Beginnings

Beginnings. Often begin with an ending first. Sometimes a discovery. A new perspective. A fresh awakening. This exhibition examines how artists address beginnings and the transformations that occur not only in their work but also within the artist or viewer. Perhaps for both.

Ivan Bridges begins with appropriated images, not for reproduction but to transform them while inviting the viewer to imagine the possibilities. Robert Hightower provides us with the poetic beauty within the duality of grieving and waiting for new beginnings. Derrick Schmidt’s work gives a second life to broken and discarded elements, integrating them into layered compositions. Past memories and broken mirrors invite the viewer to see oneself in the work, allowing for the beginning of reflection, awareness, and transformation.

Artwork from our permanent collection by Michelle Doll, Rafa Esparza, Clifford Prince King, Magdalena Wosinska, and Lyne Lapointe is included in the exhibition.  

curated by Tamara White

Painting by Robert Hightower of an empty park bench on a dirt path with colorful flower petals scattered around, sky in the background.

Robert Hightower

The weight of waiting

There's a seat here that used to know your weight.
I don't forget shapes like that, even after they stop coming back.

For a while I just held the space where you were.
Didn't move, didn't ask for anything,
just kept the shape of you a little longer than I should have.

Then the flowers came in anyway.
Nobody asked them to.
They just grew right up against me
like they didn't know grief was supposed to keep its distance.

I used to think if I stayed still enough, you'd find your way back to me.
Now I think staying still was never the same as waiting.

Somebody new will sit here eventually.
They won't know what I used to hold,
they'll just feel the sun and the color coming up around them,
and that'll be enough.

I'm learning that new beginnings don't erase what came before.
They just grow right up next to it, uninvited, persistent, alive.

I'm not empty.
I'm becoming something that can hold two things at once.

Ivan Bridges

Beginnings is an apt title for this body of work by Ivan Bridges, as these paintings are concerned with something just emerging. They begin with appropriated source images, but their aim is not reproduction. Through the act of painting, each image is transformed into something new.

This transformation takes place in the application of paint itself. With deliberate restraint, Bridges leaves “just enough” on the surface for the image to remain unresolved rather than fully described. The viewer is invited to complete what is only partially revealed, participating in the image’s emergence. In this sense, the act of looking becomes inseparable from the work’s beginning.

Artwork titled "Heat" by Ivan Bridges. It features a watercolor painting of a face in soft peach, green, red, and beige tones, blended with light brushstrokes.

Heat, 2026 Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper 10 x 7 inches (25 x 18 cm)

Artwork titled "Heat" by Ivan Bridges. The watercolor painting shows a person's face, with soft, blended colors including red, yellow, black, and beige, creating a suggestive portrait with minimal lines and impressions.

Blush, 2026 Watercolor on Yupo
12 x 9 inches (30 x 23 cm)

Contact Ivan for availability and pricing.

She Lives by Ivan Bridges. The painting depicts a woman's face with light brown hair and pink lips.

She Lives, 2025 Watercolor on Paper Stretched over Panel 55 x 55 inches (140 x 140 cm)

Ivan Bridges's artwork, Feather, depicts a face with splashes of red, orange, yellow, black, green, and beige on textured paper.

Feather, 2026 Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper 10 x 7 inches,(25 x 18 cm)

Blush by Ivan Bridges depicts a face in soft red, pink, beige, and black hues, with loose, flowing brushstrokes and faint outlines.

Lush, 2026 Watercolor on Yupo 12 x 9 inches
(30 x 23 cm)

A painting titled People by Ivan Bridges depicts a child's face, with vibrant colors and soft brushstrokes highlighting the eyes, nose, and lips.

People, 2026 Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper 10 x 7 inches (25 x 18 cm)

Derrick Schmidt

Infant Self, by Derrick Schmidt, features a colorful mosaic of thick, textured brushstrokes depicting a child, a blue background, and warm tones on the face and clothing.

Infant Self

Ideas emerge from the materials for artist Derrick Schmidt. Using layered surfaces and inviting past events, Schmidt utilizes broken mirrors and fragmented images to create moments of self-confrontation. Seeing oneself in the work elicits a beginning of possibilities. An act of reflection, awareness, and transformation. For the artist, the art is about freedom, freeing ourselves from our own barriers while looking at our life through mirror shards and memories.

A mosaic artwork titled Self Portrait by Derrick Schmidt featuring a mix of black, orange, and metallic colors with textured colors.

Self Portrait

Abstract colorful mosaics with blue, red, yellow, black, and white coupled with lines on a green background, with handwritten black text. Love is the Drug by Derrick Schmidt.

Love is the Drug

Mixed-media artwork overlaying a black-and-white historical photo of people near a wall with the word 'FREED' partially visible. The artwork is by Derrick Schmidt titled Before the Blossom.

Before the Blossom

From the Permanent Collection

The painting Couple by Michelle Doll shows a close-up of a person’s bare pregnant abdomen, with hands forming a heart shape on the stomach.

Michelle Doll
Couple

A painted mural of a man with dark hair and a mustache, sitting outdoors with greenery behind him. The man is wearing a black jacket and pants and is holding a container for ice cream or yogurt. Titled Meño: Driver’s Seat by Rafa Esparza.

Rafa Esparza
Meño: Driver’s Seat

Two people standing on a rain-soaked wooden dock, having a conversation with boats and houses in the background, under cloudy weather. They're dressed in rain gear and boots. The photo is titled DJ and Ryan by Clifford Prince King.

Clifford Prince King
DJ and Ryan

Artwork featuring a portrait of a woman with dark hair and red lips, with the words '&. IN VITRO' written below. Several white eggs are arranged around the portrait and in the lower part of the display. Titled In Vintro by Lyne Lapointe

Lyne Lapointe
In Vitro

Artwork titled To Be a Man is to Blossom by Devin B. Johnson. It features a person in a white jersey with green stripes and a yellow cap, and a child sitting on the counter with a backpack nearby. The room has green cabinetry.

Devin B. Johnson
To Be a Man is to Blossom

Group of five young people, some shirtless, posing outdoors against a cloudy sky. Photo titled Teenage Summer by Madgalena Wosinska.

Madgalena Wosinska
Teenage Summer