Hello, and thank you for taking the time to visit my site.  Though I've been creating art all my life, and began contributing to art shows in my teens, there's still a fairly good chance that, if you've heard of me, or viewed my work at all, you did so in Portland, Oregon, on the street.  My time as a street artist stretches from 2001 to the present day.  It began as an act of desperation.  Rejected by the gallery scene for not being famous, and dangerously low on cash, I built the first of my collapsible art-display racks, which I named "The Alleycat Gallery", and took my work directly to the people.  Within a couple of weeks I'd managed to pay the rent, and realized that for the first time in my life, after decades of dreaming and hard work, I had succeeded in becoming an actual professional artist.  I thought that my ship had come in, but in reality I had merely constructed a life-raft.  Soon the summer ended, and I learned the hard way, as Portland's notorious rains began, why there aren't more street artists in this town.

   Nevertheless, I persevered.  Partly because I felt sick at the thought of returning to the soul-sucking treadmill of day-jobs, and partly because I've never had much luck in obtaining gainful employment, I carried on making and self-publishing what artwork I could, while sharpening up every skill I could muster, the better to vanquish poverty.  I became a circus sword-swallower, a dancer, a busker, a seamstress, a sign painter, a makeup artist, a tattoo artist, and many other things as well.  It hasn't been an easy life, but who's life is?  At least I can say that it has sometimes been fun.

   This website is another in a long series of attempts to bring my art before a wider audience.  Here you can view a selection of my favorite "fine-art" pieces, (they include re-purposed tattoo flash and drawings form various illustrated books I'm creating, hence the use of quotes.)  I've also posted the first 60 pages of my graphic novel series "Haunted Parasol."

   Whatever happens from here, I know that I will always be grateful to whichever parts of the universe have been watching over me, and to the odd magic that seems to follow the Alleycat Gallery.  Below are a series of pics showing the latest version of my "roadside distraction".  I built it from scratch out of wood and cloth, and as you will see, it is very small when fully collapsed.  This is necessary for travel, as I do not have a car, and often have to walk with the gallery for miles in order to reach a desired location.  Then, with a bit of rearrangement, it becomes the unique apparatus that you see... and yes, it is also a fortune-telling booth, because why not?  (Yes, the fortune-telling is real, but I don't want to talk about that just now.)  Thank you again for looking!  --Naomi 

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