Mar Cromwell, Rejoice For You Are Alive!, 2024, Mixed Media

Mar’s expressive and vibrant artwork was selected as the winner of the 2026 Shelton Art Walk Poster Contest. Chosen for its playful energy and imaginative spirit, the piece beautifully captures the essence of this year’s theme, FROLIC!

We are thrilled to feature Mar’s work as the official poster for the 2026 Shelton Art Walk and to celebrate their creativity with the Shelton community.

Mar Cromwell is a full-time artist living on a small homestead in Allyn, Washington, whose practice is rooted in a deeply personal set of values: authenticity, compassion, humor, and a lifelong fascination with animals. Their work uses stylized, instinct-driven animal figures, somewhere between Paleolithic cave art and Keith Haring, as a way of reflecting human emotion and behavior back at the viewer.

Before 2020, they worked in realism, but the pressure to be technically correct eventually created a creative block. Stripping back to simplified forms freed them to focus on the fundamentals of art-making: shape, color, line, and rhythm, which reignited their practice. Tactility is central to how they work; they're drawn to materials that respond to the hand, from wax pastels and found wood to, most recently, microwave kiln ceramics.

Community, both human and animal, runs through everything Mar does. They collaborate with their partner Echo on the homestead, exchange work through a multi-state artist collective, and are excited about the growing local arts scene in Mason County. They see creative networks as essential, not just for artistic growth, but for being fully human.

The interview closed with Mar connecting the Art Walk's "Frolic" theme to something larger: the idea that joy, unrestrained and unashamed, is a necessity, especially in difficult times, not a luxury. Their practical wish for the Art Walk reflects the same philosophy: let people watch art being made, invite them to participate, and remind them that talent isn't what gets you there. It's just work.