Artwork by Meg Alexander ‘23

A four person show featuring artworks by Meg Alexander, Amy Sudarsky and Stephen Mishol.

All our knowledge hast its origins in our perceptions … In nature there is no effect without a cause … Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments … Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass. Leonardo DaVinci

One of the roles of artists and scientists is to observe and describe the world.

What are the limits of our ability to see? How do we change that?

What do we learn by being deeply engaged, by looking as if for the first time?

And looking again, and again.

The artists in this exhibition are engaged with making an artwork as it progresses, observing/looking in real time, over time. The artwork itself makes these demands of the maker: How do we see? How do we not see? How do we remember what we see? This process of inquiry for both scientists and artists attempt to answer these questions as part of their respective practice. 

Alexander creates images and objects that are inspired by natural forms and systems. Her drawing projects are rooted in close looking at the objects, fields, and surface patterns that are her subjects. Whether working from direct observation (rocks, plants) or from imagination (as with her Hill/Hole series), Alexander’s interest in investigating how we perceive the world around us is evident. Her work is characterized by a methodical, almost scientific, process. She tends to work on a body of work over months or years, using drafts, sketches, studies, and variations as a means of pin-pointing what’s driving her curiosity. This focused, labor- and time-intensive process gives her work its emotional yet timeless character.

Alexander is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She has received awards from the Massachusetts Cultural

Council and was awarded an SMFA/Tufts University Alumni/ae Traveling Fellowship. Alexander exhibits regularly in Boston and New England; her work is included in many private and corporate collections throughout the world. She lives and works in Concord, MA and is represented by Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, MA.