PLAY
exhibition Opening Friday March 20, 2026
7:00 - 10:00 PM
free and open to the public
Exhibition runs through april 24, 2026
We are excited to announce our second exhibition of 2026
PLAY, a dynamic group exhibition exploring curiosity, experimentation, and the essential role of play in the creative process. Bringing together painters, sculptors, printmakers, and mixed-media artists, the exhibition reveals how artists use play not simply as amusement, but as a method of discovery, reflection, and transformation.
Anchoring the exhibition are new collaborative figurative works by muralist Lela Brunet and firefighter/artist Phil Harris, marking their first exhibition together since 2019. Their energetic partnership merges two visual voices into a shared language of gesture and narrative, where improvisation and trust guide the evolving images.
Resident sculptor Krista Grecco presents new works that continue her beloved exploration of the animal form. Through expressive modeling and a sensitive understanding of movement and personality, Grecco’s sculptures reveal the humor, spirit, and presence of animals while reminding us of our deep connection to the natural world.
Printmaker Jasmin Warnock brings her finely crafted prints to the exhibition, highlighting the tactile beauty and layered complexity of the printmaking process. Her work demonstrates how repetition, carving, and ink transform simple marks into richly textured visual experiences.
Professor Jason Swift contributes industrial sculptures shaped by discovery and material dialogue. His studio practice engages play as a method of investigation—selecting found objects, materials, and images as a starting point for visual narratives. Through memory, experience, and aesthetic intuition, Swift allows the work to evolve through conversation with the materials themselves, embracing outcomes that are discovered rather than predetermined.
Painter and professor Alice Stone Collins approaches play through the language of flatness and color. Her paintings explore visual rhythm and structure while maintaining a lightness of touch, allowing shape, color, and composition to interact in a spirited conversation across the surface.
Jeffrey Wilcox Paclipan presents large-scale maximalist mixed-media works that transform discarded objects into vibrant sites of imagination. In his practice, marginalized puzzles, paper, plastic, cardboard, and toys are reclaimed and embedded into exuberant compositions. Once designed for consumption and disposal, these materials are reimagined as symbols of resilience and transformation, shifting from waste into playful explorations of identity and possibility.
In striking contrast of scale, Sadie Pennell presents intimate miniature watercolors that celebrate the quiet pleasures of everyday life. Each painting begins with a simple thought—this makes me happy. A favorite snack, a childhood toy, or a moment of sunlight becomes the subject of careful attention. Working at a small scale invites viewers to lean in, slow down, and rediscover wonder in ordinary moments. Through this act of miniaturization, Pennell elevates the everyday, reminding us that joy often resides in the smallest details.
Petie Parker contributes playful paintings that embrace humor and imaginative spontaneity, while the gallery also welcomes back, posthumously, Larry Jens Anderson, whose beloved children’s text works offer a tongue-in-cheek exploration of language and meaning. Through simple words arranged with wit and charm, Anderson reminds us that play can exist not only in image but also in language itself.
The spirit of PLAY echoes an enduring truth: human beings are the playing animal. In a world often defined by urgency and seriousness, play becomes a necessary act of curiosity and freedom.
We hope you will join us to experience this celebration of creative exploration.