ARTIST

Sophie Wahlquist’s paintings explore how we relate to one another, how we each connect to our own psychological states and how we associate with our ancestral roots. The artist combines the dueling sensibilities of a lineage of figurative painting with her ongoing inquiry into the worlds of instinct and eternal growth.

Wahlquist often cuts into her paintings and stitches parts of one work to another, creating a continuation of narrative as well as traps and holes, for the mind to wonder through a fabric of storytelling.

Perch or Fly, 2021 is part of Wahlquist’s ongoing exploration into childhood and play. The group of body-less children take up the center of the canvas and are surrounded by gestural strokes and color blocks, a pink pig and row of pointed houses. This imagery - part abstraction, part figuration - emanates out from the center of the canvas as an exploration into the imagination and fantasy of a child, that becomes dampened by adulthood.

Born in 1983, Germany; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. 

CHARITY

Harvest Home transforms the lives of homeless pregnant women and their children by providing housing, support, and programs that equip women to become great mothers.

The LA County Health Department reports that each year 5,000 women are homeless at some point during their pregnancy. In LA, there are currently less than 70 shelter beds available for women who are pregnant and in crisis. Of these, Harvest Home provides 10. This means that each year thousands of women lack housing and supportive programming during one of the most critical times in a mother and baby’s life.

Homeless pregnant women need more than just a bed and a warm meal. They need specialized interventions designed to increase mother and baby's physical, emotional, and spiritual well being. Harvest Home's programs were created with these unique needs in mind.