Upcoming Exhibitions

Healing with Gold: The Art of Kintsugi on Ceramics & Beyond

George J. Doizaki Gallery, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC)
244 S. San Pedro Street, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Opening reception: Saturday, September 12, 2026 · 5:00–7:00 pm
Curator's Tour: Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 11:00 am
On view September 12–October 18, 2026 · Tuesdays–Sundays, 12:00–4:00 pm

Curated by Meher McArthur · Free admission, no RSVP required

Healing with Gold: The Art of Kintsugi on Ceramics & Beyond is an exhibition featuring more than thirty contemporary artworks alongside traditional kintsugi ceramics, exploring how the centuries-old Japanese practice of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer dusted in gold has evolved from a tea ceremony tradition into a global artistic philosophy.

Curated by Japanese art historian Meher McArthur, the exhibition traces this evolution through three thematic sections: Traditional Kintsugi: The Roots of Gold Lacquer Repair in Japan's Tea Culture; Contemporary Kintsugi: Innovating Gold Lacquer Repair on Ceramics; and Kintsugi in Contemporary Art: Moving Beyond the Broken Bowl. Together, these sections reveal how an age-old Japanese craft continues to inspire artists across disciplines and cultures.

Visitors will encounter rare historical kintsugi tea bowls alongside contemporary works in ceramics, painting, sculpture, textile art, lacquerware, and installation, illustrating how kintsugi has become a powerful metaphor for healing, renewal, and the enduring beauty found in repair.

Featured artists include Miya Ando, Christen Austin, Richard Bohn, Alan Chin, Naoko Fukumaru, Leah Knecht, Ted Meyer, Kyoko Ohwaki, Kristine Schomaker, Miya Smith, Jeffrey Takumi Sugishita, Akihiro and Takahiro Taya (Taya Shikkiten), Yukako Tanaka, Shoshi Watanabe & Yosei Shibata, and Liberty Worth.

Artifacts from an Unborn Empire

Brand Library & Art Center
1601 W. Mountain Street, Glendale

Opening reception: September 26, 2026

Artifacts from an Unborn Empire gathers artists to reconsider how civilizations are formed and who gets to define them. Through a range of natural and manufactured materials, they play with and challenge the systems, stories, and symbols that shape our sense of power, history, and belonging. Blending imagination with critique, the exhibition explores cultural myths, colonial legacies, and the forces that construct contemporary life. Timed with the 250th anniversary of the United States, it asks: what kinds of empires do we inherit, and what new ones might rise in their place?

Featuring work by:

Aprille Curtis, Ben Cuevas, Cheyann Washington, Elana Mann, Ellen Jong, Francis Robateau, Gina Herrera, Greg Day, Hugo Heredia Barrera, Jason Jenn, Jason Trucco, Jotham Hung, Kayla Tange, Kristine Schomaker, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Nancy Kay Turner, Reyah, Robert Patrick, Rosalyn Myles, Rubén Esparza, Tony Isaja, Vojislav Radovanović.

Curated by Jason Jenn and Vojislav Radovanović.

Shoebox Art at Under One Roof

Coastline Art Gallery, Coastline Community College
1515 Monrovia Avenue, Newport Beach, CA 92663

On view August 26–November 6, 2026
Wednesday–Friday, 11:00 am–4:00 pm or by appointment

Public receptions: Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 5:00–7:00 pm
Saturday, October 24, 2026 · 5:00–7:00 pm

Under One Roof is a boutique art fair bringing together 10 Southern California commercial galleries, nonprofit art spaces, and artist-run organizations. Shoebox Art is among the participating spaces, joining Thinkspace Projects, SCAPE, Skidmore Contemporary Art, John Doe Gallery, M. Hanks Gallery, Royale Projects, 515 Bendix, Chemers Gallery, Sue Greenwood Fine Arts, and Coastline Art Gallery.

Shoebox Projects: Upcoming Solo Shows

Shoebox Projects is our gallery space at the Brewery Arts Complex in Lincoln Heights, LA.
Here's who's up next.

The gallery is open by appointment between shows, just email us at shoeboxartsla@gmail.com to set up a visit.

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

On view: August 23 - September 13, 2026
Opening Reception: Sunday, August 23, 3-5pm
Closing/Artist Talk/Performance: Sunday, September 13, 3-5pm PST

Lynette K Henderson

On view: September 20 - October 10, 2026
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 20, 3-5pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 30, 6:00pm (Zoom)

Sammy Davis

On view: October 18 - November 8, 2026
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 18, 3-5pm
Artist Talk: Monday, October 26, 6:00pm (Zoom)
Brewery Artwalk November 7-8 11-6pm PST

Sharon Cannon

On view: November 15 - December 5, 2026
Opening Reception: Sunday, November 15, 3-5pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, November 19, 6:00pm PST (Zoom)

Aleka Corwin

On view: December 13, 2026 - January 2, 2027
Opening Reception: Sunday, December 13, 3-5pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, December 17, 6:00pm (Zoom)

Julie Lewis

On view: January 7 - January 11, 2027

One of the reasons I don't have my own pets, besides the fact that it isn't exactly conducive to living at the Brewery with a gallery and studiomates wandering through... I have an addictive personality.

I can't stop at just one. One kitty would become two kitties would become "well what's a third." One puppy would become a small chaotic pack. More and more and more. It's a whole thing.

And let's be honest, I live alone. I'm thoroughly independent. There's no partner around telling me no. LOL. Nobody to talk me down from cat number four.

I follow a bunch of animal accounts on Instagram and honestly, I'm in awe. The people fostering, rescuing, healing, caring, loving these animals back to life. It's some of the most beautiful work I see on that app. I don't know how they do it and don't end up with forty animals, because I definitely would.

So for now I'm content being aunt to every cat, dog, and random creature who lives in my sphere. I get the head rubs, the windowsill visits, the walkway sprawling. Somebody else cleans out the cat boxes and pays the vet bills.

Balance.

Okay, this is a big one, so bear with me.

I'm putting more focus on less things, so I can actually be present in each one. That means Shoebox membership is moving exclusively to Substack after January 1, 2027, and my own focus is shifting to the nonprofit, Art and Cake. More galleries, more openings, more time actually seeing art instead of just talking about it.

Before that shift happens, I'm opening up Shoebox membership through the end of the year for a flat rate of $400. That's it. No monthly renewals to think about, just in for the rest of 2026.

Here's what that gets you:

Monday Masterclass, live every week (we're deep in it right now and there's more good stuff coming the next couple months)

Crit group

Guest speakers

Access to every past video and workshop I've recorded

The Artist Field Guide (formerly Collected Wisdom), the full PDF, over 500 pages of career resources and tools artists actually use

A few field trips this fall, including a behind the scenes look at Laguna Art Museum, getting into the diverse art world(s) most people never see from the outside

Our Signal group chat

Social media support

Actual access to me, for actual support

And honestly, more than I can fit in one post

If the full membership isn't the right fit but you still want in on Monday Masterclass, it started on Substack last week and it's $80 a year. Smaller commitment, same class.

Starting in 2027, I'll also be doing private mentoring, just a handful of spots, for artists who want that closer, one on one relationship going forward.

And separately, starting February 2027, Shoebox Projects, my studio space at the Brewery, is opening up for short term rentals. One to three months. Finish a body of work, use it as a showroom, treat it like a mini residency. Whatever you need the space for.

This is the last chance to be part of Shoebox the way it's existed for years. Come be part of it before it changes.

Email me at shoeboxartsla@gmail.com if you want in.

#ShoeboxArts #ArtistCommunity #ArtistMentorship #ArtistResources #LosAngelesArtists

In the studio today working on Beautiful Parts.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold — not hiding the damage but honoring it, making the breaks the most beautiful part of the whole object. I've been thinking about how that maps onto my own practice. The eating disorder. The body that felt suffocating. The decades of being told this body doesn't belong. All of that is the breaking. Everything I've made since is the gold in the cracks.

This installation is four panels covered in baroque gold wallpaper, salon-style mirrors of every shape and size hung on top. Each one invites you to look at one part of yourself at a time. Not the whole picture. Just this part. Right here. In a frame that says it's worth looking at.

The gold here is not decorative. It is medicinal.
Still a first draft — the mirrors will move around as I find the right balance. But even laying it out today I could feel what it wants to be.

Healing with Gold opens September 12 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Curated by Meher McArthur.

#BeautifulParts #Kintsugi #BodyImage #RadicalVisibility #LosAngelesArt

Thank you @cerrismm and Bucks for your help!

Installing Let Me Eat Cake at @coastlineartgallery

@kathrynpitt is installing! Hit her up if you need help! @hartigangold helping unwrap and hang...
And @jennifergunlock behind the scenes working on the store on Shoebox Arts website! @davidmlee00 hosting this super cool art Boutique Fair at Coastline!

More info coming soon!

Work in progress... "Beautiful Parts"

Open up the wallpaper and out fell stickers.

IYKYK

Beautiful lunch with the fabulous @samanthafieldsstudio who has a solo show opening at @billiswilliams.gallery opening September 12th!

Samantha was my professor at CSUN and has inspired me to be the person I am today.

For 2 hours we talked about art and life and post reality. We talked about social media and addiction and being the center of our own lives. We also talked about that we needed more in person interactions and connections. And of course we talked about our future including focusing on our art, applying for grants, and the state of the art worlds.

I also have homework to read up on Sarah Wilson "I Eat the Stars" and Howard Zinn "A people's history of the United States."

School never ends!

New on Substack.

I bought a cardboard coffin and I am covering it in stickers.

Artist proof. Sketch of what is possible. And also the most honest thing I have made in a while.

I write about fear as the through line of my whole practice. The Imaginary Wall. Perceive Me. The shields. And now this. I write about Tracey Emin's tent — Everyone I Have Ever Slept With — and how the coffin is my version of that gesture. A container that holds a life. Not the life itself but the evidence of it.

I write about my dad's toolbox. About sticker books and Trapper Keepers and Lisa Frank and how we have been doing this our whole lives. About painting with stickers the same way I paint with acrylic. About the wall and the coffin not being so different.

And I write about NOT TODAY. LOVE YOU MORE. I WAS HERE.

Link in bio.

#NotToday #FacingFears #NewWork #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt

My research stack is growing.

What To Do When I'm Gone. Welcome to the Grief Club. And Planning for Your Artistic Death from LACA — a workbook specifically for artists thinking about what happens to their work, their archives, their legacy.

I have been thinking about death for a while now. Not in a dark way. In a practical, curious, facing it head on kind of way. And of course it is not new. I just did not always have language for it.
The shredding. The downsizing. The Sweet Shoppe of Liberation. Swedish death cleaning as art practice before I had a name for it. The Gracie Kendal Project teaching me that you can desensitize yourself to fear through repetition and documentation. All of it has been pointing here.

Facing death to be more present in life. That is the whole project. And down the road it becomes community workshops, consciousness raising, conversations about what we want and how we want to be remembered. The seeds are planted.

I would love to know what resources have helped you. Books, podcasts, organizations, rituals. Whatever has helped you think about death and dying in a way that made you feel more alive and less afraid. Drop them in the comments.

We do not have to go through this alone.

#DeathPositive #EndOfLifePlanning #SwedishDeathCleaning #FacingFears #BreweryArtist

NOT TODAY. LOVE YOU MORE. I WAS HERE.

Two cardboard coffins. Artist proofs for a new body of work about facing my fear of dying.

The letters coffin is covered in holographic letter stickers and dot stickers — the same dots I used in My Imaginary Wall, the same impulse to cover a surface with color and pattern until it says something. NOT TODAY at the top. LOVE YOU MORE in the middle. I WAS HERE at the bottom.

LOVE YOU MORE came from my grandmother. It was the last thing she said in the hospital. I have been carrying those words for a long time. They belong on this coffin.

The second coffin is covered in stickers that represent my life. My values. My community. The things I love and believe in and laugh at and stand for.

Together they are a self portrait and a love letter and a declaration.

I am not afraid of dying. Or I am. And I am making art about it anyway.

More to come.

#FacingFears #NewWork #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt #NotToday

Last day to see @indicarltonart wonderful exhibition at @shoeboxarts.la

We are here until 5pm!

My cast came off over a week ago. Since then I've been doing my exercises, stretching, strengthening my wrist and my right hand, actually taking care of it. And it's healing faster than I expected. I can bend it farther than my physical therapist thought I would be able to by now. I still have a ways to go, but I'm not going to pretend that isn't kind of amazing.

It's got me thinking about bodies in general. How magnificent they actually are. This body has kept my heart beating and my blood moving and my lungs breathing without me ever having to think about it, for 53 years now. My nervous system is running the whole show underneath everything I do, every single day, whether I'm paying attention to it or not.

Breaking my wrist wasn't small. But it opened something up for me. It became this unexpected lesson in self compassion. In actually taking care of a part of my body instead of criticizing it. In watching it heal because I gave it what it needed.

I've spent a lot of years at war with this body. With peri-menopause, through everything else that comes with getting older, through decades of believing it wasn't good enough as it was. But this wrist has been quietly doing its job the whole time. Rebuilding itself. Getting stronger. Not because I loved it into healing, just because that is what bodies do when you give them a little care and a little time.

And I'm curious now, about what else this body can do when I actually listen to it instead of fighting it. Dancing. Walking further than I thought I could. Hiking somewhere with a view worth the climb. Getting back in the water and swimming. Feeling things, really feeling them, instead of holding my body at arm's length. I don't know the timeline on any of that yet, and I don't need to. I just know I want to find out, with a lot more compassion this time and a lot less judgment.

Maybe that's the real lesson. This body has gotten me through 53 years of life. It knows how to heal. I'm just learning how to help it, and how to actually notice when it does.

First day of physical therapy today and my PT Sergio told me I'm ahead of the game.

I told him I'm an overachiever. He laughed.

Looks like I only need to go back once or twice because I'm already doing really well. Keep wearing the brace in public, take it easy, but at home I can start living with two hands again.

You have no idea how much you take a dominant hand for granted until it's gone for two months.

Being left-handed this whole time has slowed me down in ways I couldn't have anticipated. But it's also been a strange kind of learning experience. They say using your non-dominant hand does something to the brain. I believe it. Something has shifted.

Also Sergio and I spent half the session talking about art. The Hospital of Emotions. Dataland. I go in for physical therapy and leave having made a connection over contemporary art. This is my life and I love it.

And honestly, more than the wrist, I feel like these last couple of months have shifted something bigger. I've been in therapy twice a week. I've been taking better care of myself. I feel better than I have in maybe a year. I can actually feel it.

My therapist tells me I'm very self-aware and good at getting help when I need it. I'm learning that's actually a skill, not a given.

There's a balance between asking friends for help and paying someone for it. I'm still figuring that one out. But I'm so grateful for everyone who gave me rides, checked in, showed up, and took care of me these last two months.

You know who you are. Thank you.

On the way to PT my Lyft driver teased me because I said his name wrong. So he pronounced mine wrong. We both laughed. His name is Josue, pronounced Hoh-Sweh, and I made sure to say it right a couple of times before I got out of the car. We talked about Mexico and politics and life the whole ride. A perfect LA morning.

New on Substack.

In 2008 I had my first panic attack and thought I was dying. It turned out to be a panic attack. But that moment cracked something open that has never fully closed.

I have been making art about fear for a long time. The Imaginary Wall. Perceive Me. The shields. All of it is fear looked at directly and made into something you can stand next to.

Now I am turning toward the biggest fear of all.

I am also collecting stickers. My dad used to put stickers on his toolboxes. I grew up watching that. When he died I inherited the toolbox with his stickers still on it and started adding mine. That toolbox is already a collaboration between us.

Stickers are a new medium for me. I am just beginning to understand what they can do.

Read the full piece on Substack. Link in bio. And if you want to send stickers my way — things that represent you, your life, your values, your sense of humor — I would love that.

#SubStack #ArtAndFear #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt #FacingFears

My computer froze during a Zoom meeting today. And I did what I always do. I took a photo.

During the pandemic my computer was freezing almost every day. I would be sitting there waiting for a meeting or mid-conversation and suddenly everything would stop. My face locked into whatever expression happened to be there at that exact moment. Not posed. Not ready. Just caught.

So I started documenting them. Over a hundred Zoom freeze selfies. Goofy faces, tired faces, thinking faces, completely vacant faces. The most honest portraits I have ever made of myself because I had absolutely no say in any of them.
I got my computer fixed and the project went on pause. And then today my computer froze again and produced this.

I have been thinking lately about how everything I do becomes art somehow. Not because I am trying to make it art. Just because paying attention is the practice. The freeze happens. I take the photo. The photo becomes something. That is just how my brain works.

The Zoom Freeze Selfie project is apparently back.

#ZoomFreezeSelfie #StudioLife #BreweryArtist #AccidentalPortrait #LosAngelesArt

I am collecting stickers.

New projects are in the works and stickers are going to be a big part of what I am making. I cannot say too much yet but let's just say they involve community, marking, and making things beautiful.

So if you have stickers you love, stickers you forgot about, stickers collecting dust in a drawer somewhere — send them my way. All shapes, all sizes, all vibes welcome. The weirder and more personal the better.

Drop me a DM or email me at kristine@shoeboxarts.com and we will figure out how to get them to me.

You are loved. Obviously. 🖤

#Stickers #NewWork #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt #ComingSoon

I have been thinking a lot about Marina Abramović's Rhythm 0 and Barbara T. Smith's Feed Me lately.

Two women. Two performances. Both offering their bodies as the site of the artwork. Both surrendering control and watching what the world did with that invitation. Both asking questions that still feel urgent. What does it mean to be truly seen? What does the audience reveal about itself when given that kind of access? What happens when vulnerability becomes the material?

I make work to face my fears. That has always been the through line even when I did not have language for it. The Imaginary Wall facing the fear of being trapped. Perceive Me facing the fear of being seen in this body.

And now I am thinking about what comes next.
New work about judgment. New work about death. New work about connection and the distance between people and what lives in that distance.

I am not ready to share all of it yet. But I can feel it taking shape.

Abramović stood still for six hours and let the world show her who it was. I am still figuring out what my version of that looks like.

But I am not afraid of finding out. Or maybe I am. And I am making the work anyway.

#PerformanceArt #ConceptualArt #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt #FacingFears

Photo from Halloween MAS Attack 2015

Had a mammogram a couple weeks ago. Waiting on results is its own special kind of torture. Baited breath the whole time.

We are living in scary times. I know so many womxn dealing with breast cancer right now. It is horrific how prevalent it's gotten. Please, get your b**bies checked. Men too.

Mine came back negative. Phew. Deep exhale.

But the exhale is never really complete. I've been procrastinating my kidney MRI. I know, I know. The one that checks if the cancer's come back. I don't know how to hold both things at once, the relief and the fear I keep avoiding by just... not booking it.

I can't imagine facing an actual breast cancer diagnosis, and I am gutted for everyone who is.

Artwork by @christinaramosart for #perceiveme

Yesterday at Artspace 114 for an artist talk and my heart is full.

Megan Geckler is in the show and she is incredible as always. But the real gift was seeing so many women who have shaped me, inspired me, and empowered me to be who I am today.

Samantha Fields and her husband Andre were there. Samantha is my former professor, my mentor, my friend. Samantha is integral to who I am today. As an artist, as a mentor, as someone trying to figure out her place in the world. I do not have enough words for what she means to me.

During the pandemic a group of us met on Zoom every week for what we called the quarantini happy hour. Artists showing up for each other when the world shut down. That group kept me sane and connected and creative during one of the hardest stretches I can remember. When things opened back up we met in person at MOCA and kept going.

And Shana and Heidi. When I first started Shoebox I reached out to both of them and they were so gracious with their time, their advice, their support. They understood immediately what it meant to build community and lift each other up. They still blow my mind with everything they are doing for the art world and the ways they are finding to bypass the systems that are not working. They are the blueprint.

And then Andre and Samantha dropped me off at home and we ran into Cynthia Minet. My very first painting teacher. Who I completely forgot to get a photo with. Both of them. I know.

But what a moment that was. Cynthia shaped who I am as a painter. Samantha shaped who I am as an artist and a human. Shana and Heidi showed me what it looks like to build something real. And now I live in Cynthia's building at the Brewery, still inspired by all of them, still learning, still becoming.

I am so grateful for the women who shaped me. 🖤

#Artspace114 #BreweryArtist #LosAngelesArt #ArtistTalk #Grateful

@megangecklerstudio @samanthafieldsstudio @shananys @heidijo_la @13thingsla @cynthiaminetart

Today!
Thankful for cooler evenings!

#goldenhour☀️

Had a couple meetings this morning then spent the rest of the day taking it easy and catching up on all the Marvel universe.

I started with Thunderbolts then Captain America Brave New World then the Marvels then Deadpool and Wolverine and I haven't laughed so hard in ages!

IYKYK

Now I feel like I have to rewatch Blade. I haven't seen it since it first came out

Paying the ADHD tax today.

Fifth time is a charm on washing and drying some sheets and towels. I washed them five times and kept forgetting to put them in the dryer and so I had to rewash them. So now they're finally in the dryer! Go me! Lol

I am not great at asking for help. But I am trying. So here goes.

I broke my wrist a few weeks ago and it has been hard. Harder than I expected. I work from home, I run my own business, and a broken dominant hand changes everything about how that goes. I have two major exhibitions opening in September that I am going to need to hire help for. I hate asking for support. I really do. But here I am.

The Sweet Shoppe of Liberation is open again. These pieces are real. Shredded documents, painted Yogurtland spoons, cut up wigs, love letters that once meant everything, 52 years of life compressed and sealed and made into something you can hold. Each one is one of a kind. Once it is gone it is gone.

If you have ever been curious about this work, now is a good time. And if buying is not possible right now, sharing this post means more than you know.

Thank you for being here. Really.

Link in comments.
Photos by Eric Staudenmaier 🖤

#SweetShoppeOfLiberation #ArtForSale #LosAngelesArt

New cast! More snug!
More room for art!

It was definitely nice to see my right arm after a month.

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@kristineschomaker

Kristine Schomaker

Artist, Mentor, Writer, Community Builder, Artist Advocate, Educator, Curator

Upcoming Exhibitions

Artifacts from an Unborn Empire

Brand Library & Art Center
1601 W. Mountain Street, Glendale

Opening reception: September 26, 2026

Shoebox Projects: Upcoming Solo Shows

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

Lynette K Henderson

Sammy Davis

Sharon Cannon

Aleka Corwin

Julie Lewis

Follow us on Instagram

Join our mailing list

Upcoming Exhibitions

Artifacts from an Unborn Empire Brand Library & Art Center 1601 W. Mountain Street, Glendale Opening reception: September 26, 2026

Shoebox Projects: Upcoming Solo Shows

​

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

Lynette K Henderson

Sammy Davis

Sharon Cannon

Aleka Corwin

Julie Lewis

​

Follow us on Instagram

Join our mailing list

Artifacts from an Unborn Empire

Brand Library & Art Center
1601 W. Mountain Street, Glendale

Opening reception: September 26, 2026