A deliberate opening in the roster.
The invited artist program is not a residency and not a competition. It is a deliberate opening in the roster for work that does not yet have a category here but belongs on these walls. JG Art Gallery invites emerging and regional practitioners to exhibit for a single show or a two-show run — enough context for the work to make its case, not enough to force a relationship before it is ready.
Three artists, three vocabularies of material.
Wood that holds the memory of the grain. Iron that holds the memory of heat. Layered media that holds the memory of sequence. Three kinds of material intelligence, placed in direct conversation.
Andy McConnell
McConnell's work has evolved from the dust and din of construction sites: scribing trim became carving forms; gluing up counter slabs led to making large stable carving blanks. The wood is salvaged. The fire is honest.
View Andy's page →
Maria Cristalli
Iron at working temperature is briefly compliant, then closes back into itself. Cristalli reads color, timing, and resistance — and her pieces carry the evidence of every threshold crossed in their making.
View Maria's page →
Jill Kyong
What goes first is never gone. Each layer is permanent. The surface of the finished work records every prior state. Kyong's practice makes that logic explicit.
View Jill's page →Does the work hold the room?
The invited program uses the same standard as the permanent roster. Not the artist's statement, not the CV, not the biography — the work on the wall. Specifically:
- Work that operates at exhibition scale — pieces that speak to each other, hold a room, and reward sustained looking.
- A point of view that is present in the paint or the material, not the caption. The work makes the argument; the artist statement may amplify but cannot replace.
- Pacific Northwest connection — based in the region or in sustained dialogue with its landscape, light, and material traditions.
Invited becomes represented over time.
The relationship runs in time. Some invited artists become permanent roster members through subsequent shows and continued collaboration. Some are guests for a single show. The work decides.
Patricia Dalton
A native Chicagoan now settled in the Pacific Northwest. Studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Her career as Art Director informs a compositional precision in her paintings that is structural without being cold.
Erica Nordean
Native to the Pacific Northwest. Internationally recognized for horse paintings and landscape work. Her paintings hold the specific quality of morning light at elevation — the kind that changes while you are looking at it.
Zuzana Korba
Mixed-media panel work that builds surface through accumulation rather than stroke. Each piece holds evidence of its process — material decisions that remain visible in the finished work. Introduced a material language new to this program.
How an invitation begins.
Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Contact the gallery directly if you would like to discuss your work before submitting.
The submission process is direct: a portfolio of recent work, a statement about the practice rather than the biography, and an understanding of how your work relates to a group show context. The gallery responds to all submissions. Work that does not fit the current program receives specific feedback.
An invitation is the start of a possibility, not a commitment in either direction. The work will tell us how the relationship continues.
Be on the list.
Tell the gallery what you collect, and you'll hear when an invited artist's work — current or future — fits what you're building.