On View: March 20-26, 2026
Reception: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 3-4 P.M.
Belle is a senior biology and art studio major at Davidson College. Much of her recent artwork has been inspired by a deep interest in animals, their connections with each other, and their connections within themselves. Rather than strictly adhering to one disciple, Belle uses both to pick her way through the world. For while science impacts by decimating the unknown, art impacts by giving space for it; Belle hopes to create art in that space knowing and imagining.
Exhibition Statement:
If my biology classes have taught me anything, it is that the bounds separating the individual from the “rest” of the world are far slimmer than we imagine. While the self functions uniquely, the miracle of our existence is equivalent to the accumulation of specks on a petri dish. There is no strict individuality in biological study, only suspended moments of accumulated mutation.
My paintings accept the individual as one phase in a larger, repeated cycle. In doing so, they explore selfhood as a mode of connection to, rather than isolation from, the natural world.
The compositions I choose—overlays of the natural world, scientific processes, and Hellenic statues—capture a spontaneous moment as its own reality, but also as an archetype for the many narratives that created it. This idea of an overarching “narrative” in nature is central to my work.
I first became interested in the relationship between narrative and nature while translating ancient Greek mythology. These myths were never meant to tell the story of single individuals, but rather to guide humanity through shared pain, sorrow, and love. The realization that stories are repeatedly copied and pasted across generations reminded me of the way genetic information acts as its own ancient text being enacted in the present world. I include references to mythology and Hellenic sculpture as visual evidence that nature retells both its biological narratives and its deeply storied moments.
The moment before a ripe fruit rots, a mother offers her body to her child. —in one painting, a classical torso cradles rotting berries against marbled skin, their seeds spilling like blood cells under a microscope. The moment a hyena leans to kill its prey, briefly embracing its victim if only to impart death—jaws and neck intertwine in gestural brushstrokes, suspended in fields of ochre and violet where predator and prey become indistinguishable.
I have sought to expand my medium to better mimic the ebb and flow of the natural world. It felt contrary to my ideology to simplify the complex, woven world into a frozen two-dimensional composition—even when layered with images, color, and paint. I have begun knitting onto my paintings. I cut my canvases apart and weave them back together. I sew on knitted “appendages” made from handspun yarn and old canvas. I stretch the painting to its limit and let it slacken, folding onto itself. The ability to suspend a fluctuating moment while disrupting a typically stable material has filled me with a sense of boundless momentum.
My slight departure from paint alone has shown me how small, intentional decampments from the conventional enable deeper play, manipulation, and conceptual understanding. To tie metaphorical inquiry to material decision is to ground a piece in the physical world.
To ground a piece in the physical world is to allow it to live the processes we progress through—overflowing with possibility, idea, and emotion, yet always bound to the natural materials that tears forms, and mends us.
Learn more about Belle’s Art Process:
Studio Visit:
Artist Talk:
Coming soon!
Virtual Tour: