Artist-in-the-House Opening Reception: "Constellations"

When words and images travel the planet at unthinkable speeds, how can we measure our lives? In a striking new exhibition, artist Ian Parsons uses collage to confront the complexity of that question—and asks us to make it our own. 

Building up vividly layered surfaces from magazine clippings, raw wood, old books, art prints, greeting cards, product packaging, compact disc cases, and other found objects, Parsons’ collages offer no easy answers. Instead, they call us to reflect on uncertainty and rediscover our own thoughts against a landscape of mental noise. “I use the medium of collage to create constellations of meaning, opening these pieces to the free association and interpretation of the viewer,” Parsons explains. “The aesthetics and sensibility in this work are informed by my growing up in the age of globalization and fast information, exemplified by the Internet.” 

“Constellations” will be on display from Wednesday, October 9, 2024, through Sunday, December 8, 2024, at Locals Farm Market, 19929 Fisher Avenue, Poolesville, Md. This show is the fifteenth Riverworks “Artist in the House” exhibition to be featured on the second floor of the historic Veirs-Stevens House at Locals. 

The opening reception will be held at Locals on Sunday, October 20, 2024, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. This reception is free and the public is invited to attend.

In the past year, Parsons has been highly visible at Riverworks as the Arts Programming Assistant. Riverworks co-founder Sandy Wright points out that this show spotlights the thoughtfulness that makes him so essential to Poolesville’s rapidly growing arts community. “Ian moves effortlessly between his organizational role and his calling as an artist,” she observes. “His background attunes him to the needs and interests of our artists, so it’s only fitting that we welcome him to their ranks.” 

“From the beginning, we wanted our mission to include supporting young, up-and-coming artists,” adds Riverworks co-founder David Therriault. “It’s really meaningful for us to host Ian’s first solo show.” Even though Parsons is just beginning his career, some of the ideas at play in “Constellations” are whispers from the past, voices that waited generations to find expression in art. 

“The work in this show grew out of the legacy of my grandfather and his appetite for thinking,” he recalls. “He left behind a physical legacy in his vast collection of books in philosophy, history, politics, and sociology, as well as stacks of vintage magazines that served as the initial spark for this series.” Parsons finds that when he creates art, the great questions that have preoccupied thinkers for centuries echo always in his mind—including insights from Taoism and Buddhism, the ancient Greeks, and modern writers such as Milan Kundera, Jean-Paul Sartre, and John Steinbeck. As he joins their ongoing conversation across time, he proposes, for now, only one tentative conclusion:

 “In both art and life, there is always more than one way of thinking.”