A Night of Bold Creativity at Black Umbrella Gallery with BHAC artists

BHAC Content Team
Aug 2
3 min read

August 1st brought an electric mix of vision, texture, and storytelling to Black Umbrella Tattoo & Art Gallery, featuring the work of BHAC artists Jake Hetherington, Kait Long, and Keely Zamora. Since Sharon Rene took the helm as curator and creative director last October—with the first exhibit opening in April—the gallery has become a dynamic hub for emerging voices, unexpected mediums, and boundary-pushing ideas. This month's opening was no exception.

BHAC artist Keely Zamora: Quiet Precision, Fierce Emergence

At just 19 years old, Keely Zamora commands a visual language that feels far beyond her years. Her Fragmented series—charcoal works layered on kraft paper—pulls the viewer into an intimate conversation between structure and rupture. At first, the compositions seem still and familiar: a potted plant, soft folds of fabric, a quiet room. But each image is intentionally split, angled, and reassembled into something slightly unsettled, as though reality itself has been shifted and re-glued.

Keely uses negative space and stark contrast to fracture the expected, creating a tension between calm observation and a subtle unease. These works feel like the moment before transformation—when something ordinary begins to split open and reveal what lies beneath. In person, her pieces are not just drawings; they are meditations on how identity, memory, and perspective can be both stable and in flux. Though soft-spoken in person, Keely's art speaks in a clear, confident voice.

BHAC artist Jake Hetherington: Reimagining the Ordinary Through Texture and Form

Textural Exploration

Jake Hetherington's work occupies a unique space between familiarity and the unexpected. His process begins in thrift store aisles, where he rescues forgotten art and transforms it into something entirely new. At this month's exhibit, his spray foam sculptures—blocks of neon green, molten coral, and a lush violet-pink—radiate both playfulness and precision.

Fabrique' by Artist Jake Hetherington — Artistry by Jake currently at Black Umbrella Tattoo and Art Gallery in Garden nGrove, CA

Transformed Objects

These tactile works command space, evoking alien landscapes, coral reefs, or fragments of dreams made solid. His smaller framed pieces and painted canvases carry the same spirit, blurring the line between the real and surreal. Jake's art invites the viewer to linger, asking them to reconsider what is discarded and what is preserved, what is familiar and what is entirely reimagined.

Transformed art by Jake Hetherington — Artistry by Jake

BHAC artist Kait Long: Dark Beauty and the Language of Shadows

Digital Artist Kait Long — Kait Long at the Black Umbrella Tattoo & Art Gallery

For her debut exhibition, Kait Long arrived from Utah with a portfolio that does not whisper—it demands attention. Her digital compositions fuse the beauty of fantasy with the discomfort of the grotesque. In one piece, an otherworldly queen with elongated ears and a jeweled crown stares forward, her mouth transformed into something primal and menacing—a reminder that power and danger often share the same face. Another work burns with surreal intensity, a figure engulfed in flames, evoking both destruction and rebirth.

Kait's creatures and demons are not simply imagined—they are conjured from a place where allure and fear coexist. Her work lingers in the mind, urging the viewer to step into a space where beauty is not diminished by darkness, but defined by it. For a first showing, her voice came through unapologetically—magnetic, raw, and unafraid.

A Collective Energy

The evening wasn’t just about the art—it was about the connections, conversations, and creative sparks that filled the space. Guests left with new ideas, potential collaborations, and a deeper appreciation for the diverse talent within our community. Under Sharon Rene’s curatorship, Black Umbrella has become a place where emerging artists take risks, push boundaries, and share their stories in ways that resonate long after the night ends.