Cryptomenagerie brings together three Seattle artists who have a fantastic interpretation of an imaginary animal world. For the title of this show, the Greek prefix "Crypto," meaning "secret or hidden," is morphed with the word "Menagerie," which is a form of collecting common and exotic animals.

Michael Alm is inspired by the impact that humans have on altering the biodiversity of the planet and natural world through population growth, over consumption and technology. He says, "The modern structure for protecting endangered animals is inherently synthetic. Many species are removed from their habitat, protected in simulated environments, and then reintroduced when mature." He exaggerates this point by creating creatures that appear normal at first, but on closer examination are composed of fake fur, PVC, clay and glass. They are displayed taxidermically as though they were skinned, stuffed, and mounted with expressions and gestures to imply that they might be aware of their state.

Jody Joldersma goes for dark themes with a twist of humor or cultural sarcasm. Hideous creatures cause the viewer to feel sympathy due to the implicit helplessness of their situation. Her dioramas occasionally have a "sideshow" aspect to them and explore the awkward interactions between humans and animals. Jody works in natural, found objects, Play-Doh, papier-mch, and more.

Zo Williams utilizes the imagination of the observer and the symbolic imagery of dream images, personal visions and abstract concepts to imply duality, multiplicity and opposite forces. Subjects can be simultaneously beautiful and horrible, cute and creepy, familiar and strange. Zo works primarily in wool using a dry felting technique called needle felting. A barbed felting needle is used to shape and mold wool fibers into sculptural forms. It is a very slow and painstaking process; the carded wool is pierced hundreds, maybe even thousands of times to lock the fibers together and create a solid object. No armatures are used; each piece is solid wool with the exception of additions like glass eyes, lenses and beads, and the wood plaques/frames on which some pieces are mounted.

as seen at vermillion gallery seattle....