Ian Shearer: Now You See Me
Show Dates: July 6 – August 27, 2026
Artist Talk: Artist talk and opening reception: Thursday, July 9, noon
Format: In person
This body of work explores urban landscapes through painting, decoupage, tactile surfaces, and hidden text. Layers of braille prose and poetry are embedded within the paintings, alongside those with fragments of journal entries and written material. Using fiber paste, raised outlines map buildings, streets, and trees, allowing the paintings to be experienced through touch as well as sight.
The work explores access, perception, and agency. While the art world traditionally privilege visual experience, these paintings invite tactile interaction and create space for low-vision and blind audiences to engage directly with the work. At the same time, the embedded braille text remains inaccessible to many sighted viewers, denying access to information and meaning.
By shifting the balance of accessibility, the exhibition examines the intersection of disability and visual art while challenging assumptions about ability itself. Who is excluded from understanding? Who is allowed full participation in cultural spaces? And who defines what it means to be “abled”?
Through layered cityscapes that can be both seen and touched, the work positions disability not as limitation, but as an alternate way of experiencing and navigating the world.
Ian Shearer, Peligro, 28 x 22, mixed media, 2016
Symptom Recital, 30 x 24, mixed media, 2025
Ian Shearer, The Small Hours, 28 x 22, mixed media, 2025
Biography:
Ian Shearer
Ian Shearer is a Seattle based artist and graduate of the Academy of Art University, in San Francisco. In 2018 he survived a massive stroke. Through intense therapy he was able to regain use of the right side of his body, however, his painting style and abilities were greatly changed.
Disability advocacy is central to Ian’s practice. He engages in public speaking, workshops, and collaborative exhibitions that center around accessibility and the intersection of art and disability. His work is grounded in the belief that conversation around disability is important, as it is often an inevitable part of the human condition.
Ian is a volunteer braille transcriber for the Seattle Braille and Talking Book Library. Through his relationships with blind individuals, Ian experiments with the integration of braille text and tactile elements into his paintings. Opening up access to low-vision audiences while challenging assumptions about who is disabled and who is not.
Helen S. Smith Gallery
The Helen S. Smith Gallery on Green River College's main campus was named in honor of the college Foundation's first President. In addition to being one of the college's founding members, she was known as a strong advocate for the arts in the community.
The gallery is located at the main entrance of the Holman Library, on the Green River College's main campus. It hosts a number of shows each year, featuring the work of students and Northwest artists.
The gallery is currently accepting exhibition proposals.