Things Far Held Near

Drawing from her professional background as a naturalist for Parks Canada and avid outdoorsperson, and inspired in part by traditional Chinese painting, Ilana Manolson's richly expressive artworks aim to make visible the connections and interdependencies between all elements in nature. In doing so, she hopes her work offers an occasion to cherish the joys of the natural world, and, at the same time, to seriously consider the present threat of environmental destruction and the difficult choices that lie ahead. Things Far Held Near provides a broad cross-section of Manolson’s oeuvre, with an emphasis on the paths and patterns of water, as well as the plant life that exists alongside it. Manolson has spent her whole life quietly entreating people to look closer and more carefully at nature, to get them to see that what happens upstream ultimately happens downstream. Her work elucidates how changes in our natural environment affect us all in both subtle and substantial ways. The work embraces a dichotomous truth so central to today’s reality — that we must celebrate the beauty and joy of nature, while grieving and combating the ravages of climate change.