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Special Advertising Section | Sunday, November 30, 20259%u201cI really want to make art a full-time profession, so the studio allows me to have a space I can do that from, from creating to packaging and shipping. I absolutely could not have done this without the grant from Artist Trust,%u201d she said.Artist Trust Executive Director Kristina Goetz said Shafer%u2019s grant, a $25,000 Arts Innovator Award funded by the Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation, will have a %u201ctransformational impact%u201d that will ripple through the art community for years to come.%u201cFor me, art is political and radical and healing,%u201d Shafer said. %u201cI do it for and with and because of community.%u201dThe new studio, a prefabricated garage equipped with a solar generator and materials purchased from the Buy Nothing Project and Habitat for Humanity Store, gives Shafer the %u201clong term%u201d stability she%u2019s long wanted.%u201cI am excited to have a space of my own to get back into my work, especially in winter when getting to my (former) studio was more difficult,%u201d she said.Shafer has been working on an ongoing series called Matrilineal Memory, a touring exhibition of artwork and poetry on display through December at the All My Relations gallery in Minneapolis. She recently curated a native artist exhibition at Thurston County Museum of Fine Arts in Olympia.%u201cHaving my own studio has always been a goal, but I felt it was very unattainable. At the same time, there was always a worry about not being able to afford my next month%u2019s rent for the art studio,%u201d she said. %u201cNow, I can create anytime.%u201dTo learn more or donate to Artist Trust, visit artisttrust.org.Where art speaks louder than wordsIn one painting, an artist who goes by the name Pixie depicts the bare branches of gnarled trees groping toward the sky. The backdrop is pale-blue, wintry, somewhat surreal and eerie. The ground is frosty.In another painting, Pixie%u2019s vivid splashes of color shimmer in an aurora borealis-style sky, mirrored in the water below.Pixie is nonverbal and the paintings are untitled, but they speak volumes about the artist%u2019s world.Since 2017, Pixie has let the paintings do the talking at Vibrant Palette, a Seattle art studio and creative community space for artists with autism, developmental disabilities and other challenges. The studio provides them the opportunity to create in a supportive environment and exhibit their work, while promoting inclusion in Seattle%u2019s contemporary arts community. Pixie tends to favor landscapes, skies and natural subjects like birds, foxes and Mikaela Shafer and her partner Fennell Overstreet at Shafer%u2019s new backyard studio that was funded by Artist Trust, a Seattle nonprofit organization. (Photos courtesy of Mikaela Shafer)In addition to her art, Shafer works as a marketing specialist and social media coach.Continued on page 11 Continued from page 7