sadness. grief. gratitude.

Young artist and activist Mahllie Beck expresses life’s emotions

Ellen Hiatt

You never know where you’re going to run into the works of up-and-coming artist and young activist Mahllie Beck. She shows her work in coffee shops and pop-up markets and is just beginning to show in galleries.

“My work reflects how I’m feeling in the present moment. It’s self reflection. I feel a lot,” she said.

Those feelings motivated her to organize with several other young people to take to the streets of the town of Snohomish nearly every day during the summer of 2020 in protest of a rally of Confederate flag waving Proud Boys. Out of that protest, the youth created a documentary, “What Happened on First Street.”

No question, she has a lot to say through her expressionist form of work.

The latest piece she showed was a work in progress, hanging over her bed for two years while she completed it. It reflected falling in love, and the end of a relationship. She called her former beau back to complete the piece, laying their hand prints on it together.

It would be hard to let that work go, as it would be like giving a piece of herself away, she said.

“I was feeling grateful. Sad. Grief. I’m still kind of heartbroken in a way. It was kind of a diary,” she said.

Mahllie also works on commission and feels honored by the trust people place in her to create for them. A set of murals she’s particularly proud of hangs in the warehouses of Redmond’s Uncle Harry’s Natural Products. The company is intent on zero waste, and Mahllie created a larger-than-life crane out of misprinted toothpaste labels.

Look for Mahllie and her work at a local farmers market.