Artist Amanda McCauley opens her barn-studio during the annual Lopez Island Studio Tour each Labor Day weekend. Amanda’s mixed-media work is made of deconstructed flowers and other organic materials she sources from the island and re-imagines into pop-culture iconography.

Temporary gallery walls give the loft-like barn space the feeling of a true gallery opening. Friends contribute flowers from their lush island gardens that Amanda turns into dramatic arrangements. Later, Amanda dries and presses elements of those arrangements to become artworks for next year’s show.

After the flowers are pressed, deconstructed and re-imagined on painted boards, they’re sealed in an encaustic wax which give the works an ethereal softness and protects them from aging and fading.

The barn’s unique, industrial feel was designed by Amanda’s husband, Thomas Higgins, who constructed her flower presses and also crafts the handmade cardboard frames for her work.

Lopez Island, in the San Juan Island chain, is accessed by seaplane, ferry or boat from Seattle and is known for its artist population. Artists across the island open their workspaces during The Lopez Studio Tour each Labor Day weekend. More work at AmandaMcCauley.com.

For press inquiries contact Carrie Culpepper at admirationsocietyrva@gmail.com.