Beauty Shop Collective: Party Mix
March 5-28, 2026
First Thursday Art Walk
Thursday, March 5th, 5-8PM
Panel Discussion
Saturday, March 7 at 4 PM
Artist Reception
Saturday, March 7 at 5-7 PM
Beauty Shop is a group of like-minded women artists based in the Puget Sound area. Our work is replete with sarcasm, idealism and plain old chutzpah. We share a passion for experimentation. We never know what’s around the bend with our conceptions, and we like it that way.
Beauty shops were historically a third place for women folk to gather away from the male gaze. They evoke memories of Fresca, Salem Cigarettes, Valium, and secrecy.
We retreat to our studios to sort and invent. We gather to challenge and subjugate doubt.
This is the debut show of Beauty Shop. We have called it Party Mix because the term embodies the joy we achieve when we bring our art together. There’s a range of sensibilities in our collective works and we believe that the mix makes for a good party.
Participating Artists:
Ingrid Sojit, a member of Gallery 110, is inspired by the organic shapes observed in nature, the decorative geometry of folk art, and activist poster artists of the 20th century.
Saundra Fleming, a member of Gallery 110, paints in the face of fear and the unknown to overcome darkness and Nihilism.
Lynette Charters holds an MFA from Chelsea, London, and a BFA (hons) from Cardiff, Wales. In addition to exhibiting her works worldwide, she is the curator at The Gallery at Harlequin Theater, a contributing writer for Oly Arts Magazine, and is the author of two books.
Kate Harkins is an abstract painter with a strong sense of play represented by Columbia City Gallery and Core Gallery and has been an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington Medical Center.
Arni Adler has been creating and showing her paintings, collage, and 3D wood-block art since 2010. Primarily self-taught, Adler has taught art to children and adults of all abilities at the Seattle PlayGarden and Seattle Artist League.
"As withering as it is, the problem with the male gaze is not only the pain of being seen in a reductive and exploitative way. There is also the risk of internalizing its violently selective mode of seeing, allowing its modes of seeing to coopt one’s own. So, welcome to the Beauty Shop Collective! Not only do its remarkable artists seek shelter from the male gaze in the safety of the metaphorical beauty shop, but from this place, they reclaim seeing itself. In a “party mix” of dazzling works, the world is explored with freshness and magic, often punctuated with delightfully subversive wit and cheekiness. Far from the depredations of the official mode of seeing, these artists recoup the surprise and unexpected freedom of the painterly eye."
Dr. Jason M. Wirth, Chair, Philosophy, Seattle University