“The passage into mystery always refreshes. If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom.”
~Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World
Genie Davis has expertly curated an exhibition that features three extraordinary artists: Connie Saddlemire, Amy Thornberry, and Sharon Weiner. All three deal with expressive abstraction, to one degree or another. They do so in diverse media, from Saddlemire’s photography-based printmaking to Thornberry’s painted collage to Weiner’s acrylic on canvas.
Connie Saddlemire has developed a complex process that layers altered photographs of corrugated Corten steel on solar plates to created elegant, meditative monoprints. She is inspired by the parallel lines of Corten steel architecture, as well as other repetitive geometric forms, from quilts to roof tiles to bales of hay. Saddlemire striped works recall, but do not imitate, the geometric abstractions of American Agnes Martin and Irish-born Sean Scully. The gray tones of her Square Telescope (2023) echo the metallic sheen of Corten steel. Her Summer Haori (2025), named after the Japanese jackets worn over kimonos, is composed of three sections: the central one deploys vertical lines; the lines of the two flanking sections are horizontal. The brick-red color reminds us that corrugated Corten steel develops a rust-like patina over time. (Think of the luscious rust surfaces of Richard Serra’s immense Corten steel sculptures.) Saddlemire’s rhythmically repeating lines are calming and meditative, like the cadenced noise of rain on the roof or the quiet drumbeats of Minimalist music. Viewers are drawn into the subtle modulations of color and space that–like the Trataka of object-based meditation–cultivate intense focus and awareness.
Amy Thornberry builds layered compositions based on collaged images overlaid by paint. Her gestural brushstrokes obscure the images, like the levels of earth and detritus that cover archaeological ruins. Viewers must visually “dig” through the upper levels to find the historic remains below. The Dissolution of Fragility is based on Sir John Everett Millais’ 1851-52 painting Ophelia (the tragic Shakespearean heroine). The reclining figure seems to appear then disappear, ghostlike, under cloudy white veils. Thornberry’s composition succeeds if simply appreciated for its formal pleasures (color, texture, etc.), and the female figure gives it a certain “magical” depth. A more readily perceptible image is the translucent crouching woman, whose head is silhouetted against two poppy-red “clouds.” The rewards of Thornberry’s oeuvre are found in the visual investigation of her veils of color and form. The painted collages are never just what they initially appear to be; there are always rich levels of meaning, rich varieties of signifying artistic clues.
Sharon Weiner’s paintings are totally abstract. She pours paint mixed with liquid acrylic over large canvases or smaller pieces of paper to create glorious images that can allude to cosmic flow. In Night Sky (2025), a dynamic white cloud, with a deep blue underside, zooms into midnight depth. Other works have biomorphic references: in Cluster (2025), purple arteries are entangled with luminous blue and yellow cells. Yet others are oceanic: In State of Grace (2025), a wave crashes on the beach, spreading its aqueous offerings. To be surrounded by Weiner’s work is to be invited to lift and expand emotionally (or dare I say spiritually?)—which is precisely what these abstract shapes are doing. The images are inspiring and her painting titles are poetic: State of Grace, Spirit, Celestial Passage, Soar, Transform. In this age of trauma, contention, and violence, it is tremendous to see a creator speaking to our highest aspirations, rather than our lesser selves. Weiner’s paintings are, like the art of all three of these truly talented and accomplished women, radiant gifts.
In his 2007 volume The Gift, Lewis Hyde explained the value of creative labor, arguing that creative work functions as a gift rather than a commodity. Shed the blinders of our capitalist economy and give yourself the gift of seeing this art.
- Betty Brown; images courtesy of the artists
