Photo by Anna Redmond
Biography
Drie Chapek was raised in the in between, between homes, divorced parents, social classes, life and death. Drie’s older sister was born with heart defects that have had teetering between living and passing. This ever-present existence of the vail shaped Drie’s awareness of the living in the human body, plants and the landscape. Chapek grew up in a life of transition and movement as a child from divorced parents whom each moved every two years across many states. Perspectives from the airplane as well as the road created views of connectivity across multiple homes and towns. The earth and humanity stood as solid ground for her in the midst of so much motion. Before graduating with a BA from the University of Kansas, where she studied with Roger Shimomura and Tanya Hartman, Chapek was given a full scholarship to study abroad in Stoke-on-Trent, England in 2001. It was there, that Drie learned she had a deep desire to create visionary work to find a visual language that could talk about personal transformation through connection to the natural world.
The sudden death of their second child proved great practice to Drie’s painting theory. Turning ideas of ways to live close to the space that moves between life and death into a reality. A Joanna Macy intensive workshop around using grief as a motor to drive change gave power to concept in 2011. Drie studied with Char Sundust, learning the Lakota way to soulful awareness and connection through the natural world. She and her family cold swim, climb, surf, ski, backpack and row the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband raised their children without screens or phones at home.
The richness of enjoying their three living children alongside losses and unforeseen challenges around raising a child with disabilities, has provided fodder for painting. From 2013 to 2020 she was taught by Rosemary White OTR/L, how to use Floortime Play Therapy to engage her autistic son in connecting and learning. Growing his world through imaginative play also rewired Drie’s painting world. Drie has worked with Somatic trained therapists since 2015, learning about the powerful awareness of the nervous system. Drie brings these learned techniques into the rhythm of her paintings.
Some select group shows are “Through the Light, The Sublime in Contemporary Northwest Art” The Museum of Northwest Art, La Connor, Wa. “Women of the Pacifc Northwest” at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus Georgia. “Jackson Short List” Bankside Gallery, London, England. In New York, NY with The Visionary Projects at the Anderson Contemporary, “It’s Time to Slow Down”. “Napa Collects”, Bedside Gallery, Napa, CA. Previous group shows have included “Vivid Vibrations” Visionary Project, The Yard, Brooklyn, NY; “A Body Among Bodies" Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA and “Seattle Contemporary Artists” Relish Magazine, Seattle, WA
Some recent solo shows have been 2026 “Then is Now” Greg Kucera Gallery. 2025 “It’s All Happening” I.e. gallery, Edison, Wa as well as 2024 “Inside the Outside” Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington. 2022 “A Way” i.e. Gallery, Edison, Wa. 2021 “Churning” and 2019 “In the Quiet” with Greg Kucera Gallery Seattle, WA and 2019 “Soul Juice” I.E. Gallery Edison, WA. 2014 “Emote” 2010 “Expression” with Zeitgeist, Seattle WA.
Drie Chapek has been working and showing in the Seattle area since 2002.