About — Kira Mardikes

Kira Mardikes by Deja View Photography — Kira Mardikes at Port Townsend Farmers Market by Deja View Photography

EDUCATION and TRAINING

Bachelor of Fine Arts - School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2008 - 2012

Studied abroad at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, CAN 2011

WHERE TO FIND MY WORK

Port Townsend Farmers Markets - Select Saturdays April-December 2025

See Market Dates on my Event Page

Northwind Art, Port Townsend, WA

Chimacum Corner Store, Chimacum, WA

Hearth Natural Medicine, Port Townsend, WA

Old Alcohol Plant Inn, Port Hadlock, WA

Marine Science Center, Port Townsend, WA

Puget Sound Express, Port Townsend, WA

SKILLS

Drawing
Realistic to cartoon drawing skills in pen and ink and graphite

Textiles
Vat dying, block printing, Eco-printing, resist, and katazome

Painting
Large murals and portraiture. Acrylic and watercolor

Printmedia
Woodblock printing and screenprinting. Experience with offset printing.

Design
Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, vector design and image manipulation. Experience working with printers.

Comics and Narrative
Pen and ink comics, small publishing, and storyboarding for film

CONTACT

Feel free to contact me here.

Follow along and see what's new: Instagram @kiraplantart

Kira Mardikes is an Olympic Peninsula based artist whose work is deeply influenced by her love of farming and gardening. She grew up going to a bilingual Japanese-American school in Portland, OR and was shaped by her family’s love of art and nature. One grandfather was a Greek American passionate about photography. Her other grandfather was an accomplished novelist of Native American fiction who carved bone, wood, and horn in the Coastal Tlingit & Haida style and was part Chickasaw descendant. Her grandmothers on both sides were artists. One in Greek Orthodox iconography and the other as a potter. Craftsmanship, pen and ink illustration, and botanical motifs are ongoing threads through Kira’s art.

She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012 where she focused on telling stories inspired by the contrast of urban and rural life through comics, animation and theater. She then sold art on the street in New Orleans and Mexico and helped with local puppet shows. Learning about the Gulf Coast’s dead zone, the petrochemical industry, and the reality of pollution along the Mississippi River and through agricultural land in the US is what inspired Kira to begin organic farming on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington while also working as a local illustrator. She has published zines on Organic agriculture, comics inspired by mythology, and continues to create artwork inspired by local plants and animals.

Recently she has been botanically dying textiles and bandanas with dyes she grows. She has led classes in eco-printing, vat dying and natural dye painting as well as tutored teenagers in fine art. She also illustrates for businesses and individuals such as the ones listed below.

CLIENTS

Finnriver Cidery, Chimacum, WA

Jefferson County Farmers Market, WA

The Chimacum Corner Farmstand, Chimacum, WA

Longhouse for the People, Quilcene, WA

Sound Mandala, Kansas City, MO

Jack Tierney, Musician, Port Townsend, WA

Wet Meadows, Central CA

Cascara Gardens, Portland, OR

Shatoiya De La Tour, Sequim, WA

Deeproots Botanicals, NY

Organic Seed Alliance, Chimacum, WA