, metal, fire and cigarette-butt ashes. Following college and throughout the 1990s I continued sketching scenes of fantastic realism, surrealism and figuration. Travel inspired another sketchbook boom during the 2000s. Ideas filled one sketchbook every two months. More recently abstraction and mark making have occupied more pages. Sometimes this is due to working with my non-dominant hand.

To date I have completed about one hundred sketchbooks. Eighty percent of them are filled at coffee shops. Sketchbooks are a means to take my studio with me while also isolating myself from studio distractions. It is a daily exorcize of play and free-association. Occasionally I surprise myself with complete painting ideas that form within a few minutes. More often I sketch to compose paintings by combining content from other pages or reworking ideas from a variety of perspectives. Alternatively, unless I am laboring over a specific project I generally approach the blank page open to whatever emerges.

Although I produce most of this work in public, few people see it unless they watch me draw in real time. I’m not secretive, just constantly filling the next page. Completed sketchbooks accumulate in milk-crates kept in the studio where I can leaf through them for inspiration. They are the seeds for all past and future paintings. At 220 pages each, they are arguably the most valuable things I own.

http://www.cityartsmagazine.com/sketchbook-porn-jeff-mihalyo/

Intallations

Frequency Unknown opens at Broadcast, October 12, 2017, 5-8pm

October 10, 2017
by Jeff Mihalyo

Frequency Unknown is a permanent installation at Broadcast Apartments located at 1420 E Madison St, Seattle, Washington 98122 . A public viewing of the installation and Open House will be held Thursday October 12th between 5-8pm.

This project is inspired by several key components of broadcast technology and its history. These include content creation, the broadcast or transmission of that content and its reception or consumption:

This building size multimedia installation includes steel fabrication, vacuum-forming, video creation, editing, and surface mapping, aluminum bending and sandblasting, the laser cutting and hand finishing of wood components, 3D printing, CNC routing of acrylic panels, computer-controlled vinyl cutting, programmable LED lights, and more. Additional photographic and augmented reality elements are yet to be added. In addition to the artists and their human helpers, six robots were employed to create this piece.

The lobby tower rises six stories through the building, as though the building was built around it. The panels represent many moments, milestones, and technologies in the history of broadcasting. The videos included represent the role and content of the broadcasting phenomenon, much taken from the past but filtered by today’s sensibilities.

Frequency Unknown is a product of F.E.W Research LLC, (Ray Freeman, Miguel Edwards, and Jonathan Womack) with additional work by Jeff Mihalyo, curated by Sara Everett and made possible with generous support from Broadcast Apartments.

One Night Event and Open House Thursday, October 12th, 5-8pm
1420 E Madison St, Seattle, Washington 98122
http://www.broadcastapartments.com

Exhibitions

Closing reception for Mihalyo’s “Abstract Impressions”

July 7, 2017
by Jeff Mihalyo

Dendroica Gallery

Jeff Mihalyo’s show of small scale abstract paintings at Dendroica Gallery closes this weekend.
Light refreshments will be served Saturday July 8th from 5 – 9 pm at Dendroica Gallery.
1718 East Olive Way, Suite A
Seattle, WA 98102, USA.

Come meet the artist and enjoy the company of other art lovers!

Included in the exhibit are over two dozen small scale paintings that are a direct descendent of the artist ongoing abstract process. These works utilize a variety of airbrush, folding, spray-stencil and hand painted techniques. Inspiration for the artwork derives from over 7 years of sketchbook drawings. Many of the conceptual drawings debuted previously at the gallery and are paintings made manifest this year in color. Also in the exhibit are sections from the artist “Alpha-Numeric” abstractions and his left-handed series including a nine-foot triptych inspired by visits to Roman ruins and Chines construction sites. This is your last chance to see the works together under one roof. The show closes Sunday at 5pm.