Beth Dary, “Notions” Opening Reception

Front Room Gallery is proud to present “Notions” a solo exhibition of new sculptural and mixed media works by New York-based artist Beth Dary. Through this immersive installation, Dary invites viewers to consider the delicate balance between humanity and the environment; how we shape nature, and how nature shapes us.

In Notions, Dary uses a range of materials: handblown glass, egg tempera, encaustic, steel wire, fabric, and glass-head pins to create forms that are both organic and industrial, fragile and resilient. Her work navigates the tensions and harmonies between the natural and the manufactured world, weaving personal history with ecological awareness.

Central to the exhibition is Time Passing, a striking installation of handblown glass bubbles encased in woven steel wire. This work evokes the metaphorical “bubble” we inhabit: sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a constraint.

In Littoral Drift, delicate egg tempera drawings on layered encaustic-infused paper reflect shifting shorelines and the mutable beauty of wetlands facing climate change. Created through the use of multiple layers of drawings, fused with wax, Dary creates a visualization of the changing water courses and mapping of potential flood currents.

Queens (1 & 2) are egg tempera drawings on encaustic infused paper; these works have a tactile surface sensitivity whose imagery intertwines political commentary with the symbolism of Queen Anne’s Lace, a medicinal wildflower.

The exhibition’s title work, Notions, continues Dary’s longtime engagement with florist pins, a medium she began using in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

”I began using florist pins embedded in fabric at a makeshift studio in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to create a double-sided installation with black and white florist pins embedded in an 11’ x ’17’ canvas drop to evoke the maps of flood damage along the Mississippi, the diaspora of the population across the country, as well as the mold patterns that manifested throughout New Orleans.” – Beth Dary

Originally embedded in canvas to map flood damage and diaspora patterns, the pins have evolved in her practice to become structural and expressive elements in wall-mounted and kinetic sculptures. Once rendered in stark black and white, these pin-based works now embrace a vivid palette, marking a significant shift in Dary’s exploration of color, tension, and tactility.

“Through this process I became interested in the duality of the pins, with the gleaming ball-heads reflecting the viewer and calm surroundings on one side of the canvas and the sharp steel points presenting a potentially dangerous perspective on the reverse. I have continued to work with pins, traditionally used in ‘women’s work’, by stretching fabric over welded steel armatures to create tabletop, wall- mounted, and kinetic sculptures. With “Notions” I am expanding this body of work to further explore my interest in the fragility and inherent strength in the natural world.” -Beth Dary

With the presentation of works in the exhibition, Notions, Beth Dary extends her poetic dialogue between material and meaning, nature and form. The exhibition reflects on the fragility of ecological systems in the face of climate change, translating environmental awareness into a visual language of sensitivity and transformation. The dualities within her materials: sharp and smooth, rigid and fluid, industrial and organic, mirror the tension between human impact and nature’s resilience. The florist pins, with their opposing sides of danger and reflection, echo the tension between vulnerability and protection. Dary’s handblown glass forms encased in wire both embody strength through fragility. In her wax-infused works, layered surfaces suggest preservation and change, much like shifting shorelines. Attuned to the nuances of materials, Dary invites viewers to reflect on the balance, awareness, and care that sustain both art and the environment.

About the Artist
Beth Dary holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts from Memphis College of and is a member of the American Abstract Artists Organization. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, arts institutions, and museums nationally and internationally. She has received grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and has been commissioned by The Battery Park City Authority in Manhattan to create a public art installation for the Rockefeller Park’s Lily Pond. Dary has also received numerous fellowships, residencies and awards including through Yaddo, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Two Trees Cultural Space Subsidy Program in Brooklyn, NY. Her work is included in private, corporate and museum collections in the USA and Europe.

Additional residencies/fellowships include Urban Glass, The Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA),  Vermont Studio Center and the Johnson Atelier.