IntimaSpace Gallery
Seattle's first therapy space that doubles as a gallery of original art by up-and-coming local and global artists
Curated by Kierstan Craft, the rotating collection explores the topics of identity, emotion, relationships, and eroticism
Art meets therapy: The concept
I got the idea for the IntimaSpace gallery when I first visited the location while looking for an office space for my therapy practice. The space had two levels, with a long wall joining them. That wall was begging for art!
I love creativity and color and I especially love supporting artists. The idea of being surrounded by original art was irresistible.
Even before my lease was signed, I began looking for artists who might like to have their art on display in the space. My vision was to include pieces that touched on the themes of emotion, identity, connection, and eroticism. As a sex therapist, I especially wanted to featured pieces across a range of body types and ethnicities, gender and sexual identities, and sensual experiences.
Exploring meaning through art
Part of my own journey is overcoming sexual shame, and rewriting the messages about “modesty” and “purity” that were emphasized during my upbringing in the Evangelical church.
I see art as a perfect counterpoint to those messages: it evokes emotions. It conveys a message. It holds an intention.
Each person viewing a piece of art will walk away with a different impression that is wholly personal and meaningful to them. This mirrors the journey of therapy!
I love the way that having art in my therapy space complements my mission as a psychotherapist.
Curating local & global artists
IntimaSpace Gallery is curated by Seattle-based local artist Kierstan Craft. She was the first artist I met on my journey to bring the Intima concept to life. Not only was Kierstan’s art exactly what I was looking for, I soon learned that Kierstan curates other spaces in Seattle, including many boutique hotels in downtown Seattle.
By the end of that first lunch meeting, I had invited Kierstan to curate IntimaSpace. Within a few weeks, Kierstan had five other Pacific Northwest artists signed up whose work perfectly aligned with my vision.
Artist highlight
Kierstan Craft
Suneeva Saldanha
Eric Chan
Adrien Miller
Seattle, WA, USA
Artist Statement:
My artwork explores the influence of body language and facial expressions on human consciousness. I relate strongly with figurative imagery, so I look to the body as a vehicle of experiencing insight into what it is to be alive as a human. A person once told me to be careful what I thought about, because a persons face will solidify over time into an expression that reflects the kinds of thoughts we fixate on. I strive to share imagery of bodies reveling in curiosity with movement that feels good. Faces resting in calm and joy. Clay provides an ideal medium to explore a spectrum from fluidity to solidity, and how that can show up in a person. I'd like the clay to show that even under incredibly unpredictable forces and flowing vicissitudes of sensations, there is still solace in relaxing into equanimity. That there's a place for calm in the chaos.
Artist Bio
Adrien Miller was born In Solana Beach California and raised in Seattle, Washington. He has been making art for as long as he can remember, and became passionate about painting as a graffiti writer in his youth. After getting into legal trouble for painting publicly as a teenager, he shifted his focus to painting on things that belonged to him.
He received a merit scholarship to attend California College of Arts and Crafts, and after a semester, decided to travel to Europe to study the old masters independently. He filled sketchbooks and painted his way through Spain, Italy, and Switzerland.
Strongly inspired by the rich traditions of figurative sculpture there, he decided to go back to school to learn sculpture. In college, he was introduced to ceramics as an art medium, and in 2007 he graduated from CCA with an individualized BFA in sculpture, painting, and photography. Shortly after, he began teaching ceramics, and set up his studio at the co-op Florentia Clayworks.
He has exhibited his work in galleries in California and Washington, including shows at ArtXchange Gallery, Love City Love, and Axis Gallery. He has been selling his work online full time for 15 years to collectors all over the world.
He has had the honor of sculpting many custom portraits including politicians, celebrities, memorial busts, and historical figures such as Booker T. Washington, Carl Jung, Godswill Akpabio, Juno, The Impractical Jokers, Einstein, and the women of Abba, to name a few.
In 2018, Business Insider made a video feature of Adrien’s art that went viral, and brought in so many new clients that he was able to double his studio space, and left his teaching position of 10 years in order to focus all of his creative efforts into his own art.
You can follow his practice and see his process on Instagram @adrienmillerart.
Eric Chan
Seattle, WA, USA
Artist Statement:
My artwork combines ink line drawing and oil painting on unprimed wood surfaces. I paint on off-cut wood because each piece possesses its own distinct composition that offers unanticipated challenges in the process of both drawing and painting. Unlike traditional paper, canvas, or digital spaces, scrap wood has no standard, blank white default setting.
The human body has the same experience as wood, it never exists as a neutral, static object without context. Both are always aged and dynamically aging, rich with unique imperfections, random dimensions, and unexpected varieties of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures.
I most frequently center queer people of color, indigenous and nomadic traditions, folklore, and diaspora in my artwork because the known and perpetuated social conventions, cultural norms, and institutions throughout most histories in most places are monolithic and exclusive by intent or inaccessible by default to people like us who happen to exist in the margins of the margins and experience the intersections of compounding oppression and invisibility.
Artist Bio
Eric Chan / 陳志宇 / 진지유 (b. 1988) is a first-generation Asian-American visual artist based in Seattle. His artwork features narrative portraiture with ink line drawing and oil painting on wood. Eric was born in Connecticut and raised by a Cantonese father, Korean mother, and Korean-Japanese grandparents. He attended Qingdao University in 2008 and graduated from Vassar College in 2010, where he studied Chinese art, culture, history, and language.
Chan learned to paint from his observations as a life model for studio art classes and became inspired by narrative art and history painting while working at a book publisher as a proofreader of book jackets and cover art.
In 2018 he relocated from New York to Seattle, wandering westward for three months in a camper van with his husband Dan. A grandson of Hong Kong immigrants to Seattle’s Chinatown - International District, Chan’s artistic subjects are often rooted in a personal exploration of intergenerational and multicultural themes of diaspora, dissidence, pilgrimage, and pioneers.
Suneeva Saldanha
Seattle, WA, USA
Artist Statement:
Suneeva’s Indian upbringing has largely infused into the style and character of these narratives. This series is a exploration of sensul emotions, eroticism and merging the historical richness of miniature painting with structural, geometrical compositions.
“The reptitiveness of the figurative motifs in geometric patterns that co-relate with the organic and mechanical nature of the sexual expression.”
“A watercolor and ink erotic series in miniture style- technique as an artistic expression.”
Suneeva is a regular participant at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival.
Kierstan Craft
Seattle, WA, USA
Artist Statement:
Using my own body initially in these paintings was a means to connect with a sense of normalcy. As I continued this artistic journey, it evolved into a celebration of femininity and vulnerability, aiming to convey to women the beauty inherent in their most intimate poses. Our bodies, like the landscapes that surround us, boast shapes, curves, and contours, each with its unique indentations and protrusions.
Drawing inspiration from antique topographical maps, I meticulously charted these forms, treating women's curves as the highs and lows of the terrain. Through my art, I endeavor to illustrate that women's bodies deserve to be revered, much like the natural world that envelops us.
Artist Bio
Kierstan is an emerging artist located in Seattle, WA. Having moved every few years her ideas of the world around her have shifted many times, but one thing stayed the same - her fascination with the human body.
Her main focus is showing adequate representation of women through her high contrasting paintings.
Having suffered early on with eating disorders and being diagnosed with BDD she has used her art as a form of therapy for herself, and has used it to enlighten others of their own beauty.
Art-inspired intimacy coaching
Unique to Intima Therapy, our Art-Inspired Intimacy Coaching sessions offer a creative, engaging approach to exploring relationships and sexuality. Set in our gallery space featuring curated erotic art, these two-hour sessions use artwork as a springboard for introspection and dialogue.
This innovative coaching experience is perfect for:
- Couples seeking to reignite passion and intimacy
- Individuals exploring their sexual identity or desires
- Those looking to expand their erotic imagination
- Anyone curious about the intersection of art and sexuality
- Clients who prefer a more casual, conversational approach to intimacy topics
Unlike traditional therapy, these coaching sessions focus on immediate insights and actionable steps to transform your erotic self. It's a fun, thought-provoking way to dive into topics of identity, emotion, relationships, and eroticism.