Of Earth & Essence: Reclaiming Place Exhibition
April 4th - April 27th
Curators: Amy Martin & Jill Sans
Artists: Joan Pevarnik, Saylor Darling, Jihan Gearon, Estefania Villaquirán, Erika Tsouras, Hannah Heaton, Amy Martin, Jill Sans

Of Earth and Essence is an exploration of the deep bond between people and land—a poetic reclamation of space, story, and spirit. In collaboration with the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, this exhibition gathers works crafted and inspired from earth’s gifts—each piece a whisper of memory, resilience, and transformation.

These artists speak in the language of the land, drawing from the wellspring of inherited knowledge and intuitive power. Their senses shape the raw and the wild into vessels of healing, resistance, and belonging. Each work is rooted in the sacred, embodying relationship and the return to place-not as possession, but as a homecoming.

Here, the earth becomes both witness and keeper of truth. The human essence rises, steady as the mountains and fluid as rivers, weaving a tapestry of connection and renewal. Of Earth and Essence is an invitation to remember the stories held in our bones and the land beneath our feet-a call to reclaim what has always been ours.

Panel Discussion to Follow on April 5th, 10am - 11:30pm
Reclaiming Place: Art, Identity, and the Land with Jihan Gearon, Saylor Darling, Estefania Villaquirán, Erika Tsouras and Hannah Heaton

Reclaiming Place: Art, Identity, and the Land explores how artists use natural materials and themes of place to examine identity, belonging, and reclamation. Through art, we navigate our relationship to the land and the stories it holds, uncovering deeper connections to our environments and histories. This exploration becomes an act of decolonization—liberating both mental and physical boundaries while reimagining ways of being that are rooted in connection, reciprocity, and a renewed sense of place.