Nature can be many different things. It is the environment around us, the ecosystem sustaining us, and the instincts woven into our very being. Nature can help create a culture, a cuisine, a religion; but in its fullness, it is also full of contradictions. It creates in the same breath that it breaks down. It inspires awe as it does fear. It is the deepest ocean in the same way it is the farthest star. Our relationship with it is similarly complex. It is key to our survival, yet we destroy it. It fosters our wellbeing, yet we isolate ourselves from it. It is untamable, yet we still try to contain it. Somehow all of these things can be true.

And somehow, the art created in its name can address all of these things. From the Hudson River School capturing the sublime beauty of untouched America, to the Land Artists creating ever-changing works from mud, stone, and grass, nature has been the subject and the tools of artists since the dawn of time. Whether realistic or heavily stylized, representational or abstract, artists have always been attracted to depicting nature and their own personal or cultural relationship with it.

Deeply Rooted, Deeply Held speaks to the continuation of this millennia long dance between artists and the world they find themselves in. It explores our extraordinary planet and our connection to it - the emotions it inspires, the comfort (or danger) it brings - and urges us to appreciate and protect it, to closely hold what has been rooted within us for so long.

Deeply Rooted, Deeply Held features 27 primarily local and regional artists: Allie Burton, Janine Crum, Derek Dammann, Gary Dangel, Brad Davis, Doug Davis, Mary Anne Donovan, Anita Douthat, Kat Rakel-Ferguson, Kathleen Francis, Devan Horton, Esra Kanisicak, Margeaux Lim, Brandi Long, Claire Long, Romain Mayambi, Alaina Mercer, Susan Milinkovich, Sara Mulhauser, Samantha Niewierowski, Priya Rama, Rob Robbins, Maxwell Redder, Abby Shaner, Christopher Taulbee, Jordan West, and Joy Zitko.