OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, December 7, 2024
ARTIST TALK WITH ILANA AND FRITH: Sunday, December 8 at 2 pm
Show statement:
In Sisters, Rocks and Roots, the Manolson sisters—painter Ilana and ceramist Frith—present a compelling visual narrative that draws from a shared wellspring of formative landscapes. The exhibit invites us to consider not only the individual artist’s approach to nature but also the ways familial bonds and environmental continuity shape us and our artistic vision.
Ilana Manolson’s work has long been celebrated for its intricate layering and semi-abstract interpretations of natural elements. Her background as a naturalist and her deep engagement with ecological themes manifests in paintings that are as much about nature’s cycles as they are about human connection to place. Manolson's brushwork achieves a rhythmic cadence, capturing the ebb and flow of life with a curator’s eye for both detail and abstraction. Her work speaks to an awareness of nature’s temporality, portraying the dynamism of growth and erosion. Critics have noted her ability to evoke a landscape’s spirit through gestural forms and nuanced tonal palettes, creating spaces that feel lived in and deeply personal.
In dialogue with Ilana’s paintings are the ceramic works of Frith Bail whose practice in clay conveys the materiality and texture of the landscapes they both hold dear. Frith’s pieces reflect organic shapes and textures that evoke the Laurentians’ rocky outcrops, winding roots, and layered forest floors. Her ceramics carry a tactile quality, allowing viewers to physically sense the rugged, undulating forms of the natural world. Through this medium, Frith explores the enduring strength and quiet resilience found in nature, bringing forth the grounded and graceful elemental power of earth, rock, and root.
This exhibition merges personal narrative with landscape tradition, offering a contemporary interpretation of nature that reflects shared experiences and familial memory.