Who's There?

Exhibition Dates: September 30, 2025-January 17, 2026.

Featured Artists: Donnie Cady, Ace Dahlke, Bella Gray, Regan Iorfida, Maria Lambert,
Draper Matthews, Tess Murphy, Felicity Olsen, Talia Shrader, AJ Westley, Kolin Wilkins.

Portraiture has long been synonymous with the face, from classical painting to photography to the curated images we post on social media. Yet oftentimes, what evokes someone most vividly may not require their face at all, but rather a particular song, a pair of socks, a favorite meal.

The artworks in this show highlight the moments where portraiture stretches beyond formal, front-facing depictions rooted in centuries of Western art tradition. They make room for the deeper, more nuanced approaches–ways in which artists convey a person’s essence through gesture, metaphor, and material. Through both subtle and overt means, artists here evoke presence. Whether through still life arrangements, anthropomorphic stand-ins, the tender action of stitching, or careful collection of objects, each work invites us to sense identity without relying on a physical likeness.

This particular collection of “portraits” asks us to shift our focus away from recognition and towards resonance; to listen to what the work tells us about someone we may never know. The works suggest that emotional resonance is not merely an echo of the subject, but a portrait in its own right. Even something like a pile of dirty socks may hold the strength and significance to become a portrait.