The Garden

The interdisciplinary works by the eight artists featured in The Garden address the sensory aspects of nature while embodying the artists’ emotional journeys over the course of this turbulent decade

More about this exhibition

The Garden from Reni Gower on Vimeo.

To many, gardens offer comfort and refuge in times of uncertainty. The interdisciplinary works by the eight artists featured in The Garden address the sensory aspects of nature while embodying the artists’ emotional journeys over the course of this turbulent decade. Jorge Benitez’s luxuriant weavings seemingly float on the breath of a breeze, while Baroque arabesques and Chinese Gongshi animate Ruth Bolduan’s intimate paintings. Sally Bowring’s layered acrylic on wood panel paintings use geometric constructs to create turbulent compositions in contrast to Cat Crotchett’s symmetrical arrangements of encaustic and metal leaf on panels. Meanwhile, Chris Gregson’s vibrant topographical mappings and Melissa Hilliard Potter’s striated weavings crafted with fibers harvested from a papermaker’s garden bring the earth directly into the exhibition. The optical and spiritual effects of color and light are radiant in Reni Gower’s elusive latticework papercuts as well as in Javier Tapia’s alternately fiery and fluid watercolors. Textiles, paintings, and ephemera in a variety of materials combine to form an elemental space. This exhibition seeks to create a refuge through an immersive experience in art, reminding visitors of the beauty of nature and the joy of life outside the digital sphere. The Garden was organized by Wylie Contemporary of Mechanicsville, Virginia.