The Night We Sold Out a Show, a Customer Met Her Wife, and Seven Sisters Became Something More

There was a moment, somewhere in the middle of what the internet used to be, when art moved freely and enthusiastically between people who loved it. Before the algorithm flattened everything. Before feeds became commerce disguised as discovery. There was a time when you could find something extraordinary just by paying attention.

That's how Kris Chau's work came into my life.

The obsession

I had been following Chau's work for a long time before I ever reached out to her. She is a Los Angeles-based artist whose imagery lives in a world entirely her own — mythological figures, celestial bodies, serpents, skulls, women made of stars. Her work is bold and intimate at the same time, ancient-feeling and completely alive. The kind of art that stops you mid-scroll and makes you forget what you were looking for.

For someone who studied art history at Smith College and spent years at the Portland Art Museum, Chau's work spoke in a language I recognized immediately. It was serious. It was joyful. It was exactly the kind of art I wanted to be surrounded by.

The ask

I reached out to Chau directly and proposed a show at Seven Sisters. What happened next still feels a little miraculous: she said yes, and she created an entirely new body of work — genuinely inspired by the story of our shop, its name, its mythology, its spirit.

She called it The Lost Pleiades — Your Hidden Skies — a title drawn directly from the story of Seven Sisters itself, the seven daughters of Atlas who became a constellation.

The night

The show opened on First Friday, July 6, 2018. We had a DJ. We had good energy. We had a room full of people who came because they loved art, because they loved Chau, because they were the kind of people who show up for things that matter.

A lot of other artists came that night. The space was alive in a way that shops don't always get to be — full of conversation and music and the particular electricity of a room where everyone is genuinely glad to be there.

We sold out the show that night.

Every dollar from every sale went directly to Chau. Seven Sisters took no cut. That's not unusual for us — we host artists because we believe they deserve to be paid for their work, not because it benefits our bottom line.

The relationship didn't end with the show. Chau and her partner also ran a beautiful LA space called Day Space Night, and together they made clothing that we went on to carry at Seven Sisters — another thread in what had become a real and ongoing collaboration between two small shops who believed in the same things.

What it meant

Seven Sisters has always been more than a shop. It is a place built on the belief that the things around you matter — that what you wear, what you put on your walls, what you bring into your home, shapes the kind of life you live. Hosting Chau's show was an expression of that belief in its purest form.

I didn't host the show because it was a smart business decision. I hosted it because I had been obsessing over her work for years and I wanted to share it with our community. Because I believe artists deserve to be celebrated and supported. Because a shop with an arts background should do more than sell things — it should make things happen.

Chau put it better than I ever could:

"Buying art is more than a monetary transaction, you're now part of that artist's long language and support the continuation of that work. Even kind words are gifts on that chosen path. Like a splash of water and a cheer during a marathon."

That is exactly why we do this. And sometimes what it makes possible is completely unexpected. Somewhere in that room on the night of the show, a customer of mine met the woman who would become her wife. They are married now. I think about that a lot — a boutique on Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon, hosted a show by an LA artist whose work was inspired by a star cluster in Greek mythology, and two people found each other. You never know what you're making possible when you create space for art.

Chau has since moved away from commerce and toward her practice more fully, which feels right for the artist she is. We occasionally still carry a few of her prints when they become available. If you see them on the site, don't wait.

You can follow Chau's ongoing work at @chaufacetime and explore the world of Day Space Night at @dayspacenight on Instagram.

And if you were at the show that night — thank you for being there. You made it what it was.

— Jillian, founder of Seven Sisters