The Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs will present “Residual Light,” a collaborative group exhibition featuring female artists who work in alternative processes and camera-less photography, curated by Galina Kurlat and Andrea Cote. The exhibition opens May 9 and will remain on display through June 14, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 PM. Additionally, a hands-on Cyanotype & Lumen Print Demo will be offered on Sunday, May 17, from 12 to 1:30 PM, and an Artist’s Talk will be held on Sunday, June 14, at 3 PM in the John Little Barn.
The group of female artists includes Andrea Cote, Kaitlyn Danielson, Debora Francis, Galina Kurlat, Amanda Marchand, Anne Arden McDonald, Wendy Small, and Shoshannah White. Embracing analog methods not just as tools but as collaborators, these artists allow chance, materiality, and process to shape their outcomes. Through this lens, the work celebrates experimentation and the unexpected. Each artist pushes the medium beyond traditional boundaries of representation into realms of the sublime, the abstract and the unknown.
“We’re excited to introduce these artists’ experimental work to the East End community. Duck Creek’s historic John Little Barn that was once an artist’s studio – a place for creative exploration – is a perfect setting for these artists’ work that traces back to early historical photographic processes, bringing a contemporary approach and curiosity. At this time, when one can generate and manipulate a digital image in seconds, these artists engage with a slow, tactile, and absolutely present way of camera-less creation with light,” shared Andrea Cote, co-curator of “Residual Light.”
Simultaneously, Duck Creek also presents “What the Garden Remembers,” a solo exhibition by artist Avani Patel. The exhibition will be on display in the Little Gallery from Saturday, May 9, through Sunday, June 14, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 PM. An Artist’s Talk will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 3 PM.
Through paintings and drawings, Patel explores the relationship between memory, ecology, and lived experience. Her work draws from early memories of her mother’s garden and natural landscapes, translating these experiences into layered compositions filled with organic forms, rhythmic patterns, and imagined environments. Rooted in both observation and intuition, her practice reflects a deep connection to nature and the ways it is remembered, felt, and reimagined.
“My work explores memory, nature, color, and movement. I grew up in India, and the memory of my mother’s garden and my sister’s performances are woven deeply into everything I make. When people come to my show, ‘What the Garden Remembers,’ I want them to connect with the joyfulness in these works, and with the culture that inspired them,” shares Avani Patel.