Hi.
Welcome! Enjoy a scroll of art instead of a scroll of doom. :)
Welcome! Enjoy a scroll of art instead of a scroll of doom. :)
So often our work gets buried in digital archives, closets, or behind new work after having been shared once (or never). Our creations deserve a little more love than that.
I thought it would be nice to have a low-stakes place to gather and celebrate our existing work together.
The Friendly, NBD art show features 13 pieces from different artists, welcoming artists of all visual mediums and short-form writing, or a combination thereof.
I hope you’ll linger a little.
Optional theme: Summer
There is a thumbnail gallery for an overview, then scroll for full images and information about the artists and their work.
Featuring: Dara Theodora, Laura Simon, MAB, Moonwin, Ric Jordan, Sam Brenneman, Wendy Lowengrub, Naomi Takata Shepherd, Jessica Collins, Sarah-Lambert Cook, Dylan Little, Kayla Johnston, Natsumi Pamela
Natsumi Pamela
”Ikebana with Vincent”
Oil on panel
May 2025, San Francisco, CA
Instagram: @natsumipamela.art
Website: www.natsumipamela.com
My first original oil painting! This floral piece is based on one of my Japanese ikebana arrangements and inspired by Van Gogh's impressionistic style. I wanted to capture both the loose, textured energy of his brushwork and the quiet balance of the arrangement itself.
Natsumi Pamela Inoue is a San Francisco-born artist who started painting in 2023. Her tender, impression-driven work captures the emotional presence of her subjects, inviting viewers to feel the care behind each piece.
Sam Brenneman
”Cogs Tyrannic”
Mixed media sculpture
February 2026, Berwyn, Illinois, on the edge of Chicago
Additional photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MCPmAL9zZjoUK4p76
Instagram: @brennemanica_online
This piece is an automaton, an animated sculpture. The smaller figures plunge up and down, out of sync, and the larger 'overseer' goes in full circles at a slower rate. The hand crank on the right side runs everything. It's mixed media; there is 3d printing, brass, cams and rollers, recycled book cover boards, rubber belts and geared wheels. It measures 14" wide, 17" tall, and 7 inches deep.
I've been on a roll with automata for a few years now. I delight in getting the mechanics to do what I want them to do, often designing my own gearing to get an effect I'm chasing. I am formally trained as a painter, but have been making collage and constructions for many years. I share my process on Instagram as brennemanica_online.
Ric Jordan
”Family Tree”
20 x16” oil on Canvas
2022, Ridgeland, MS
Website: https://www.ricjordan.com/
I painted this after my grandparents died a few years ago. I was at their house cleaning out all of their stuff when I wandered outside and found this tree. It was the first time it really felt like a subject was calling out to me to be painted. The final artwork ended up feeling like a reconstruction of the place I'd visited growing up, with most of the warmth removed. I ended up with a painting of a place I could not return to.
Dara Theodora
”The Dream of Water”
Tempera on cradled board
Instagram: @dtheodorabrew
Website: daratheodora.com
In my painting process, while I usually have an idea in mind, I give way to gravity via dripping and allow forms to appear via pareidolia. I, however, wasn't expecting something like the Mona Lisa to crop up in this piece, but there she is.
Kayla Johnston
”Aura”
Pencil on paper
2014
Instagram: @mellayellamoondog
This was created sometime in 2014 as an attempt to replicate the visual disturbances that accompanied the migraines I was having a lot of at the time.
Laura Simon
”Seams of the Past - The Stitched Path to the Moon”
Digital artwork
2025
Instagram: @well.of.creation
It was created in 2025 and is one of a series of digital artworks inspired by dreams that have been deeply meaningful to me. I translated these dreams into images as a way of preserving them and remembering the wisdom they carry.
Wendy Lowengrub
”Align”
Graphite and Colored Pencil, 30x18.75"
2025
Instagram: @wendylowengrub
Website: www.wendylowengrub.com
Support Community Arts Organizations and Local Artists: @workssanjose and www.workssanjose.org
I am an abstract painter interested in connections between the natural and urban world and looking for forms that repeat themselves. This drawing is from my Math and Anxiety Series where I used math as conceptual starting point to create abstract work as our public discourse descended into chaos and cruelty. I experimented with the golden mean, square roots, and random geometry equations in an old textbook to see how math would affect perception and give me control over the work. A wise friend told me after seeing this work, math is a weighted blanket for my anxious soul.
Jessica Collins
“Her Mother’s Garden”
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
2026, Cleveland, TN
Website: www.msartsymom.com
Instagram: @msartsymom
I’m a disabled artist living in Cleveland, TN, and I work mostly in acrylics and mixed media right now. I used to paint primarily portraits, but I was diagnosed with MS in 2018 and stopped making art for many years due to the issues with my hands. Then in 2023, I began doing fluid art, where I poured the paint onto the canvas, to make it easier on my hands since they were so unsteady.
More recently, I found some of my old unfinished oil portraits and decided that I wanted to pour paint over them and create something new. This piece, “Her Mother’s Garden,” is the first in my new series of these paintings. I poured over most of the portrait, then I collaged the background and hand painted the anatomical heart and roses, then added some details to the mostly finished portrait of the woman.
This painting depicts a young woman with elements of nature all around her, including the roses, which are slowly decaying, petals falling, representative of the different currents and life cycles of nature that we move with. I value the life of our planet, and of the human beings, plants and animals that inhabit it, and my goal with this work is to allow the viewer to reflect on their role in not only the smaller ecosystems, but also their place within this planet as a whole, and see that they have the ability to affect change, no matter how small. To me, this is allowing oneself to go with the flow of nature, rather than against it, which is something I believe we should all reflect upon.
MAB
”sour/grass sour/times”
Digital scan of expired 35mm film
2026, San Jose, CA
Website: www.michelleboire.com
Moonwin
“Sunrise”
Graphic collage
2026, Santa Ana, CA
Instagram: @moonwin_art
Naomi Takata Shepherd
”Kiku”
Paint, plywood
2024, San Jose
Website: https://naomimarikocreates.com/
Instagram: @naomimarikocreates
"Kiku" is a 4' x 8' mural that I created in 4 hours at an open call for artists to come try their hand at mural painting in San Jose, hosted by Together We Create 408. I wanted to bring my block printing style to a mural scale by focusing on using only 2 colors (the background gold + black for the imagery) in an impactful way. The ratio of the plywood reminded me of painted folding panels featuring landscapes I've seen while traveling in Japan and I wanted to evoke that with my imagery of the chrysanthemum blossom laid out like a jewel under the glow of a brilliant moon.
My name's Naomi Takata Shepherd and I'm a Bay Area based artist who works in a variety of mediums including printmaking, hand-drawn and digital illustration, book arts, and painting. I draw inspiration from the natural world, my mixed Japanese American heritage, and tasty snacks to create pieces that have a clean, bold aesthetic. I enjoy designing and teaching art workshops that are accessible to all skill levels and currently teach block printing at spaces in San José and Los Angeles.
If anyone's interested in taking "Kiku" home, I can deliver around the Bay Area, please send me an email for pricing and logistics!
Dylan Little
”A Poem for the Solstice”
June 22, 2026
Barnsdall Art Park Los Angeles, CA
Website: scifiscorpio.com
I wrote this overlooking Los Angeles reflecting on changes in my life and changes in the season. Most of my poetry has grown out of transmuting my journaling into weepy wit or whimsy.
Sarah-Lambert Cook
”A.I.”
January 2026
Instagram: @sarahlambertcook
No theme—anything goes!
There is a thumbnail gallery for an overview, then scroll for full images and information about the artists and their work.
Featuring: Ashley Markowicz, Abinav Thakuri, Marissa McPeak, Amanda Hawkins, Matthew Eyre, Nikki, Cookie Redding, Laura Inspirit, Kayla Johnston, Shachi Kale, Kiolendz, M S Rose, Insley Smullen
Ashley Markowicz
”Sun moon stars rain”
Digital collage, August 2019
Instagram: @gatheringofshapes
Website: https://linktr.ee/agatheringofshapes
It was named after a line in an e.e. cummings poem - one of my favorite poets.
It is one of the only three pieces of my own artwork that I have printed and framed on my wall at home.
It is part of my first batch of digital collages I ever made - I started them as a practice in 2019. My style has bounced all over the place since then but I would say this particular vibe has been one that I keep returning to among my various stylistic experimentations. Sort of esoteric, sort of whimsical, lots of bright color and natural elements.
Abinav Thakuri
”Blooming”
6x6 Ilford Delta 3200
Half Moon Bay, 04/09/2026
Instagram: @abinavonfilm
Website: abinavonfilm.com
"Maa, the fields won't stop blooming."
She smiled.
"The clouds keep giving themselves to the sky. The road keeps giving itself to my feet. I keep giving myself to everything I see. I can't stop."
She walked beside me for a long time.
"Why would you stop," She whispered, "when this is what love looks like when it's not afraid anymore?"
Shachi Kale
”Indian Summer”
Acrylic Posca pens on paper
Arizona, November 2025
Website: http://www.shachikale.com
Instagram: @shachidreams
Substack: http://substack.com/@conversationswithme
This piece is an exploration of my dual identities. The first half of my life in Mumbai and the second in Arizona. Summer in each place is a significant part of life. This is a celebration of the heat and strange plantlife inspired by both worlds.
Amanda Hawkins
”All around them”
Acrylic on canvas
Gilbert, AZ, 2023
Website: https://amandahawkins.me/
Matthew Eyre
”Innocence”
Photography
Instagram: Matthew.eyre.photo
Marissa McPeak
”Through the Veil”
Digital Photography
South to LA, 01/24/2026
Website: https://www.marissamcpeak.com/
Instagram: @marissamcpeak • @marsandthemachine (daily project)
Inspired by Laura, I started a 365 photography project this year where I take a photo everyday.
I took this photo as a passenger on a road trip to LA with my partner. I fell in love with how the sun looked, it felt like we were in Lord of The Rings.
Nikki
“I’m so sad, so very, very sad”
Digital, Watercolor, Paper
Bay Area, 2025
Instagram: @sadgirlpizzaparty
This collage was inspired by the Scott Pilgrim vs the World song by “Crash and the Boys.”
Cookie Redding
Mixed media collage
South Central, PA
Website: cookieredding.com
Instagram: cookiereddingart
This series is part of a 100 day project where I’m working with my own unused and unresolved pieces instead of starting from scratch. I cut into older paintings and drawings and use those fragments to build small mixed media collages. The focus is on dividing space and creating contrast through interruption, using vertical slices, shifts in color, and edges that don’t fully align. Each piece is a way of staying with the work a little longer, reworking it until new relationships start to hold. After the 100 days, I plan on going a bit larger with these (as they're currently around 4"x4") to see how scale shifts them a bit.
Kayla Johnston
”Sun and Moon”
Mixed media collage, 2025
Instagram: @mellayellamoondog
Laura Inspirit
Bay Area, CA
Instagram: @laurainspirit
M S Rose
Kansas City, Missouri
Instagram: @mattstagram814
Insley Smullen
”The Giant Water Bug's Poem”
Words on a page
San Francisco, CA, 2024
Website: www.insleysmullen.com
Instagram: @insleysmullen
This poem was inspired by the Giant Water Bug, an insect that I spent a lot of time with in May of 2024 in Summerlake, Oregon. During some nightly light trapping for moths, these hefty bugs would whirr in loudly and clumsily, flinging themselves at whatever light source they could (which all too often was my headlamp or phone). GWB's are pond insects, and can spend long amounts of time just under the water's surface, breathing through a spiracle in their butt. Adult GWB's have wings and fly from water source to water source. They are also sometimes called "electric light bugs" and "toe biters" due to their painful bite.
Kiolendz
”The weight of the game”
Digital photography
wtrcooler, December 4, 2025
Website: https://linktr.ee/throughkioslendz
Instagram: @kiolendz
If you’re interested in staying up to date on new shows or participating in one yourself, follow @laurainspirit and/or @friendlynbd.artshow on Instagram!