Trenton, NJ — ArtWorks: A one-week exhibit (August 29th – September 4th) featuring new, large-format watercolor paintings by local artist Kate Graves. Photographs taken by Caleb Ray Walker during his 2025 cross-country bicycle trip of desert landscapes, dirt roads, and vast expanses are evocative and inspiring jumping-off points for this series. Slow development while interpreting each landscape is what makes each painting compelling. Where a photograph can crisply preserve a fleeting moment, these paintings allude to invisible cycles of entropy because of the way they are made. Layers of granulated pigment are built up and held in suspension by water sourced directly from snow. As each layer settles, it brings unique combinations of color and texture that reveal a hidden dimension of time to the work. In this way, each painting is a time-travel device that transports the viewer into a realm between vision and imagination.

The presence of music is imbued in these new works. Bruce Chatwin’s book “The Songlines” reveals how Aboriginal people navigate through landscapes: by singing them. Features important to wayfinding are part of the song. We are learning more about how closely linked music is to memory, a direct line through time to different places. Listening, and the very new technology of recording, music supports and informs our efforts to find our way in the world.