Arts + Literature Laboratory will hold an opening reception for new exhibitions on Saturday, November 22, 2025, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Free admission.
Our latest round of exhibitions feature Bridge Work artists, Chele Ramos and Maria Schirmer, as well as Madison-based Erika Rosales and Chicago-based Vesna Jovanovic. Both Bridge Work artists, Ramos and Schirmer, will present artist talks after 6:00pm.
All four exhibitions will have a soft open on Tuesday, November 18, and will remain on display through December 20, 2025.
Ramos' exhibition, Shades of the Mind, is an intimate exploration of mental health based on her own lived experience. Fifteen self-portraits capture various emotional states, including contemplation, emotional intensity, internal chaos, quiet clarity, and healing. Chele hopes that by sharing her mental and emotional journey, viewers will be invited to reflect on their own, recognizing that healing is not linear and requires feeling deeply and honestly.
Schirmer's exhibition, Becoming: an oak savanna laboratory, is inspired by the oak savanna, which was once Wisconsin's predominant ecosystem but is now among the most endangered globally. The project reflects cycles of loss, renewal, and time, inviting viewers into a space of regeneration, remembrance, and imagination. The exhibit also features a Wishing Well by the late Sylvie Rosenthal; the wishes it once held have been transformed into seeds, and visitors can now take an acorn talisman, representing a wish ready to take root.
Rosales' exhibition, Primordial Echoes / Ecos Primordiales, explores the juxtaposition of ethereal and earthly imprints of universal energetic forces. It emphasizes the transformation of a fundamental essence into physical forms, highlighting the connection between the divine origin and physical existence. Viewers are invited to engage with the pieces beyond their five senses and embark on a spiritual journey, connecting the material and immaterial.
Jovanovic's exhibition, Cavities and Heights, grew out of a fascination with medieval French carnivals. These body-centered events focused on food, dance, laughter, and bodily taboos—in stark contrast to doctrines that rejected the body while valorizing the mind or soul. At medieval carnivals, people gathered in the town marketplace to celebrate their shared humanity while shedding their social identities through masking and costume. In her recent body of work, Jovanovic begins with diluted ink that she pours onto sheets of polypropylene. She then responds to the random ink textures and shapes by adding forms that are both uncomfortable and enticing at the same time. With these interventions, the most accidental element of the painting—the poured ink—begins to feel fleshy, familiar, and relatable, reaching beyond the gaze and tapping into something visceral that connects us.
