"Cross-Currents"
Within the cross currents of today's displacement, fracturing and transition art offers us the interweaving of movement. This exhibition, like the strings of kites, features the work of four women as they fly across their individual different currents. Featuring Contemporary Art Month artist in residence Lu Farrell Gallery ll.

Margaret Craig: Based on my first degree in biology, my work is rooted in the symbiotic ecostructure we all precariously live in, and involves an elaborate, possibly excessive, process that (re)cycles the original post-consumer plastic through a number of art media, including acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, marbling, papermaking and sculpture. The physical process of supporting my stretchy etchings started my use of recycled plastic. The Imagery mimics and abstracts the elaborate patterns nature creates.

I have been working on an ongoing print installation, sculpture and performance series titled The Great Trash Reef since 2015. The Creature from the Bleached Lagoon, a costume performance, and latest incarnation, references Japanese Kaiju movies and B movie monsters flicks. Constructed from my own recyclables, plus debris I've collected from the streets and beaches, The Great Trash Reef takes recognizable material and transforms it into something incongruously beautiful. This personalization of waste allows viewers to more directly engage with our ecological issues, especially the pollution of our oceans and waterways. The Creature From the Bleached Lagoon further embodies the non-directly visible pollution responsible for climate change. margaretcraig.com

Audrya Flores: Shadow Work is a site specific installation exploring the dark feminine. What happens when we exhume the repressed parts of our womanhood? What happens when we set shame ablaze? Come dance with me in the fiery glow! Let us cast our unruly shadows all over pretty, polite societal expectations. Let’s act up!

She is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and mother from Brownsville, Texas. She utilizes installation, sculpture, drawing, painting, collage, video, and writing to document her journey as a healing trauma survivor. Flores received her Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She has exhibited at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Mexic-Arte Museum, Lady Base Gallery, Provenance Gallery, Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival, Centro de Artes, Central Library Gallery at San Antonio Public Library, Contemporary at Blue Star, Sala Diaz, Confluence Park, and McNay Art Museum. Flores lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. @audyflor

Katie Pace Halleran: Based in San Antonio, Texas, Halleran uses watercolor and repetitive ink patterns to create visual mantras informed by both order and disarray. Drawing inspiration from a Jungian perspective of dreams and archetypal symbolism, Halleran’s paintings often feature the circle or dot as spiritual tools for reflection, meditation, and beauty. Initially a direct image from a single dream, the circle is an expression of the sacred for the artist. Circles have been used as both a symbol and vessel for divine contemplation across cultures and time. Time itself is often referred to as a circle, as is life. From mandalas to rose windows, medicine wheels to the Pantheon, from the pentacle to Stonehenge to the tomoe, from the bindi to the yarmulke to the enso, from the star and crescent to the ouroboros to the flower of life and the wedding ring; the circle is a powerful, multicultural symbol inherently contradictory, as it represents both singularity and the infinite. As an instrument of meditation and reflection, Halleran explores various forms of the circle and dot to connect with the divine and create a sense of beautiful harmony out of chaos. @kpaceyall

B.B. Olson: Is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Antonio, Texas. Their practice spans a wide range of materials and production methods, including natural dyeing, lampworking, woodworking, suminagashi marbling, and textile embroidery. Olson’s earlier work centered on exploring the inherent qualities of materials—texture, pigmentation, and sourcing processes.

Currently, Olson’s work frames the art object as a social question, examining the impact of social technologies on interpersonal relationships, navigating complex representations of divisive sociopolitical issues, and exploring connections between self-representation, the preservation of anonymity, and the pervasive influence of social capital in the arts. Their practice interrogates the evolving relationship between humans and art work, drawing on both the historical artifact and criticisms of contemporary technologies to articulate how artists use the materials at their disposal to communicate their concerns to the societies in which they live and work.
Artist in Resident Lu Farrell: (they/them) is a queer Chicanx artist, community arts organizer, and digital strategist living in San Antonio, Texas. Their visual art work, primarily using oil paint, is characterized by bold color and imagery, and explores themes of Tejanx identity, gender, and belonging.

In their professional life, Lu works as a digital strategist, supporting mission-driven organizations in storytelling and creative design. As a Curator with Future Front Texas, Lu collaborates with other local artists to host public arts programming centering queer creative expression including figure drawing classes and creative knowledge sharing events. They also serve as a Creative Director with Malflora Collective, a digital publication dedicated to archiving and uplifting Latinx lesbian histories and culture. @nonbinarypants