February 27 - March 31, 2019

Closing Reception:
Sunday, March 31, 3 - 5 pm


Kathryn Geismar
”The Myth of Gravity”

Betsyann Duval
”TIME OUT:
Meditations & Reflections”

Kathryn Geismar: “The Myth of Gravity”

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The best paintings I have made are ones that I have had to destroy along the way.  Something authentic is unearthed in the undoing and subsequent submission to the process and the materials.  

While I have subject matters in mind, it is in the construction/destruction process that the true subject emerges.  I am forced to reckon with the important interplay between aspects of art-making that are out of my control and those that are tangibly at my fingertips.

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In an echo of this process, my work explores unexpected transformations from which I would otherwise wish to look away. From human-scale events such as personal illness, to broader-scale incidents such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I am drawn to the rich and unanticipated beauty that can can stem from such surprising sources.

In my two most recent series, "Aftermath" and "The Myth of Gravity," I have turned this investigation inwards, portraying the layered and complex experience of illness after a diagnosis of cancer. "The Myth of Gravity" visually explores the idea that life events can leave us feeling unanchored to solid ground in ways that are both disorienting and, potentially, liberating. The paintings and collages use fragments of journal entries, drawings from family photos and self-portraits made while I was in treatment. There are obfuscations and exposed places, words that can be read and those that are hidden. The pieces include painted panels, mylar, inks, oil paints, acrylics, colored pencil, and tape in compositions that echo the tenuousness and uncertainty of the experience.

 
 
 

Betsyann Duval
”TIME OUT:
Meditations & Reflections”

Betsyann Duval: “TIME OUT: Meditations and Reflections”

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“…the arts succeed and triumph over the griefs they record by deliberately making beauty out of them, turning into ‘song’ whatever in our lives wants to emerge as a cry.”

—Rhina P. Espaillat

Since 2016, many of us have faced a struggle to maintain a sense of balance in a time of political chaos.  I have created these meditative paintings and photographs from the flow and reflections on water, to provide a place of refuge where your mind’s eye can wander unimpeded to regain a sense of calm.

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Try this relaxation exercise—Behind the Eyelids

  • Select a painting or a photographic image.
  • Look at it for 30 seconds (more if you can).
  • Let your imagination range free.
  • Now, close your eyes.
  • Take a deep breath and let it out.
  • Relax.
  • Focus on what you see behind your eyelids,
  • With your eyes still closed, slowly move your head to experience how the play of light changes the images you are seeing and also changes your sense of space and time.
  • In my paintings, I recreate these viscous swirls of color, dark slow moving planes, or vibrating patterns that appear behind our lids. In the photos, I discover the transcendent in abstracted reflections in a small local stream.

When we take the time to allow ourselves to see, we can glide with the images and wash away the anxiety generated by the incessant noise and jitter. 

—Peace