May 2026: Skrimsli - Leah Fadness

SKRIMSLI
Leah Fadness
Opening Thursday, May 7, 2026 5-8pm Dance Performance at 5pm
Figure it Out! Queer Figure Drawing, May 12, Dance Performance at 6:15pm
Capitol Hill Artwalk Thursday, May 14, 2026, 5-9pm, Dance Performance at 6pm & 8pm
Show runs through May 30, 2026

Skrimsli, meaning monster in Old Norse, refers to the perception of Loki and his children as monstrosities that must be controlled or killed out of fear that they will bring about the apocalypse. This perspective feels like a mirror for how queerness is viewed by certain subsets of modern society.

In this series of drawings, Leah Fadness uses characters from Norse mythology to explore fear based treatment of queerness through the lens of their cultural heritage’s folklore. Creating this series has been a way of processing this repetition of misconceptions.

This body of work is a collaboration between Fadness and dancers, Kyrin Grey and Ezra Dickinson who posed for the series. They will be performing a piece choreographed by Grey to a selection of songs from Lori Goldston’s album High and Low to accompany Fadness’s drawings during events pertaining to the show.

The inspiration for Skrimsli came from drawings Fadness made at Figure It Out!, the monthly queer figure drawing night at Vermillon. Works from these sessions are included in the show to illustrate how the idea began to take root. Some of the drawings were useful for developing the concept, others represent characters who fit the narrative. 

About the Artist: Leah Fadness grew up in the lower Yakima Valley and moved to Seattle in 2002 to study painting at Cornish College of the Arts. As a part of their studio practice, Fadness attends figure drawing nights regularly and does solo sessions with local dancers as models. Their style of portraiture is intuitive drawing through layered blind contour sketches. The technique is derived from a desire to meditate on the relationship between hand, eye, and mind. It also provides Fadness with a modality to explore the figure through abstraction. In addition to abstract portraits, Fadness creates mixed media portraits that incorporate drawing, painting, and printmaking featuring people who are sources of inspiration in their life. 
Website: fadnessradness.com
Instagram: @fadness.radness