Art Gallery

With so many groovy and talented artists in our community, we couldn’t not highlight them! Check out some of our Alliance Member artists and their work, and hire them to create art for you!

Jonathan is wearing a black hat, silver face and nose rings, and floral earrings. They are a light-skinned Black person with long dark hair and are looking into the camera

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

Jonathan Y. Eden

Jonathan Y. Eden is a South African-American writer and illustrator exploring monstrosity, liminality and memory from a queer and Mad perspective.

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A black and white illustration of a person with long dark hair and flowers growing out of their chest. The test at the top reads "Eyes open wide towards the future (a future I do not fear) unbound." — **Alphabet Institute Zine**
Jonathan’s contribution to the 2025 Alphabet Institute Zine.

A black and white illustration of three people appearing to be of different genders and races in an embrace. At the top and bottom: "Alphabet Alliance of Color. 2025 Alphabet Institute." Stars and flowers along the background. — **Alphabet Institute T-shirt Design**
Jonathan created the above design for the 2025 Alphabet Institute cohort’s t-shirts.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

Mar Olivos

Mar Olivos is a Queer, Latine, nonbinary, disabled artist from Walla Walla, now based in Seattle. With ancestral roots from Michoacán and Guanajuato, Mexico their work resists oppressive systems while reclaiming joy through creative practice. Drawing from nature, lineage, and Queerness, they create worlds shaped by their lived experience and culture. Their illustrations, paintings, wearable art, and self‑portraiture explore identity as an individual and the communities they are a part of. Their use of color drives movement and texture, forming visual narratives that connect body, land, and imagination. Art functions as their spiritual and healing practice to cultivate connection. Contact them at pnwxicana@gmail.com to connect!

Mar's Work

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**Alphabet Institute T-shirt Design**
Mar created the above design for the 2024 Alphabet Institute cohort’s t-shirts.

Painting of a face with vibrant colors and a cosmic theme — ***My Queerness Was Written in the Stars***

Painting of the side profiles of two people facing each other with a butterfly in the center — ***Que Vivan las Lesbianas***

Photo of Kory, a Black person with glasses and a small afro, smiling, wearing a blue button down t-shirt, with a monstera behind them

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

Kory Higgs

Kory Higgs (he/they) is a QT Black disabled and neurospicy facilitator, artist, healer, educator, and social scientist. Their work is grounded in ensuring our Black and Brown communities’ most vulnerable have access to their immediate needs and holding tender spaces to gather in fullness together in the process.

Kory's Work

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Black and white illustration of four individuals of different races, ethnicities, and genders holding each other. They have various geometric patterns on their clothing. At the top in black text "AAoC Alphabet Institute" and smaller black text below. — **Alphabet Institute Zine**
Kory created the above design for the cover of the 2023 Alphabet Institute Zine.

Purple background. An illustration of a dark-skinned Black person with a rose-shaped hole in their heart. A hand at the bottom of the image is holding a red rose in front of them. — ***Community Care***

Three individuals of a range of Black and brown skin towns all sitting on an orange and purple platform that has white text "he him he they they them." Behind them is a red background with black squiggle designs.

The bottom half of Jiéyì's face, they are wearing glasses and holding an image of an open mouth

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

Jiéyì 周杰意

Jiéyì 周杰意 is an interdisciplinary artist, activist, and educator using expressive meaning-making and civic engagement practices to shift our cultures towards a more inclusive, diverse, and beautiful future. Jiéyì takes a holistic approach to making and teaching by beginning with audience. They believe that it is their life's work to show people how to make friends with their feelings so that we may all better play and imagine and take care of ourselves, each other, and the planet. They hold an MFA in 4d art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they focused on socially-engaged arts practices. While in Wisconsin, they collaborated with the ArtWrite Collective on the power of art and social justice for the sake of generating new options and new possibilities in the world. As a teaching artist, they have developed visual arts and arts-integrated STEM, maker, and civic engagement curriculum for the the Madison Children’s Museum, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the Madison Public Library, Pacific Science Center, the Seattle Public Library, and ArtsCorp. Their current teaching artist practice utilizes character and environment to generate civic imaginations of a shared future. In 2016, they moved to Seattle, Washington and began to develop a universe exploring the habitats of our emotional diasporas. In 2018, they had a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish Trifecta, a set of one-poem-long books illustrated line by line.

Jiéyì's Work

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stationary with illustration of koi fish and a spiked lizard — **AAoC Stationary**
Letterhead for our intergenerational pen pal program!

Hand drawn black and white image says "AAoC" in a heart shape that uses trees as a border and includes an image of Mount Rainier with trees, clouds, and stars. — **Alphabet Institute Design**
Jiéyì designed a tshirt and zine with this logo for our 2021 Alphabet Institute cohort!

Colorful drawing of four women from the Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network. — **Portrait Series**
A header and four portraits of women from the Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network, one of our alliance members. Click to see all the portraits.

Previous Artist Spotlights

Såhi Velasco

Såhi Velasco (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Indigenous CHamoru parent, multi-disciplinary creator, organizer and facilitator residing in stolen, occupide Duwamish / Coast Salish Territoy (Seattle, WA). Their work weaves storytelling, illustration, poetry, collage, dance, performance, song and film. They are currently a full-time artist, commissioning graphic art and facilitating dance and healing workshops. Såhi loves parenting their pre-teen child, eating sweet treats, cuddling their pittie and being a goofy tender virgo.

Såhi's Work
CarLarans

Seattle based artist CarLarans (pronounced Car-luh-rontze) channels influences from soul, gospel, house, and hip-hop creating a playful and sultry sound unique his own. A Ballroom House Father (The Royal House of Noir) His performances captivate, enthralling audiences with his vocal agility, and incorporating aspects of vogue dance, runway, and fashion.
CarLarans' 2019 album, Raw Hnny was described by The Seattle Times as "uplifting" and a "significant leap forward". It was further met with positive reviews from industry professionals and his growing fanbase. His latest EP, X_x Serious (Dead Serious) was released June 11th 2021 consisting of mostly feel-good tunes written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CarLarans’ Work