Grace Athena Flott Studio

Just returned from the island. Wow. I’m so grateful to Vashon Artist Residency for the time and space to be totally immersed in a new body of work. After spending much of the last two years on portrait commissions I feel like my studio practice is finally reignited. I went from months of designing and tip toeing into small works to stretching multiple 6 ft canvases on the wall, big brushes and 10 hour painting days. I missed that physicality of working large; dancing with fear of total failure. Unbeatable. Nothing is complete but the energy is back and it feels like it’s here to stay. Thank you so much to the generous founder Cathy Sarkowsky and incredible executive director Heather Dwyer for creating such a container of possibility. I cannot recommend this program highly enough.

“In the last days of the fourth world I wished to make a map for
those who would climb through the hole in the sky...” Joy Harjo

Thank you above all to my fellow artists-in-residence Amir Sommer and Daren Todd , my new dear friends who gazed with me upon the sky. I can’t wait to say I knew you back when. Look out for these two, they are charting a map to a better world. Much love xoxo

Looking back at 2025..here is my official portrait of Washington State University President Emeritus Kirk Schulz! I worked on this spring and summer and we unveiled the final work at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU in September. Thank you President Schulz, Dr. Noel Schulz, and the entire WSU team that collaborated to make this possible. It was an honor to bring your vision to life.

Special thanks to the committee who guided this work: Executive Director of Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Ryan Hardesty and all the museum staff, Dean of Libraries Trevor Bond, Chair and Professor of Art Squeak Miesel, former Office of the President Community Engagement Director Jeanne Weiler, and many others.

The background depicts a scene from the WSU Tri-Cities campus: Collaboration Hall, a new science and engineering building founded during Kirk Schulz’s tenure, with the dusty wine country in the distance. He holds a book called “Leading with the Crimson and Gray,” a WSU publication documenting previous presidencies.

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU, in partnership with the Office of the President.

I am so proud to announce two of my paintings are now part of the Permanent Collection of the Port of Seattle at Sea-Tac International Airport. If you did any summer travel out of our airport, you know that it’s secretly an incredible art museum. It’s an honor to be part of this outstanding public collection and, moreover, to see my work preserved and enjoyed for generations to come. 

Find my paintings exhibited at Sea-Tac Airport near Checkpoint 1 (outside of security) by Baggage Claim 2. Airports may be an unconventional place for art, but ours is actually a world class collection that includes Louise Bourgeois, Frank Stella, and homegrown international giants like Barbara Earl Thomas. I am overjoyed that these portraits will be seen by millions of travelers every year. Thank you to the Port of Seattle , the selection committee, and Public Art Program Manager Tommy Gregory .g.human for making this possible. Of course these New Icons portraits would not be possible without the subjects themselves, Tonya and Claudia, and I am forever grateful to them for their collaboration and solidarity. This acquisition is one step toward greater representation of folks with disfigurement and disabilities. 

Super honored to be on this wall! Amanda Manitach wrote a great article about our airport collection last fall. Linked in bio.

Next time you fly through Seattle make an art pitstop by Checkpoint 1!

THEY HUNGERED FOR MORE (GRIP) / 2025

Oil on cradled birch, 8 x 8 inches

Recently exhibited in GRAB.HOLD.RELEASE at Common Ground Gallery, June 2025