A farmer’s adage says, “What grows together goes together.” True for food, but not for art — things that look too similar become redundant, while things too different can clash. Dig deeper into how artists “grow” their work, though, and you’ll find that good pairings often come from those who think alike.
That’s the case with “Process & Presence,” the winter exhibition at K. Grant Fine Art in Vergennes that showcases drawings and prints by Jasmine Parsia and sculptures, drawings and collages by Viscaya Wagner. The two up-and-coming Burlington artists hadn’t known each other before the show opened in December, according to gallerist Kristen Grant, but their works immediately struck up a friendship.
The overall palette in the gallery is comforting and natural: wood, white paper, gray and green stone enlivened by an occasional shot of bright blue from Parsia’s prints. Both artists have a tactile sensibility and a clear appreciation of the subtleties of the materials and techniques they use. Their pieces convey an uncomplicated sense of ease, but they are not simple.
Wagner presents several small sculptures made from wood, stone and aluminum. They’re formal creations that speak the language of minimalism but veer off on their own path. While minimalist works often expend tremendous effort to eliminate the artist’s hand, Wagner lets the materials be what they are. Her blocks of wood have visible pencil lines and numbers scrawled on them; the grain, cracks and surface blemishes are still apparent. Her aluminum may have small dings and smears; her stone has flat sides and rough ones. Yet all these elements fit together in precisely cut intersections: Wagner doesn’t use glue or fasteners but lets gravity and resistance do their work.
The result is satisfyingly complete. In “Elemental Study 05,” a rounded river rock from Maine sits snugly in a notch made in an 18-inch-wide block of Douglas fir. A pencil line on the wood — maybe marked for a cut that was never made — echoes a natural ring around the stone. The wavy grain on the lumber’s surface extends to the piece’s fuzzy top edge and to the slight unevenness where the notch was chiseled. These details remind the viewer that they’re looking at one artifact of nature, gently holding another.
Next to it, Parsia’s 18-by-24-inch monotype “Moon River” depicts a cairn of similar stones from Maine, these ones debossed (pressed into the paper) as blank white forms in a sloshing blue background. Like Wagner’s sculpture, the work centers on the important line between the rock and the rest — here defined by a distinct but rounded edge, making a clear impression of weight where there’s actually empty space.
Parsia’s watery theme carries through to her prints, including “Echo,” an eerie, glowing blue 10-by-10-inch cyanotype of bulbous seaweed. That motif appears again in “Floating Through,” a 12-by-15-inch drawing made with graphite and xerox transfer. The work combines seaweed with sketches of rocks and images of swimmers Parsia took from a 1960s text, according to Grant. The exploration nicely encapsulates how Parsia investigates her subject from many angles and through a range of paper and print techniques, from Xeroxes to monotypes carefully cut and woven together.
One of the best aspects of the show is way it illustrates both artists’ processes. Grant has included a number of Wagner’s initial sketches, selected from hundreds, as well as collages and several small sculptures made of lime-washed plaster-coated foam — they look like concrete but are as light as air. Grant said that while the sculptor mainly uses natural materials, these give her the versatility to more easily experiment with new forms. The inclusion of elements from all stages of Wagner’s and Parsia’s processes illuminates how they think — and why their works fit so well next to each other, perfectly snug.
This article appears in The Wellness Issue 2025.
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