November 14–December 27, 2026
GRO Artists Betsy Kellas and Ellen Vogel present: Material Matters, a two-person collaboration celebrating the visual and tactile qualities of nontraditional materials. Both artists make mixed media pieces from materials they have collected for years. Kellas—leaning towards the surreal—uses repurposed cardboard, scraps of wood, books, rags, and bits of wire. Vogel—leaning towards the ineffable—takes apart and then reconstructs fragments of an old installation piece. For each artist, longtime artistic choices and formal sensibilities tell a personal story. Here are two autobiographies in materials that create a lively visual conversation.
Kellas writes: “These are temporary constructions in which various components are juxtaposed to disrupt our ideas about art and beauty. Only a few of the pieces in this show are meant to last. Most will be deconstructed when the show is taken down and the component materials returned to the studio to be used again in new compositions creating different meanings among the materials”
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Vogel says: “These new pieces are made from fragments of a decades old installation honoring the “Elements.” I tore apart five layers of tissue; each layer had been worked with liquid acrylic, sprayed with water; salt, wax and oil added; then compressed; dried; hung; and lit from behind. I embellished the torn pieces with paint, charcoal, clay and cardboard. They have become physical fragments of sense memories; my emotional, physical, spiritual and psychological world archived into form.”