Breathe Deep Series, 2021-2024
Jill Drllevich & Craig Breitbach
Blades of Change
Current Exhibitions
Woolworth’s Window Art Installations, Spaceworks Tacoma, Washington (until September 11, 2025)
A/NT Gallery, Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington (until August 22, 2025)
Previous Exhibitions
2024 Smith & Vallee Gallery, Bow, Washington
2023 & 2024 Auburn Downtown Sculpture Gallery, Auburn, Washington
2023 Fishbowl Gallery (Uptown), Seattle, Washington
2022 Fogue Studios & Gallery (Georgetown) Seattle, Washington
Artist Statement
“By polluting our oceans, not mitigating CO2 emissions and destroying our biodiversity, we are killing our planet.
Let us face it, there is no planet B.”
-Emmanuel Macron, President of France
Breathe Deep, an artistic collaboration between Jill Drllevich and Craig Breitbach, speaks to the beauty and purpose of our forests, the lungs of the planet. Both Drllevich and Breitbach grew up with a deep appreciation and affection for nature as is evident in their artwork.
The stark black of the nuclear reactor blade combined with the light shining through the open spaces creates a sense of balance that mimics a walk in the forest. The raw aesthetic of the log base retains saw marks, reminding us of all that is possible when humans and nature work together.
About the Artists
An accomplished multimedia artist, Jill Drllevich (b. 1950, Brooklyn, New York) was also a celebrated arts educator for 24 years. Largely self-taught, she weaves her playful style and eclectic, abstract realism into everything she touches; from mural painting to glass, welded metal sculpture, ceramics, prop design, landscape design and even jewelry. Drllevich approaches each new artistic challenge with a unique and innovative perspective, organically cultivating colorful, fun, and often functional pieces. Drllevich is the founder of Blades of Change.
Drllevich’s passion for social practice art and community engagement dates as far back as the 1960s when she was invited to participate as a mentor artist in Phyllis Yampolsky’s “Happenings” in New York City. Drllevich and a team of other artists engaged inner city youth in a wide variety of arts education and community art projects in public spaces. This life-altering experience ignited Drllevich’s passion for the arts and confirmed to her the power of art to bring people together and create new platforms to speak out about important environmental and social issues.
Drllevich has been based in the Pacific Northwest for more than 35 years. A grandmother of ten, Drllevich now resides in Ravensdale, Washington where she continues working in her home studio and curating Blades of Change.
Craig Breitbach (b. 1964, Port Angeles, Washington) is a prolific sculptor and public artist whose work is mainly focused on the natural environment which surrounds him in his Pacific Northwest home. Growing up on the Olympic Peninsula, between the mountains and the ocean, tucked deep in the dense forest, his passion for nature is clearly represented in his work. Mostly self-taught, Breitbach has been creating art for as long as he can remember although he started making the transition from his first career as an airplane mechanic for San Juan and Alaska Airlines to sculptor and public artist in 2005.
Breitbach currently resides in Fall City, Washington with his wife where he works from his home studio on public and private commissions and personal work for exhibition.
Spaceworks Tacoma Woolworth’s Window Art Installations (11th & Commerce St., Tacoma, WA)
Visible 24/7 from the street until September 11, 2025
On exhibition at A/NT Gallery (Seattle Center) until August 22, 2025