North Adams, MA – LAPINcontemporary is pleased to announce An Ode to Spring- Celebrating Nature’s Renewal, a group exhibition featuring works by Emily Bunnell, Wendy Hybl Fannin, Douglas Gilbert, Elisa Gilbert, John Lanterman, Natalie Tyler and Jen Violette.

The show opens on April 12 with a public reception from 4:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will be on view through June 15.

 

As you step into Lapin Contemporary gallery for An Ode to Spring, you are immersed in a floor-to-ceiling environment that envelops your senses. Lush plants cascade from ceiling to floor, creating a living tapestry of nature. Delicate birds' nests cradle eggs, symbolizing the eternal cycle of life and renewal. Through a harmonious blend of drawings, paintings, photographs, jewelry, sculptures and floral design, the exhibition captures the essence of the natural world, inviting you to experience the rhythms of earth and rebirth. It suggests a deep appreciation and acceptance of the natural cycles of growth, change, and rejuvenation in the environment.

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Emily Bunnell blends scientific illustration with stylized contemporary art to create captivating compositions that celebrate the delicate balance of nature.  Her harmonious yet bold color palette brings to life the intricate details of birds, butterflies, and botanical elements, evoking a deep sense of interconnection.  Each piece transforms ordinary wildlife scenes into poetic visual narratives, where realism meets imaginative expression.

Bunnell’s work not only honors biodiversity but also encourages a deeper ethical awareness of our relationship with the natural world.  Her art serves as both a tribute to nature’s beauty and a call to engage with it more consciously.  Emily Bunnell lives and works in Windsor, Massachusetts.

 

Flowers have become Wendy Hybl Fannin’s medium.  She began by wielding them like a paintbrush, until she realized she was sculpting, something entirely new to her artistic sensibilities.  She was sculpting with color, letting petals and stems create shape, texture, and meaning.

When things are turned upside down, whether in art or in life, she believes the mind needs a moment to pause, to breathe, and to reorient itself.  “Hanging installations offer that kind of shift. They present a fresh perspective on the journey of flowers, allowing viewers to step inside the work. It becomes personal, immersive, as each person walks through, perhaps even transported, their inner landscape subtly changed.  ” For her, the process is meditative.

As the exhibit unfolds and the blooms begin to dry, Fannin is captivated by the transformation.  “I am struck by the new contorted beauty they hold in their final dried state. The process of decay intrigues me to no end. With flowers, as in all living things, the height of beauty signals the beginning of death. The road between is fascinating.”  The artist’s studio is at the Greylock Works mill in North Adams, MA.

 

Douglas Gilbert’s work blends abstraction, figuration, and expressionism.  His imagery has been described as sensual, electric, and spiritual, charged with an energy that persists regardless of subject matter.  Drawing inspiration from nature, quantum physics, mythology, and the human condition, his compositions emerge through the meticulous layering of thousands of straight lines in varying lengths.

His floral drawings for this exhibition present a delicate exploration of form and emotion, rendered primarily in grey scale.  While rooted in a figurative approach, the works subtly blur the lines between realism and abstraction, creating at this time an impressionistic style that evokes mood as much as subject.  Douglas Gilbert lives in Williamstown and works in North Adams, MA.

 

Elisa Gilbert draws from a family history of watchmakers, metalsmiths, and sculptors to create jewelry that blends fine craftsmanship with playful elegance.  Her brand, Vivienne Charles, handcrafted fine jewelry, captures the essence of the natural world, making them a perfect complement to our An Ode to Spring: Celebrating Nature’s Renewal show.

Gilbert’s whimsical, botanical collection captures the beauty of nature through sculptural forms like bees, birds and other creatures.  Each creation begins with a narrative and evolves into a timeless piece designed to evoke emotion and spark conversation.  Gilbert’s designs are both a tribute to tradition and a fresh vision for the future, crafted to be worn, cherished, and passed down for generations.  Elisa Gilbert lives and works in Tuxedo, NY.

 

John Lanterman’s work explores the deep connections between people and the places they inhabit, with a focus on capturing a strong sense of place.  Whether through sweeping western vistas or the quiet, intimate landscapes of the Berkshires, his photographs reflect his lifelong interest in the interplay between natural and built environments.  This sensitivity is especially apparent in his more intimate compositions, like a solitary bee nestled in a flower, half-sheltered by rugged leaves, or the quiet rhythm of raindrops scattered across broad, veined foliage.  These black-and-white studies, rich in texture and contrast, reveal his gift for finding the extraordinary in the everyday. They are not merely portraits of nature, but meditations on presence, time, and fragility.

Lanterman’s spans from expansive natural scenes to the subtle details of human-altered landscapes.  His images tell stories of environment and emotion, capturing not just what a place looks like, but what it feels like.  With a thoughtful eye and deep reverence for the land, his photography invites viewers to pause, reflect, and ultimately, to protect the beauty that surrounds us.  John Lanterman lives and has a studio in Great Barrington, MA.

 

The natural world is Natalie Tyler’s greatest teacher.  Inspired by the cycles of birth, life, death, and regeneration, her work reflects a deep reverence for nature’s ability to restore harmony.  She notes, “If given the chance, nature's process of decay, carves away at what we as humans build, to heal itself and restore harmony.”

Fascinated by the intricacy and balance within natural systems, the artist explores both the fragile and forceful elements of nature in her sculptures.  Her intention is to reconnect humanity with the environment, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the inherent intelligence embedded in the natural world. 

Materiality and process play a central role in the Tyler’s practice.  These works are created using cast bronze and glass.  She explains, “Bronze can make the ephemeral, permanent by capturing a moment in time.  The luminosity, the way light pauses and changes direction inside the glass is what drew me to casting with glass. Glass can feel hot like fire, cold like ice, deep like earth, liquid like water, and atmospheric like air. It is the closest to nature I can get through art.”  Natalie Tyler’s studio is located in Great Barrington, MA.

 

Jen Violette’s work is deeply inspired by the natural world.  She spends time outdoors, gardening and exploring the forests surrounding her rural Vermont home and studio.  A lifelong fascination with nature’s unique and ever-changing colors, textures, and forms fuels a passion for capturing these subtle details in molten glass.

This collection of small glass sculptures, each one delicately rendered, demonstrates the artist’s extraordinary sensitivity to form, proportion, and natural rhythm.  The image presents a diverse array of botanical miniatures: tender green shoots, fiddlehead ferns, vibrant carrots, delicate mushrooms, blooming buds, and leafy stems.  Each object evokes a moment of growth, renewal, or transformation, encapsulating the fragile energy of spring’s first stirrings.  The variation in shape and translucency captures the organic diversity found in gardens and forests alike, offering viewers a miniature ecosystem composed entirely of molten glass.

Exhibited as part of An Ode to Spring: Celebrating Nature’s Renewal, these works speak to the awakening of life after winter’s dormancy.  With their playful scale and meticulous craftsmanship, the sculptures invite close looking and quiet wonder, encouraging viewers to reconnect with nature’s small miracles, one glass leaf, sprout, or mushroom at a time.  Jen Violette lives and works in Wilmington, VT.

 

The opening reception on April 12 will offer guests an opportunity to meet the artists and gain insight into their creative processes.

 

LAPINcontemporary is an emerging gallery focused on exhibiting works of art throughout the year with the intention to promote artists and to provide another cultural venue for the community, and for visitors travelling on the path between The Clark Art Institute and Mass MoCA.

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For press inquiries, high-resolution images, or further information, please contact:

Cristina Barbedo, curator/co-owner

info@lapincontemporary.com        www.lapincontemporary.com            @lapincontemporary