Nikki McClure goes from the Riot Grrrl scene to the domestic scene in the Bellevue Arts Museum exhibit of her work. But it's funny: even if you take the girl out of the revolution, you can't take the revolution out of the girl.

"Tonight", Nikki McClure. Photo credit: Dan Kvitka. Courtesy Bellevue Arts Museum.

McClure once created posters and album covers for Sleater-Kinney and other indie rock bands in the late 1990s. She's since moved into popular self-published calendars and children's book illustrations.
Illustrating family-themed books seems like a perfect fit: clean, definite lines, created with simple tools even a kid could use, if the kid was massively patient and painstaking.
But then I thought about the artist's stylistic choices. McClure cuts away all but the most necessary lines and connectors. Her work is literally black-and-white.

"Rely," Nikki McClure. Photo credit: Dan Kvitka.

And suddenly I drew a connection between McClure's paper cuts and the bold black lines of old Soviet propaganda posters: deliberate strokes to deliver a message. Kind of like the propaganda most mothers deliver to their kids: "Always tell the truth." "Cheaters never prosper."
It seems motherhood doesn't soften an artist like Nikki McClure. It makes her cut away everything but what's most important.