Though she has been making art since childhood, Mikaela Shafer kept her paintings mostly to herself her first Arts Walk show in April 2023.
“The reception was so amazing,” she said. “It kind of snowballed from there. I really dedicated myself after that to putting myself out there more, being vulnerable … sharing my work, poetry and story, and pushing myself further in my artwork.”
For this fall’s Arts Walk, happening Oct 3 and 4, Shafer was chosen to create a piece for the event poster and map. Her “These Waters Heal,” an abstract painting that incorporates found materials, which she often sews on.
Mikaela Shafer’s “These Waters Heal,” a deeply personal piece about shared grief and the healing power of water, appears on the poster and map for fall Arts Walk.
She also received a 2025 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust and has a touring exhibition, “Matrilineal Memory,” which is about to open at All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis, Minn.
“These Waters Heal” and a mini installation of “Matrilineal Memory” are on view at The Thurston County Museum of Fine Arts, a pop-up museum that is also presenting “The Land Remembers,” a Native art exhibition curated by the artist, a member of the Hopi tribe.
The TCMOFA space is one of more than 100 downtown locations hosting art shows and performances for the twice-yearly celebration of community and creativity. More than 300 artists are involved, including not only visual artists of all ages and experience levels but also musicians, dancers, actors and storytellers.
“It’s a big event, and it’s getting bigger and bigger,” said Arts Walk coordinator Jessica Strauss Tomy. Attendance has been increasing, she said, going from 24,800 visitors in fall 2023 to 27,100 in fall 2024 and from 30,900 in spring 2024 to 45,000 in spring 2025.
“Waters” is the first abstract piece to appear on the poster and map, Strauss Tomy said. Both she and artist and curator China Faith Star, who served on the jury to choose the 2025 Arts Walk artists, noted Shafer’s predilection for deep fall colors.
“Mikaela’s work suggests the symbolic return to the earth that autumn represents; reclaiming the tattered to nourish something new,” Star said.
Shafer’s art (https://www.maqacollective.com/art) is often inspired by both her past and the landscape that surrounds her. “I often create my artwork outside on the land,” she told the Olympian. “I think of a memory or a place, and I just paint what I feel. Later, I will take that painting and sew textiles directly into it. Many times, I am sewing outdoors as well, with a little generator and table.
“Along with the paintings, I write poetry,” she said. “Poetry helps to continue the story, reshape how you see the painting and pull a memory from inside of you, too.”
Mikaela Shafer at Arts Walk
What: Shafer’s “These Waters Heal,” commissioned by the city for the Arts Walk poster, and other works from her Matrilineal Memory series will be shown alongside “The Land Remembers,” an exhibition she curated that explores the relationship between indigenous communities and the land.
When: During Arts Walk and on selected dates through Nov. 22
Where: The Coast Salish Museum of Fine Arts, hosted by the Thurston County Museum of Fine Arts (https://www.tcmofa.org/), a self-described “ephemeral public-art experiment” at 120 Olympia Ave. NE, Olympia
Opening reception: 5-10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3
More information: https://www.tcmofa.org
Olympia Arts Walk
What: Olympia’s twice-yearly arts celebration fills downtown with art, music, dance — and people.
When: 5-10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, and noon-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4
Where: Downtown Olympia, with street closure centered at Washington Street and Fifth Avenue
Maps: Find maps, featuring Mikaela Shafer’s “These Waters Heal,” at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, Olympia, and participating locations.
More information: http://artswalkoly.com
