On This Ground
Co-curated by Jenny Brillhart and Cynthia Winings
Moira Holohan Bob Heimstra
David Wilson Jenny Brillhart
Opening Reception, Sunday August 24, 5 - 7PM
David Wilson, Signpost, Acrylic on bleached burlap, 24 x 20 inches
On This Ground, co-curated by Cynthia Winings and Jenny Brillhart, brings together four artists—Moira Holohan, Bob Hiemstra, David Wilson, and Jenny Brillhart—whose work engages the idea of a base, ground, and a sense of gravity, be that through landscape, the floors we walk on, flowers rising from the earth, or the ruddy tone a painter may lay down as ground from which the painting arises. Their visual language is drawn from observation, memory and material surfaces, echoing the tactile presence of our earthly floor, inside and out.
The exhibition’s title points to both the literal ground—flora, fauna, and raw matter that artists draw upon to build images—and the conceptual ground of material pigment, composition, and narrative. These works move between the earthy and the ethereal, opening meditations on mortality, place, and beauty. With painterly surfaces, woven textures, and bold contrasts, the artists present works that are at once ephemeral and firmly rooted.
As curators, we were drawn to how each artist uses their visual language to explore abstraction and materiality, introducing new perspectives into the gallery. For Jenny, who is also a participating artist, curating the show extends her own deep engagement with process and material. For Cynthia, co-curating again this season is especially inspiring, as it continues the dialogue with new voices in the creative community.
In spirit, On This Ground is like a love letter to Maine—its expansive landscapes, its creative community, and the many ways artists capture space, time, and memory.
Kathy Hodge, Racing Yellow, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Presenting Kathy Hodge in the Project Space,
Complex World
In this series of large-scale oil paintings, Kathy Hodge explores the meeting of organic and abstract forms in the untamed corners of New England. Tangled vines, branches, and winter trees mirror the chaos of our times, yet within them she searches for hidden patterns that suggest order, peace, and balance. As climate change and development threaten this fragile harmony, her work calls us to protect the natural world we share.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Hodge began painting at 14 with her parents’ oil paints, later earning her BFA from the Swain School of Design. Her work has ranged from industrial waterfronts and salt marshes near her home on Narragansett Bay to Russian cityscapes, machinery, and landscapes glimpsed from trains. More recently, she has deepened her focus on nature through residencies in 15 National Parks and Forests. She received the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Painting in 2017, and her work is held in private, corporate, and National Park collections. She maintains her studio in East Providence, RI.