Sacred

Sacred presents individual reflections on the sublime from five women artists living and working in the Pacific Northwest and Western US. Through various media, including wall reliefs, ceramics, painting, mixed media, and a unique photo-based process, the artists offer expressions of the exceptional and ways in which they feel most connected to our world and shared humanity. Themes include the natural world, shared humanity through mythology, and explorations of the concept of belonging.

Sacred artists are Holly Hudson, Niki Keenan, Kendra Larson, Christine Nguyen, and Io Palmer.

Click here for the Sacred viewing room.

Holly Hudson – Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, Christian religious art, and creation myths, Holly seeks to uncover the similarities in various cultural beliefs to reveal a collective experience of what it means to be human. Holly received a B.A. in drawing and painting from Fairhaven College, Western Washington University, and an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art. She was an Artist in Residence at Parson’s Altos de Chavanne, Holly has shown her work in Alaska, Washington, and New York City and was most recently included in The Museum of Northwest Art’s First Annual Ceramic Invitational. Holly lives and works in Bellingham, WA.

Niki Keenan paints boldly colored, natural scenes that reflect the energy, power, and intelligence inherent in nature. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is featured in the permanent collections of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the State of New Mexico. She was recently included in the “Party in the Park” at the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park and has had exhibitions of her large-scale sculpture at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art and the Seattle Art Fair 2025. She graduated summa cum laude in painting and drawing from the University of Oregon. Niki lives and works in Seattle, WA

Kendra Larson is a painter based in Portland, OR. Her work explores historical ideas of landscape and supports ideas around environmentalism and contemporary relationships with the natural world. She received her MFA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her work has been exhibited in venues in the US and New Zealand, and she was an artist in residence at Signal Fire, Caldera (Sisters, Oregon), New Pacific Studios (Masterton, New Zealand), Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Oregon), and Fish Factory Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður (Iceland). Kendra teaches at Clark College and is the school’s Archer Gallery Director.

Christine Nguyen – Christine’s photo-based works are inspired by the cosmos, nature, the sciences, and the ocean. Her work has been exhibited around the world, and she has had solo exhibitions of her work at the Hammer Museum, Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, Baik Art in Los Angeles, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, St. Augustine, FL; 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong; Pataphysical Society PDX, Portland, Oregon, and Galerie Quynh, Vietnam. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany; Laguna Beach Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA; Kleefield Art Museum, Long Beach, CA; San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Esther M. Klein Gallery, University Science Center, Philadelphia, PA; IMAC, Tijuana, Mexico; Sprueth Magers Projekte, Munich, Germany; Dancing Elephants Project, Bogota, Columbia and Churner and Churner, New York. Christine lives and works in Aurora, Colorado.

Io Palmer – Drawing inspiration from wild foliage and seasonal transformation, Io’s work reimagines cycles of growth and decay through thousands of hand-formed clay marks, each fired, glazed, and wired together with colored aluminum wire. Originally trained as a ceramicist, Io works across a range of processes and materials, including clay, wood, and paper. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions of note, including the Dakar International Arts Biennial, Dakar, Senegal; York College, CUNY, Jamaica, NY; Rush Gallery, New York City; and the Boise Art Museum. Her large-scale installation, MeandeIr, is currently on view at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA, through January 2026. Io was recently awarded her first large-scale public art commission for a permanent installation at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Io is Professor of Art at Washington State University, Pullman.