10/15/2025
Thank you to Alice Dodge and Seven Days for this thoughtful review of my exhibition “The Nature of Things” at the McCarthy Art Gallery at Saint Michael’s College, curated by Jordan Douglass.
“The idea of connection — to nature, to other people, to the universe — is deeply important to Portesi’s concept of the work, which aims to convey the spiritual aspect of her encounter with the woods. Walking in the forest gave her a sense of unity with nature, she said — and she realized that underground mycelial networks mirrored what she felt aboveground.
Portesi began to research spiritual traditions and philosophy, such as Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things from the first century BC, in which he conceptualized the atom. She found the Roman philosopher’s ideas — primarily that nothing vanishes in death, but all particles recombine into something else — embodied by mushrooms and their role in cycles of decay and growth.”
With sincere thanks to Ethan Brossard for being there through every step of planning and printing this exhibition. I spent much of the past six months recovering from an injury and surgery, and this show could not have come to fruition without his help.
Printed at Prints on Paper Studio in Cabot, Vermont by Walker and Nathanael. - “Portesi printed the photographs at Prints on Paper Studio in Cabot, whose expertise in calibrating an extremely dense, dark tonality comes through. In a series of morel mushrooms pictured on a black ground, the physicality of the ink is reminiscent of rich soil.”
Additional thanks to Amaia Echanis, Tim Allen, Eren (Erika) Kasser, Dickie Colo, Jason Breen, Laura Hinerfeld, Slip Stream Farm, and my FAMILY.
Wicker burial tray by Marry Lauren Fraser
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