While a mano is known for our art and community gatherings, we’ve also become known for our clean, meditative scent. Many of you have commented on the sensory experience when you are at the gallery so we decided to bring the experience to you with a collaboration with The Lovely Haze.

The Weight of Small Things, a solo exhibition by Scott Vaisey. These works rise from a practice of release, of letting the day fall onto paper, and then turning it over to see what might be waiting on the other side.

There is a moment, after learning how Scott creates his work, when the process falls away and something quieter rises to the surface. The work begins to feel less like a collection of pieces and more like a practice of living. A way of making room. A way of letting go. A way of allowing what is no longer needed to fall away so something else can enter.

When I finally sat with Scott’s raw analog pages and his finished inverted works together, something important became clear. The two stages do not resemble each other in the way you might expect. The raw pages feel physical and immediate. They carry scraps, spills, fragments, torn images, marks that come from instinct rather than planning. They hold the weight of a day, the noise of memory, the quiet chaos of a mind sorting through feeling.

I’ve written about artists for years, always from the familiar vantage points of curator, maker, and occasionally from a therapeutic perspective. But rarely do I encounter work that touches all three of those identities at once. When I first came across this artist’s work online, I was drawn to the intriguing images.

I had the opportunity to visit with Micky at her beautiful Blue Amazon studio, tucked away under wooded canopies in the quiet solitude of Goshen; where her muses are the first thing you see when arriving at the property. Flowering Cherry and early blossoms on Red Maple are right outside the studio windows, as are the occasional bear.

Creative community is where it’s at!