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As a caregiver, I frequently found myself among a patch of birch trees in a small park on a little hill in Duluth, Minnesota.

The walks I took here grounded me. The paintings that mirror these trees and hills represent safety, refuge, and dignity in this era of uncertainty.

I invite you to reflect on the places and spaces that bring you solace and ask you, albeit briefly, to enter this space: a reflection of a quiet escape.

Inspiration came from painter Wolf Kahn (German-American b. 1928, d. 2020), whose select landscapes demand the viewer's attention with abstract and non-representational uses of color.

By combining painting and printmaking on canvas, I can use repetition to create a sense of visual intimacy. Agnes Martin’s (American, b. 1912, d. 2004) control has been a source of inspiration. Repetition is a theme I find myself returning to, whether through brush strokes or the flick of an oil paint stick.

As a BFA student under John Steffl (American, b. 1948, d. 2018), combining sensual colors and textures is a learned habit, aiming to mimic warmth and welcome that is so starkly absent from everyday life in the United States.

Working at a large scale allows me to become enveloped in the elements immediately before me, keeping me rooted, like the birch trees growing on the hills I have come to love, standing among them.

for inquires please email

isabelemersondesign@gmail.com