In Verdant Paths, artists Annalisa Fink, Holly Graham, and Sali Swalla address the familiar concept of a path lush with greenery. Though the vision of a path weaving through foliage is ubiquitous, the journey on that path can be very different. We all walk different paths, even on the same trail. In this group exhibition, each artist interprets the metaphor of a verdant path to express the unique experience of their own personal journey. With vibrant color and layered texture the paintings create a sensory environment that reshapes the viewer’s perception. 

Annalisa Fink is a Southern artist known for her vibrant, textured acrylic paintings. Her work follows her inspiration from the Smoky Mountains of the Upstate through the pines and tangled brush of the Midlands to the watery salted rim of South Carolina. Nature, flora, and fauna are consistent themes in her work. Through these subjects she explores hope in the intertwining of light and shadows. A professional artist for over ten years, Fink continues to explore mountain rhododendron because it allows her to play with both portrait and landscape approaches as she considers distance and proximity to the subject. Her lush and layered paintings are meant to evoke the feeling of a personal encounter with nature.

Holly Graham is an abstract expressionist painter and collagist based in Charlotte, North Carolina. She graduated with honors in Studio Art from Wake Forest University, where she studied traditional oil painting, printmaking, and photography. Graham is primarily known for her three-dimensional, abstract collages, which she also refers to as low-relief wall sculptures. She creates these by painting paper, tearing it, and intuitively arranging the pieces with other mixed media like canvas, foam core, and balsa wood giving a tactile, musical quality to her compositions.

Sali Swalla is known for her imagined landscapes and gardens. Her work is an expression of longing and loss, tightly related to a search for wholeness and something beyond the tangible world. Process-heavy layering, veiling, and scraping away serves as a metaphor for personal growth. She primarialy works with oil paint and cold wax, using various tools like brayers, squeegees, and palette knives to build and subtract layers.

Q: You keep coming back to the rhododendron in your work, yet the color relationships are different every time. What is it about this plant that keeps you inspired, and how do you manage to find a fresh perspective with each new piece?

Annalisa: The simplicity of the shapes and the way rhododendrons kick back the sunlight at you is just magic to me, and I always feel like I can’t quite capture it, so I just try again. Probably due to a cocktail of perfectionism and daydreamy curiosity. I go to the mountains for my references and I climb all over the place. In the streams and over and under branches. So lots of perspectives to choose from. Depending on the weather and the time of year, everything feels quite a bit different. 

Q: Your practice has evolved from working with the fluidity of paint to the tactile world of collage. What was the initial spark that made you want to start physically assembling your pieces rather than using a brush to paint them? 

Holly: It’s hard to say what made me take that jump, but looking back at my artmaking from high school and college, it completely makes sense.  A few years ago, I found some old work from that time in my life, and realized that I have always been interested in creating three dimensional work. Whether it was slicing up images and mounting them on different surfaces, creating a painting that was hung in different panels from the ceiling, or making wall sculptures, it seems like I have always wanted to look beyond a flat surface.  I still love painting on canvas, but I have always liked building things, too.  My grandfather was an engineer who also liked to draw, and I think a lot of that curiosity comes from him. 

Q:  Floral motifs are a consistent theme in your work. What is it about flowers that captures your imagination, and where do you typically look for new varieties or arrangements to paint?

Sali: For me flowers are like beautiful, unique, individual souls. I see each and every blossom as a little friend. They feel very alive to me and when they are gathered into an arrangement they take on their own persona and seem to speak their unique stories to me. 

All the flowers and bouquets in my work are from my own imagination. I do not work from a set up still life but rather allow each floral composition to let itself be known to me as I create. I never know which friend will show up on the canvas and which story she will tell. Keeps me intrigued and inspired.

Q: While your paintings maintain a consistent color palette, you introduce unique color pairings in every new piece. How do you go about selecting the specific palette for each painting?

Annalisa: The mood I feel from the reference steers the direction of colors. I work with a limited palette so it keeps all my colors related to each other without working too hard at it. I start with an idea in mind and then the painting will take on a life of its own and I don’t really know how it will end up. 

Q:  What does the typical routine of a studio day look like for you? Do you find that a highly structured workspace supports your focus, or do you prefer the energy of a more spontaneous environment?

Holly: I love to be more spontaneous when I’m working.  Even though my art looks really organized and exact, my studio is a complete mess when I’m creating new work.  I usually have several pieces going at once, and piles of painted paper and canvas scraps all over the floor.  I tape small color stories up all over the walls, and build on those ideas until a larger piece takes shape. The initial and more chaotic phase is usually my favorite part. The organized “building” phase satisfies the perfectionist in me because of the precision it requires. I like the dichotomy between the two.  

Q: How has your painting practice evolved over the years? What are you most excited about in the body of work included in Verdant Paths?

Sali: My work has evolved to fit with my schedule and emotional life as a mother.  My time in the studio is dictated by what is happening in real time out of it. Schedules, emotions, hardships, joys… it all has an effect on my practice.  My subject matter has evolved from abstract, open ended compositions to more organized and semi realistic offerings as I found I needed to have more “control” over the end result to contrast with a sense of “loosing control” as my daughter grows and steps away from the nest.

With Verdant Paths I am most excited by the softness and curiosity I noticed entering the work. They represent my slow acceptance as I bend to a new stage of motherhood. After a period of what felt like clinging to the familiar in my practice as everything around me changed, I felt a sense of letting go as I worked. A freedom I hadn’t felt in awhile.  I found myself exploring a new path in the studio as well as out of it. And this new path is intoxicating!!