A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Garden Drawings, an exhibition of new work by Alum Member Marcia Neblett. This is Neblett’s second solo exhibition in New York City.

The Garden Drawings began during the pandemic in 2021 when Neblett was invited by the curators of Virginia MOCA to take part in a collaborative exhibition with twelve regional artists who were each partnered with local food experts, ranging from farmers and chefs to authors and advocates. Neblett was partnered with a local farmer whose mission was to help us understand the power of plants for our bodies and the planet when grown in certain ways. The body of work Neblett presents here reflects that partnership and what she learned about how nature acts when left to its own devices. Garden Drawings includes six drawings from the MOCA exhibition and nine new drawings, created in 2023, that expand upon the initial series.

Neblett focuses visually on the shapes and textures of the vegetables. She employs the same bold, graphic method of shading with linear hatching and cross-hatching that she uses in her woodcuts. In this series, Neblett allows herself the freedom to scribble or let her hand wander with the pencil to create the feeling of chaos in the backgrounds of the carefully drawn vegetables. The chaotic random element echoes the process of natural farming that she observed in the farming community of Virginia Beach, where plants and vegetables were allowed to grow wildly on their own accord, without being subject to pruning or other maintenance practices.