Lifelines: Solo Exhibit by Maria McDonald
Schedule
Fri Jun 05 2026 at 05:00 pm to 10:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
324 Cleveland Ave NW, Canton, OH | Canton, OH
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Lifelines is Maria McDonald’s first solo show consisting of work she has made post-grad. Her work explores the dichotomy between the past and present through use of natural patterns, light, and colors. Feelings of nostalgia and grief are explored while grappling with the act of being completely present in the now despite those feelings. She uses light and pattern to depict connection to unseen energy and loved ones who have passed. She is inspired by the natural cycle of death and rebirth, growth and stagnation, and where energy lives after death. She gains inspiration by what she notices while going on walks in nature.
A specific pattern she is drawn to she found on a stone that fits in the palm of her hand that she found on the coastline in Alaska while visiting her Aunt. It is a dark gray rock with white quartz lines running over the surface creating a distinct and unique pattern. She studied the pattern closely and abstracted the pattern using color and size. She uses smooth gradients and defined lines to represent the rigidity, structure, and finality of the past.
The lines of the painted pattern remind her of her own healing, the fractures that are etched into her past and the pain passed down through the women in her family lines. She lets herself change and mold the default pattern into something new, remembering that she is not bound by grief, trauma, and pain, she simply has to live, heal and grow around it. While painting she is aware of how present in the current moment her mind and body is, and conversely, she notices if her mind is trying to escape from her body. She is also aware of how each choice she makes in the present moment, brushstrokes, color mixed, liquidity of paint, is then etched onto the canvas and recorded in the past by her own hand.
This show is dedicated to her late mother, whose birthday was in June.
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Where is it happening?
324 Cleveland Ave NW, Canton, OH, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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