About the Artists

Zack and Gala Bent

The colloquial word eavesdropper conjures up a great picture of a neighbor or family member so curious about your business that one would hang from the very eaves of your house, straining to hear the conversation inside. Madison Park Tully's, the site for our installation, is a cauldron of social activity.  It is nearly impossible NOT to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.  Zack and Gala Bent have played up this element of the neighborhood coffee shop by creating outposts where the imagined collective conversation of the space can be gathered, funneled and filtered into the actual eaves of the building.

Zack Bent

Born in Sunnyvale, California, Zack Bent considers rural Indiana his formative homeland.  Seattle, Washington has become his adopted home.  He and his wife, Gala, two sons, Ezra and Solomon, work collaboratively and, recently, all were Artists-in-Residence at Crawl Space Gallery.  With Boy Scout roots as his early tradition, finding a dead bird and sleeping in a covered wagon became part of the shared experiences he expresses in this art project. 

Zack’s BA degrees in Architecture and Environmental Design from Ball State University in Indiana led to an interest in the visual arts.  Further study led to an MA in photography from Ball State in 2004, and an MFA from the University of Washington in 2008.

Angela (Gala) Garrels (Bent)

Gala Bent was born and raised in Michigan amidst lakes, and to parents who encouraged outdoor exploration and creative inquiry.  A large volume of the History of Painting and crucially-timed art teachers helped formulate Gala’s desire to become an artist.  She pursued her BFA at Ball State University in Indiana, and received an MFA in visual art at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. Soon after, she married fellow artist, Zack Bent. Her work is exhibited regularly, all while teaching at the university level.  In 2006, Gala, her husband, Zack, and their two sons made Seattle their new home.  She and Zack worked in collaboration for this project, as well as other art and design projects in various media and venues.