Althea Bartz-Willis' work examines the relationship between ecological processes—devastation and rebirth—and human coping mechanisms, both psychological and embodied. Each work investigates the threshold between what protects us and what we're forced to confront beneath it. Informed by her fieldwork in ecological research and a childhood spent outdoors, her paintings employ layers and veils to create temporal space as the viewer progresses toward the base layer of canvas.

   Building from a blank plane of canvas, Bartz-Willis layers acrylic gesso in thick, organic patches, oil paint, glazing, thread, and textiles. Material vulnerability is enacted through the burning and ripping of fabric, or the scraping away of paint. She asks the viewer to feel rather than think—to sit with how deeply shared these processes of rupture and repair are across all living things.

Instagram: @salt_of_thearts
altheabartz@gmail.com