by Lynette Charters Serembe
— Also published in the Fall/Winter 2026 print edition #37 on page 12.
Kaia Selene is a local artist who has been practicing mixed media and performance art for many years, she tells us creativity for her is not a choice, or for fun, but a necessity. Since her youth, she has been driven to make art, and creativity has helped her to survive. She says it wasn’t until she was 41, that she made a show she herself rated as accomplished but as with all good art, the journey is the primary destination, the product is the intriguing manifestation of that journey.
Despite having had no budget for college, Kaia Selene has heavily invested in her own arts education, she has decades of serious art practice under her belt, studying and refining several disciplines, including painting, wet-felting, performance. Japanese butoh dancing; costume and mask making in New Orleans are a heavy influence, and also, in the last five to six years, culinary arts have made an appearance. She has had little formal training in art, which she has observed as a strength as it has allowed her to ad-lib her way through her creative process rather than adhere to given structures.
She admits she doesn’t edit much and prefers to be inclusive, in her disciplines, her imagery, and her audience participants. This has resulted in a maximalist, multidisciplinary, constellation of an offering in which she invites you all to participate.
Kaia Selene is convinced that the art she makes does not originate from her; she feels like she’s the messenger who is tapping into generally available creativity. Being the courier is her job, and she’s committed to “create things that go beneath our surface and mundane interactions; connections that go beneath the surface of polite conversation”.
In her show there will be an array of wall art, miniature art, wearables, plus tea and treats. Miss Pink Pearl will make two appearances: Friday Oct. 2 6-8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2-4 p. m.
In her performances she appears as various personas (in the past you may have seen her as Sissy von Meow Meow at Community Print, and SPSCC, also in Cake Math with Alicia Capp performed at TCMoFA, and The Crypt Bar, and you may also have seen her costuming designs showing at TCMoFA.)
Making her grand solo debut at Lantern Records is Miss Pink Pearl, (she has another upcoming persona to be revealed, who is Madame Cro(w)ne, “a keeper of loss, death, grief and freedom named such because she’s a crow crone spirit” and she has more in the making). She explains these are more channeled personalities that she has gleaned from the ether and made herself available as the vessel to deliver them to the audience.
Kaia Selene ’s personas elegantly sport elaborate hand designed couture, they are a mixture of 18the century Rose Bertin Marie Antoinette-style court fashion, and modern goth, there is an element of ethereality and playfulness about them. Food is an important part of her performances in her efforts to create an experience in communal collusion. She makes beautiful gluten free masterpieces in the form of exquisitely designed sweet offerings, but please note, you must meet her halfway to be rewarded and partake.
Kaia Selene says the food is an invitation to participate. Kaia Selene says, “So much of entertainment is passive these days, and it’s not good for people.”
You don’t have to leave your own sofa to be entertained, but meaningful social interaction requires vulnerability and bravery. Most life memories and social interactions involve food for a reason, where we all share together as a social experience. It’s a way of inviting people in, in a way that is universally understood. She provides a safe place for the audience to be part of the performance.
Kaia Selene believes all humans are creative, and invites you to give yourself permission to join in. She believes everything is connected on a cellular level. She says, “We need to get back to that connection, to each other, and to the earth. That we need each other is an inescapable fact of life. As an artist I see it as my job to impede the delusion that we don’t need each other”.
Other upcoming performances are; Sept 12 at ISM Experimental Art & Music Festival Kaia Selene will be doing live sound effects for Sqwyrm’s score to the 1914 vaudevillian silent film The Patchwork Girl of Oz; and on October 17, she will be doing a roaming performance for The Witches Ball of the West in Portland as Madame Cro(w)ne. (Over 21) Check her website for details: kaiaselene.com
WHAT:
Performances and mixed media art by Kaia Selene
WHERE:
Lantern Records, 509 Washington St SE , Olympia
WHEN:
Friday Oct. 2 6-8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2-4 p. m., wall art show up through end of October during store hours
HOW MUCH:
Free
LEARN MORE:
kaiaselene.com, lanternrecords.oly