Fresh Fruit

This body of work represents the fresh eyes of the Valleys artists coming out of

year full of hardships.  As young artists reacting to such uncertainty and chaos, these individuals have made work to articulate their experiences and communicate with others about their continued humanity and need to create. 

Isabella K. Saavedra

Isabella K Saavedra is a multidisciplinary artist, often creating expressive figurative self portraits out of found objects. Her work revolves around the concepts of her lived experiences and is underscored with commentary of politics and current events.  The materiality of Saavedra’s work references the raw and vulnerable expression of the artist, scratchy lines and distorted imagery lend themselves to the uncensored ideas within.  

Megan Ross

Megan Ross is a multidisciplinary artist working with ideas of cyclical emotions and first person experiences.  Her work is often materially and formally sensorially overwhelming and irregular, whether she is working in traditional mediums and more experimental methods.  Ross’s work lends itself to experiences of comfort and recognition while also including unsettling undertones of trauma.  Ross delves into her own experiences and memories in a way that is both cathartic and disconcerting. 

Mohammad Zamani

Mohammad Zamani’s honest and direct photography captures his genuine perspective of the beautiful moments he encounters.  Zamani does not try to sway his audience into a curated narrative, rather his work is there to inspire present and indulgent taking in of whatever is there to see.  He is passionate about the inarticulability of a specific photo, and takes no ownership or mediation role as the creator, rather allowing viewers to experience his work as they will. 

Emily Fine

Emily Fine is a digital photographer who explores the overlooked areas of nature, those that are typically left behind and unnoticed. She interacts with these areas and transforms them into something otherworldly and unfamiliar.  Fine’s work aims to inspire bursts of imagination and immersion in the dissonance her images bring up, making viewers feel uncertain about what is real and what is not. 

Chella Foster

Chella Foster is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the experience of space and community.  Foster’s work often invites a first person experience and makes an effort to communicate shared experiences, being as much the viewer’s experience as the artist’s. In her oil paintings, she processes the emotional and universal nature of inhabiting space and how this has changed over the past year.  

Matthew Skelly

Matthew Skelly’s detailed drawings depict an endless, cyclical narrative with detailed ink figures. He plays with depth and scale while also unwaveringly delving into detail and hyperrealism.  Skully creates his own drawn language within the interweaving micro narratives of his inked universes.  His multifaceted and intricate work is to be spent time with and digested slowly.