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Mya Kerner

@myakerner

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IN THE LIGHT OF ENDINGS
October 2-31, 2026
@dirkseprimgallery

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The Long Acre, from Mya Kerner’s current exhibition, In the Light of Endings.

On view through October 31st
Fri & Sat 12–5 & by appointment

The Long Acre, 2026
Oil stick on canvas
32 x 42 inches

@myakerner taken in Madrona, Seattle by @myakerner

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3 days ago

In the Light of Endings

From moments when all was laid bare, when blaring light obscured the distance, and when paths were revealed in the darkness, I painted this show during a time of endings. The work is about trust through paradox, about love through fear. It is about being a mother and seeking the Mother. It is not about understanding, but about accepting the beauty in death and believing in a promise of rebirth. En plein air and en atelier, I worked in and around my home, often with my daughter and animals beside me.

Painted on a no grain poly-cotton, my way of working emulated the immediacy of oil sticks on paper. Taping the canvas to the wall or masonite boards, I was able to drag my hands through my initial gestural lines with bodily force, creating washes of streaming light or hovering darkness. “This part is kind of screwed up,” Yara would tell me as she wandered in. And, I fixed it. “Put magenta here.” So, I did. Because, really, what eyes can be more honest than those of a 2 year old? “Let me do a little of this here.” Some of these paintings hold her tiny masterpieces in the folded margins.

Through her eyes, we explored the changing seasons. From spring into summer, the work was inadvertently influenced by Hayao Miyazaki films playing in the background and reading A.A. Milne each evening at bedtime. There is safety found in repeated imagery and words. I watched as these influences slowly collected to help Yara build her own worldview. As she began to express her understanding, we were faced with a series of personal losses. Blow by blow, I felt stripped of my beliefs. I considered how the Mother holds both life and death, just as the dark material of the earth ushers decay from life and life from decay.

We were landscape — breathing, growing, falling, fading. The show was painted through this lens of embodiment, and the paintings lit the path home.

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Thank you to all who have visited my show, ordered the catalog, spent time with this work. The show is up through the end of the month. by @myakerner

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4 days ago

In the Light, Early Summer, from Mya Kerner's solo exhibition, In the Light of Endings.

On view through October 31st.

The gallery will have extended hours this weekend. We'll be open Friday 12-7 & Saturday 9-5.

In the Light, Early Summer, 2026
Oil stick on canvas
42 x 60 inches taken in Madrona, Seattle by @myakerner

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10 days ago

"Last Watch"
Oil stick on canvas
42 x 32 inches
2026

On view @dirkseprimgallery through the end of October.

“Last Watch”
Oil stick on canvas
42 x 32 inches
2026

On view @dirkseprimgallery through October 31.

“Last Watch”
Oil stick on canvas
42 x 32 inches
2026

On view @dirkseprimgallery through October 31.

"Last Watch" was the last piece I painted with Uma overlooking my work. For 9 years, she was my studio pup. Her nails would click as she walked into the studio just to watch me paint. My reference image was taken during an influx of smoke from fires along the border. We felt it before the apps told us of it. The foliage was at the height of green. The hazy light glowed purple through the trees, and the otherworld felt closer than ever. by @myakerner

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11 days ago

Please join us for In the Light of Endings, a solo exhibition by Mya Kerner.

Opening Reception: Friday, October 2nd, 5–8 PM
Artist in attendance
Exhibition Dates: October 2nd–31st, 2026

With Darkness, Summer
2026
Oil stick on canvas
58 x 54 inches

@myakerner taken in Madrona, Seattle by @myakerner

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17 days ago

Please join us for In the Light of Endings, a solo exhibition by Mya Kerner.

Opening Reception: Friday, October 2nd, 5–8 PM
Artist in attendance
Exhibition Dates: October 2nd–31st, 2026

Painted in and around Kerner’s rural Pennsylvania home, the works emerged during a period of personal loss. Moving between light and darkness, growth and decay, Kerner considers landscape as something shaped by shifts in light, season, mood, and circumstance. The exhibition centers on ideas of motherhood, mortality, acceptance, and renewal, finding beauty within the continual cycle of endings and beginnings.

Across the exhibition, familiar landscapes shift with season, light, memory, and circumstance. Kerner describes the body and landscape as intertwined: “We were landscape — breathing, growing, falling, fading.” The paintings ultimately locate renewal within that cycle, allowing light to emerge from experiences of loss.

In the Light, Fall
2026
Oil stick on canvas
58 x 54 inches

@myakerner taken in Madrona, Seattle by @myakerner

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20 days ago

Happy Equinox — We woke up to find leaves floating in puddles. The light has changed. The greens are yellow, and the nut trees have started to drop. Each night, Yara tells us there is a full moon. Somehow it is autumn.

“In the Light, Fall”
Oil stick on canvas
58 x 54 inches
2026

IN THE LIGHT OF ENDINGS
October 2-31, 2026
@dirkseprimgallery

Catalogs with text by @sarahswan01 are available via link in bio. by @myakerner

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a month ago

Details of ”Other Side of the Fence”
Oil sick on canvas
32 x 24 inches
2026

IN THE LIGHT OF ENDINGS
October 2-31, 2026
@dirkseprimgallery by @myakerner

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a month ago

Details of "Softened by White Pine Needles”
Oil stick on canvas
42 x 60 inches
2026

Preview of my October exhibition available @dirkseprimgallery. by @myakerner

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2 months ago

Final week to check out Summer Show @francisgallery!

"Untrodden”
Oil stick on canvas
32 x 24 inches
2026

Final week to check out Summer Show @francisgallery!

Photo by @erik.benjamins by @myakerner

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a month ago

Some artists paint places. Others, like Mya Kerner @myakerner , paint what it feels like to belong to them. As part of Create! Magazine's 10th Anniversary Book, we're revisiting the journeys of artists whose practices have continued to evolve long after their pages first appeared in the magazine.

For multidisciplinary artist Kerner, the landscape is both subject and witness. Living and working on a deciduous wetland, her expressive paintings emerge from lived experience, responding to shifting seasons, rising and receding water, dreams, stewardship, and motherhood.

"My work holds a record of my belonging to the land."

Since first appearing in Create! Magazine in 2017, Kerner has presented solo exhibitions in Seattle, received a Pennsylvania state grant after becoming a mother, exhibited internationally, and recently shared a two-person exhibition with her husband at Dirkse/Prim Gallery.

About the Create! Magazine 10th Anniversary Book: Create! Magazine is honored to celebrate a decade of contemporary art by publishing a look back at previously selected artists: their achievements, career growth, and more since being published. Stay tuned for the book launch in fall 2026, and join our newsletter to stay up to date.

Learn more about this featured artist and the 10th Anniversary Book on our website.

#CreateMagazine #ContemporaryArt #ContemporaryArtist #LandscapePainting #Painting #NatureInspiredArt #EmergingArtist #ArtistInterview #ArtMagazine #ContemporaryPainting #WomenArtists #FineArt #ArtFeature #CreativePractice by @myakerner

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2 months ago

Details of "The Long Acre”
Oil stick on canvas
32 x 42 inches
2026

October @dirkseprimgallery by @myakerner

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2 months ago