Artist Drie Chapek: ‘Inside the Outside’

Open Feb. 13-March 30. Artists reception 6- 8 p.m., Thursday, March 7; Artist talk noon Saturday, March 9, Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 3rd Avenue South, Seattle

Drie Chapek, an artist based in Edmonds, opened her home studio to share her new show ‘Inside the Outside’ with My Edmonds News readers before it’s installed at the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle.

“The title ‘Inside the Outside can have multiple meanings. It can refer to being physically inside an outside space,” Chapek said. “It can also reflect the merging of interiors with the natural world within the paintings. When I thought of the title, I was swimming in the [Puget] Sound and I wanted to honor what the water’s been doing for me. I was inside the outside.”

Her previous artwork featured clouds and billowing forms that were inspired by her childhood traveling by plane.

“I was a kid that dreamed I was flying through my dreams all the time. I didn’t even realize until COVID that I was painting that space. I was trying to get that space again with a long Earth and distant views and thinking of people as tiny ants all connected.”

The current show presents a shift from the cloud-life features. It was heavily influenced by Chapek’s morning routine of cold water swimming down at the waterfront.

“It was not on purpose,” she laughs. “I got the whole show out and was like it turned watery!”

Her paintings are large scale, which Chapek says is intentional.

“When I’m working large I can totally get consumed by it …” She thinks the desire to work large may also have been encouraged by her theater set design background.

Chapek did theater from the ages of seven to 20. “I thought I would do set design, but I didn’t like that they had requirements of me.”

Set design requires more engineering and architecture, and she preferred coming up with ideas and brainstorming wild environments.

“I get to make my own play,” she says of her art.

Another feature of the pieces is the invitation they give to viewers.

“I came across the concept of using light as a way to make the world feel inviting, so in this series, I’m trying to make a large continuous environment that is hopefully welcoming of the body”, Chapek said.

Chapek’s favorite painting from the show, “Midnight Bliss,” hangs in her dining room. “I want to keep it,” she confides.

The picture in question combines elements from travel in Indiana and Ohio. The interior is a music room space from a friend’s shop in Edison. Chapek said she wanted to bring the feeling of peeking into that room from the natural world.

“How do I make it feel convincing that this space can coexist here? That’s why I want to keep it because I feel like it successfully unites the two spaces.”

One of my personal favorites was “Self and the Whole Dawn.” Chapek said. “This painting was inspired by a painting called ‘Suicide de Lucrèce’ that was at the Seattle Art Museum of a woman pushing a dagger into herself.

“I found these images of the community and she’s thinking of her role. It reflects how I think of myself in the community. I tried to take the dagger to a minimum here because my personal goal is to find some bounds between honoring myself and looking to my community to see what I can give to it.”

(Edmonds residents may recognize the water scene; it is our waterfront view.)

“Boundary Breaker” is one of the few pieces with a figure.

“It took me two years to make it because it was such a hard concept for me,” Chapek said. “Like why do I have to do this anger, I really don’t feel like anger is OK and I should not be angry. She’s teaching me that ‘you need to know that your anger is telling you something.’”

The piece also explores the themes of order and disorder which Chapek relates is “me trying to grow up.”

Chapek hopes her work will “feel like it’s unfolding in front of you.” A trip to Seattle to experience the paintings unfolding in person would be well worth it.

Regular hours at the gallery are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; it is closed Sunday and Monday.

— By Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele.