Floral Reverie
As an introduction to the larger theme, Floral Reverie, Gail Severn Gallery’s June exhibition, presents an evocative collection of contemporary artworks that center on the flower as a metaphor for impermanence and as a symbol of renewal and regeneration.
Featured work includes Michael Gregory’s serene still lifes of tulips, executed in chiaroscuro style elevating the humble flower on a small scale. Mixed media and editioned works by the late Hung Liu, include layered portraits that incorporate floral elements as vessels of cultural memory and personal history. The large and dramatic canvases of Kathy Moss capture the delicate intricacies of flowers and the cyclical rhythms of nature. Focusing on light, motion, time, and natural forces, Diane Andrews Hall honors the intricate beauty of nature by depicting plant life with remarkable precision and detail.
Betsy Margolius’s botanical works take a more meticulous and scientific approach to the structure of flowers. In her intimate graphite and charcoal drawings on paper, Maggie Shafran stitches together square images of Dutch flower paintings by Jan van Hysum, and in doing so, reveals the passage of time and the ephemeral cycles of life contained within the reimagined original painting.
Lisa Kokin’s leaf and pod thread work, made from repurposed cowboy book pages, melds the masculine narrative with the fragility of flowers. Mixed media paintings on mylar and panel by Alison Stewart push the boundaries of texture and palette, creating floral compositions that straddle figuration and abstraction. Jan Aronson’s flower and native grass paintings highlight her interest in natural form, structure, and color. These pieces will be a preview for her solo show in July.
Animalia IX
Animalia IX will highlight the enduring relationship between humans and animals through a range of contemporary artistic interpretations. Featuring works across painting, sculpture, drawing, and intricate feather art, the exhibition presents animals not merely as subjects but as symbolic mirrors of ourselves—embodying vulnerability, wildness, myth, and memory.
The exhibition includes works by Alex Rohrig, Robb Putnam, Theodore Waddell, Margaret Keelan, Chris Maynard, and Robert McCauley, each offering a unique artistic perspective on the emotional, symbolic, and ecological roles animals play in our lives.
Land and Legacy
Stories in the Landscape brings together the work of contemporary artists, Laura McPhee, Michael Gregory, Hung Liu, Victoria Adams and Tom Hammick, whose practices explore the deep and multifaceted connections between people and place. Through a diverse range of media and visual languages, the exhibition reflects on how landscapes are not merely backgrounds to human experience but dynamic terrains marked by memory, history, and cultural identity.
Captions:
Light Pink Tulip
by Michael Gregory
Oil on panel
17.75” x 13.75”
(MiG 352 image reference do not print)
Tulips
by Jan Aronson
Oil on canvas
36”x 48”
(JaA 88 image reference do not print)
April
Betsy Margolius
by oil on panel (diptych)
20” x 64”
(BeM 34 image reference do not print)
Untitled #601
by Kathy Moss
oil on linen
44” x 73”
(KaM 132 image reference do not print)
Aqua Flora #9
by Alison Stewart
mixed media painting on drafting film
23.25” x 23.25”
(AlS 343 image reference do not print)
Joyful Hart
by Pamela Detuncq
vintage tapestries, bucktail, leather, foam, glass, antlers, mahogany, and steel on wood base
92” x 38” x 21”
(PaD 78 image reference do not print)
Gail Severn Gallery
400 1st Avenue North | Ketchum
208.726.5079
gailseverngallery.com
