Iris Fading, 2021

Exhibiting at 68 Mtn. Rest Rd.
New Paltz, NY
April 15th – May 27th, 2023

Closing Reception:
Sat. May 27th • 4pm-6pm
Skryznski will lead a walk of the Unison outdoor grounds.

Japanese Knotweed Shoot, 2021

Jackie Skryznski’s intimate observations of local plant forms unearth “a gift, a recognition of myself - ourselves - in the botanical drama of life and death.” Embracing parallels with human anatomy, the alchemy of transformation is celebrated through a series of works in dialogue with poets such as Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver (from whom the title is drawn).

Celebrating spring and rebirth, Unison Arts presents “The Witchery of Living”, an exhibition of paintings and drawings that explores extraordinary manifestations of life forces in the plant world. Installed in Unison’s community space, adjacent to our bucolic grounds, the show invites a close examination of enchanting and discomfiting ephemeral forms that straddle the ambiguous territories of “native” and “invasive”, the beautiful and the sinister. 

With reverential attention to texture and form, Skryznski’s works remind us that mesmerizing features of ephemeral bio-organisms are often highly developed erotic machinery. Quietly, they excavate dichotomies embedded in the contemporary human psyche: growth and decay, exclusion and harmony, delicacy and destruction coexisting in the organic forms around us.