Please join us on First Friday, April 7, 5:30-7:30PM, for the opening reception of Mirabilia naturae (Wonders of Nature), a group exhibition to be held in the Main Gallery, and House Jungle, a solo exhibition of paintings by artist Brittany Fan, to be held in the Dové Gallery. The exhibiting artists will be present during the evening to chat with visitors.

Mirabilia naturae (Wonders of Nature) features the work of Virginia-based artists Lara Call Gastinger, Giselle Gautreau, and Elizabeth Perdue. The exhibition examines how art can be a powerful tool for engaging with nature and the natural landscape. Through the lens of beauty and wonder, the works of these artists provide a personal and profound experience of the natural world. In doing so, they hope to inspire viewers to take action to protect and preserve it.

Common threads run through the work of the three artists featured in this exhibition including Gastinger’s precise observations of the natural world, Gautreau’s luminous and atmospheric oil and encaustic painting, and Perdue’s dreamy and incredibly detailed palladium photographic prints. Each artist takes a uniquely different approach, resulting in a multifaceted exploration of the theme.

Brittany Fan’s House Jungle paintings are thematically inspired by house plants — common objects in our everyday lives that contain a world of wonder and personality and provide us with a sense of connection to the natural world. The artist will present a selection from a body of work around domestic plant life, to create an environment that mimics the house jungle concept in variety and volume.

Both exhibitions are generously sponsored by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. They will remain on view through May 19, 2023.