The Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs is opening two new exhibitions this weekend, one focused on furniture and paintings of distinctly Nuyorican apartments, the other on the artist's involvement with her natural surroundings.
"En Casa," an exhibition of mixed-media paintings by Misla, a native New Yorker, will open in the John Little Barn on Saturday, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Many of the paintings depict interior scenes from the Queens apartment where Misla has lived for more than 28 years, while others refer to apartments on the Lower East Side, where her father grew up and where she was born.
Misla's brightly colored paintings are collaged with materials such as a lace tablecloth, bottles, and product labels that add to the immediacy of the scenes. She has described "En Casa" as an attempt to provide a view of what's left behind when one moves from home to home, as do many New Yorkers (and Nuyoricans) who do not own their apartments.
"Field Notes," a new sculptural installation in the Little Gallery by Sara Mejia Kriendler, a Colombian-American artist, grew out of her experience during the pandemic, when she moved to the East End while pregnant with her son. "I have spent a lot more time with trees than people," she has said of that period.
The exhibition includes a sculpture, also titled "Field Notes," that runs the length of the gallery; it is composed of bundles of sage and cedar suspended from the ceiling to create a dense pattern suggesting a tapestry. The artist spent many months wrapping fresh leaves with gold, tan, and yellow-toned thread.
A new series of reliefs made from raw jute, sisal, and fique, wrapped in gold wire, hangs on the opposite wall. The strands of varying thickness are interlaced in a manner that resembles tangled vines or exposed roots on the forest floor. The artist's use of gold acknowledges the pre-Colombian use of gold filigree in jewelry.
A reception for "Field Notes" will be held from 3 to 5 on Saturday afternoon. Both shows will remain on view through July 9.
