In Uniontown, WA, Artisans at the Dahmen Barn establishes a space for creativity and expression. The Barn’s upcoming exhibit, “Tools: Their Clever Enchantment” enlightens the space with watercolor and oil paintings.
Julie Hartwig, managing director at Artisans at the Dahmen Barn, describes the gallery as its title, both clever and enchanting.
Rachael Eastman, the artist of the exhibit, is presenting her first solo show at the barn.
“It’s the pandemic that actually made me seek out a place to show my work because sometimes it just feels like you’re making art in a vacuum,” Eastman said.
Although this is the first time she has had a personal exhibit, it isn’t the first time she has shown her work at the barn.
Eastman teaches classes at The Barn and makes work across all mediums, including handmade books sold at The Barn’s shop. She is a part of the Palouse Women Artist’s Association and has shown her art with the group a couple of times before. The association is a group of women in the Palouse area who challenges and supports each other as artists, Hartwig said.
“I don’t even though the exact words I could use to describe what these women give me, it is a sense of like you belong here, you’re doing great and you’re awesome,” Eastman said. “They uplift me and do things for me that I never could have imagined being able to have there. It’s like a family but better because it’s unconditional without terms.”
At the association, Eastman has held a couple of roles, including secretary and co-president in the past. It’s taken a long time for Eastman to call herself an artist, but the group has helped her confidence and accepting the title.
“The title ‘artist,’ is something that I cannot take lightly. It’s taken me a long time to embrace that (and say) I’m an artist, or to call myself an artist,” Eastman said. “It’s a hard title to accept for oneself, and to be a female artist and to be a working single mother…I think it’s my station in life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Along with teaching at the barn and making art, Eastman is an art teacher in Lewiston and teaches art in the summer at her studio. Graduating with her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Idaho in 2011, it’s a great experience to show kids the passion and love for art by having a fine arts background, Eastman said.
The majority of her time is dedicated to art, for the sole explanation of staying sane. She uses art as a means of therapy, and according to Eastman, she believes that it centers herself in the “crazy world we live in.”
The upcoming exhibit Eastman is showing tools, but there is a special meaning behind the theme. She has been making artwork of tools for 15 years and is something she will never stop being passionate about.
“My father was a carpenter, and he died when I was 14. He taught me things like how to use a saw table and all these things, so one of the connections that I had to him was tools,” Eastman said. “For me, the object was a way of remembering him.”
Being a therapeutic process, she will often make art about tools to stump art block.
Growing up in a religious home with gender rules, it felt forbidden to use tools. As she grew up and got out on her own, she appreciated them more because she was able to use them.
In 2005, Eastman created her first tool-related art, titled “Girls who Wear Makeup can also Play with Tools,” and continues to make art related to tools today.
“I do believe that there is a feminist component, and I am definitely a feminist,” Eastman said. “I’ve never considered my art feminist art, but I guess maybe I could put it in that category.”
The exhibit can be seen between Feb. 4—Feb. 28 during the barn’s open hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday—Sunday. At 1—3 p.m. on Feb. 7, Eastman will be at the exhibit for customers to meet. Those who attend the gallery are required to follow Washington State guidelines, wear a mask and social distance.
Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.