June 3 - 28, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, June 5, 6-8 pm

Cynthia Roberts: “Mango Season”

Sarah Hulsey: “New Work”

Cynthia Roberts: “Mango Season”

In these works, I’m exploring the act of witnessing through emergence and submergence of imagery in color-rich abstract environments. Careful botanical line drawings appear and then step back from the viewer, as more literal depictions step forward. Each painting is an ecosystem where the process of observation creates an interior life; plants appear to remember themselves, their history, their previous state perhaps, and the painter becomes transcriptionist of that immersive world, rather than arbiter.

Mango season begins in March and runs through June in Costa Rica, where I spend chunks of time each year. I was happily surprised to see the connection to the season. People stop their cars, motorbikes, and walks to collect ripe mangos from a roadside tree. Toucans, parrots, and other birds are drawn to the trees with ripening mangoes to fill themselves. There is an innate magnetism; if you have a mango tree near you, it will be known. The period arcs the transition from dry to rainy season. The mangoes ripen and sweeten in the hot dry air.

I pull inspiration for this series from the rich color palette in Costa Rica, as well as a recent artist residency in the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory off the coast of Africa. I am continuously drawn to rich natural environments where the layers of visual and sonic stimulation are a kind of synesthetic experience. I hope these works will give you a taste.