Cake, Mirrors, Avatars, Coffins, and a note about my life
Hi friends,
It has been a full summer. Two September exhibitions, new work taking shape in the studio, and somehow also curating two shows this fall. I am moving forward and I am not stopping.
The fall art season opener is officially underway. If you don't know what that means — September is when the art world goes back to school. Collectors return from vacation, galleries open their strongest shows, and the next few weekends are packed. Everything is opening at once. It is one of the best times of year to get out and see art.
Here is everything that is coming up, including three events this weekend and next.
TODAY Saturday September 19, 5 to 7pm Under One Roof Let Me Eat Cake: No Regrets Reception Coastline Art Gallery, 1515 Monrovia Avenue, Newport Beach
If you are in Orange County or can make the drive, tonight is the public reception for Let Me Eat Cake: No Regrets at Coastline Art Gallery. This is the fourth iteration of my Let Me Eat Cake series and the most personal one yet. 90 twelve by twelve inch pieces installed floor to ceiling, wall to wall. It is going to feel like a wall of cake. The show runs through September 27th. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday 11am to 4pm or by appointment.
TOMORROW
Saturday September 20, 3 to 5pm
Lynette K. Henderson: Opening Reception
Shoebox Projects, 660 South Ave 21 #3,
Brewery Arts Complex, Los Angeles
Come see Lynette's new work tomorrow afternoon at Shoebox Projects. Her practice explores the relationships between people, nature, and the environment — wildlife, ecosystems, the ongoing impact of human activity on species and habitats. It is beautiful, urgent, and worth your time.
Next Saturday September 26 The Gracie Kendal Project and More Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 W. Mountain Street, Glendale
I am showing four bodies of work at the Brand as part of Artifacts from an Unborn Empire, curated by Jason Jenn and Vojislav Radovanovic. A show asking what civilizations leave behind and who gets to tell the story.
The work includes The Gracie Kendal Project, my avatar in Second Life who I created in 2006 and who has been with me ever since. 1000+ Avatars, video documentation of over 2,000 virtual identities at a particular and unrepeatable moment in history. Archive of Becoming, cut paintings on wood and canvas spanning thirty years. And Reliquaries, glass jar sculptures holding the accumulating evidence of a life. My father's military medals. My hair from the first time I shaved my head. Concert tickets, buttons, keys, flash drives. A civilization of one.
Come if you can. I would love to see you there.
Also open now Healing with Gold: The Art of Kintsugi on Ceramics & Beyond
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
244 S. San Pedro Street, Little Tokyo Opened September 12
curated by Meher McArthur
My work "Beautiful Parts" is a mirror installation. Four panels representing the four faces of the space my body occupies. Baroque gold wallpaper. Salon-style mirrors in gold frames from the floor up. Every mirror reflects a different fragment of whoever is standing in front of it.
You walk up and see yourself — not all at once but in pieces. You don't have to believe it yet. You just have to look.
Under One Roof continues Perceive You 3.0
Coastline Art Gallery, Newport Beach
Opens October 1st, runs through November 6
Public reception Saturday October 24, 5 to 7pm
The third iteration of my figurative self-portrait exhibition. Who are you, really, underneath the curated version? A platform for owning who you are, for being authentic no matter what body shape, size, color, gender, or ability you have.
What I am doing next
Things are shifting and I want you to hear it from me directly.
Shoebox is winding down its membership program at the end of 2026. What's replacing it is something more focused and more personal.
Starting now I am taking on a small number of private mentoring clients. Intensive, boot camp style support for artists who are ready to build their foundation and move their career forward. One on one. One to three months depending on what you need. One hour Zoom consultation per month, email access between sessions, accountability, and a clear roadmap including your artist statement, bio, CV, website and social media audit, and a tailored list of galleries, institutions, and publications to pursue. $600 a month. Limited spots.
My focus is also shifting toward Art and Cake, the nonprofit, where I'll be running art history conversations on Zoom, pursuing partnerships and collaborations, and continuing to cover the Los Angeles art world the way we always have. More time seeing art. More time writing about it.
If you are interested in private mentoring email kristineschomaker@gmail.com and tell me where you are in your practice. We will figure out if it's the right fit.
New work in progress
In the studio, new work is taking shape. Work about judgment. Work about death. Work about connection and the distance between people and what lives in that distance.
I am not ready to share all of it yet. But I can feel it coming. Two new projects are in development and I am genuinely excited about both of them. More on those soon.
I am also applying for grants this fall, which feels like the right next step for where my practice is going.
And Perceive Me will be back next year. More details as they come together.
A note on where I am personally
I want to say something I do not say enough.
I have been focusing on my health. On recovery. (I am starting Intensive Outpatient Treatment for my eating disorder in the next week or two) On having a life again outside of work and productivity and showing up for everyone else. It has been a process and it is ongoing and it is the most important thing I am doing right now alongside all of the above.
Thank you for being part of this community. It has sustained me more than you know.
More soon.
Kristine
shoeboxarts.substack.com @kristineschomaker
@artandcakela
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