Zee Tai Collective

Artist Bio/Description: The Zee Tai Collective is a community of local Artists in Residence located in the historic Zee Tai building at 918 Water Street in downtown Port Townsend. The Collective is a vibrant space for artists, makers, and the community to connect through creative expression. Artists sell their works in the Collective and are often found using the space as a studio for their creations. 

Established in 1879, the original Zee Tai Chinese Mercantile provided essential goods to Port Townsend's Chinese community. The name "Zee Tai" translates to "Greater Harmony," a fitting reflection of our collective's mission—to cultivate a shared, creative space where artists and visitors can engage, collaborate, and find inspiration.

Artists in Residence Include: 

Brighid Grahan
Brighid’s oil paintings explore the passage of time in a place where inner and outer landscapes meet. They are influenced by decoding visual language of synesthesia and the desire to hold onto the colors of ever changing skies interacting with Mountains and waters of the Pacific Northwest. Her beaded earrings are created using new and antique beads from throughout the world - weaving space, time and the work of glass artists from past centuries all together into beautiful art for your ears.

Windsparrow Studios
I was raised in Vermont, and after college moved to the Pacific Northwest and started an organic flower farm. In the summertime I created beautiful bouquets, and during the long, rainy winters I learned to make prints. Now, I’m a full-time artist, creating designs, carving blocks, and printing pretty things to send out into the world. I love it! My work is inspired by my flowers, my kitchen garden, and the wildlife surrounding my family’s home in Washington State.

Aliina Lahti
In her art, Aliina explores the tension between control and letting go; clashing colors and themes of beauty and struggle. The portrayal of these feelings often reflects brightly colored nature, trees, birds, flowers, with the juxtaposition of darkness and depth. She is continuously striving to show the reality that nature is a cycle of life and death; light and dark - and she is nature on this journey to presence.

hue & hoopla
Hanni's play is to create and co mingle with color and pattern; inspired by the cacophony of curiosities found in our natural world (and her mother's fabric collection). Finally translating that into handmade and one of-a-kind enamel works.

Raquel Stokes
Creating art is both a means of escape and a way in which to share my experience in the world, connecting with others. I am a self-taught painter and collage artist and my work is primarily inspired by nature and the absurd.

Phlox Fiber Studio
Kathryn is a fiber artist weaving custom textiles by hand on a 8-shaft floor loom. Rooted in tradition and made for daily use, her work blends function and beauty through mindful, meditative movement.

Lotte
Charlotte Cooper lives a life of obsequious devotion to Creativity, and when she’s not feverishly sewing, she’s likely pimping herself to whichever artistic discipline has most recently flashed her a beguiling smile.

Drea DiPrete
Drea is a multi-disciplinary artist whose art currently takes the form of surrealist paintings and surface pattern design.

Kira Mardikes
Kira Mardikes is a multidisciplinary artist, illustrator and farmer in Chimacum, WA. Her artwork engages ecological topics such as bee-friendly practices, forestry management, plant medicine, botanical dying and local agriculture.

Snout Studio
Lydia Vadopalas delights in woodworking, block printing, sewing, & often goats.

Sarah Calautti 
Sarah is a self-taught silversmith whose passion for the natural world is delicately and uniquely expressed in each of her pieces. Drawing inspiration from diverse landscapes, she hopes to capture the essence of nature in her work, translating its beauty into tangible forms. With a profound fascination for the craftsmanship inherent in traditional metalsmithing techniques, Sarah meticulously fabricates heirlooms that serve as both a testament and homage to places where inspiration is found.
Her creative process includes using found objects and is deeply rooted in a respect for the materials she chooses and the landscapes from which they came. Sarah's work not only showcases her technical skills but also invites viewers to connect with the stories and emotions embedded within each creation.  

Jodi Erickson 
Jodi is a multidisciplinary artist, art instructor, and facilitator of NorthwindArt’s Aging Creatively program, offering free, dementia-friendly art classes. She also provides private, dementia-focused art therapy. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in training, her work is informed by her life and previous studies in Fine Art, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Somatic Therapies.
Jodi believes that art speaks to and from the places without words within us—bridging inner experience and expression. Her work is an exploration of those quiet spaces, where feeling, memory, and meaning emerge beyond language.

David Meyers
I am endlessly fascinated by the ductility and malleability of metal — materials often perceived as rigid and unyielding, yet capable of incredible transformation. Through processes like forging, raising, chasing and repoussé, I explore how metal can be shaped, stretched, and refined by hand.
For this reason I work primarily in fine silver. My practice centers on this tension: the contrast between metal's inherent strength and its surprising capacity for fluidity and grace. My introduction to metalworking came at a young age, building chain maille shirts with a friend out of baling wire and scrap metal. That early experience - making armor that flowed like fabric — sparked a lifelong interest in historical metalwork, particularly from the Bronze and Iron Ages. I draw inspiration from the craftsmanship of the Celts and Norse, whose work reflects both technical mastery and a deep cultural resonance. Their ability to infuse functional objects with beauty continues to inform my own approach. Although I've trained in many aspects of metalworking, I always return to the hammer. There's a directness to working metal by hand that connects me to centuries of makers who came before. Whether I'm drawing wire, forging forms, or raising vessels, I find joy in transforming raw material into something purposeful, lasting, and expressive.

Studio Tour Days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Studio Address: 918 Water Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368, United States

Website: https://zeetai.kit.com/

Instagram: @zeetaicollective

Medium : Painting, Drawing & Illustration, Printmaking, Sculpture, Ceramics, Fiber & Textile Art, Jewelry, Mixed Media

Demo/Activity: Yes