…all streams flow…

A show about futility and regeneration

Opening Reception March 1st 6-9PM

Open Gallery | 516 Hagan Street, Nashville, TN

Curated by Georganna Greene

Works by:

Mel Beall

Georganna Greene

Jennifer Pepper

Natalie Thedford

Janet Yanez

Curatorial Statement:

ALL STREAMS FLOW explores themes of futility and regeneration through the works of five Nashville-based artists: Mel Beall, Georganna Greene, Jennifer Pepper, Natalie Thedford, and Janet Yanez. Consisting of sculpture, painting, and mixed media surfaces, these peculiar objects transform “stuff” through purring repetition and sensuous experimentation. From delicate lace to plastic lattice to produce netting— materials become motifs that nod to craft, childhood and domesticity. Echos of pattern and color point to cycles of labor and monotony while creating contextual intersections: construction remnants and knit laundry; yard work with shopping gear; a bird-printed baby blanket and paint-drizzled packing pillows. Across the small grey sea of Open Gallery’s concrete container, gestures animate even the most unspecial specimen. Within each unique artistic practice, preservation of matter—similarly to the instinctive preservation of memories—allows for uncharted pathways towards abstract but reverent visual languages. The dialogue between each piece underscores the quiet power of regeneration that emerges from curiously and patiently embracing process over outcome. STREAMS encourages a deeper connection to the subtle rhythms of life’s perpetual cycles and punctuates the beauty of what we make.

All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.
Ecc. 1:7