A gallery reception is slated from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, for visiting interdisciplinary artist Hailey Scheff. The event is hosted by nonprofit betterArts in Redwood.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Scheff is based in New York City. There, she attended Parsons School of Art and Design for Fine Arts and works full-time as a children’s ceramic Instructor. Scheff is in the North Country via the betterArts Residency Program. 

Scheff’s exhibition will feature pieces she worked on during her residency, which are also part of her current body of work Down Below, Within. The collection, consisting of painting, sculpture, and chemical processes conducted with found objects, focuses on alchemy, manifestation, and discovery. Her pieces take commonly overlooked base materials and convert them into alluring, powerful elements. 

During her time in Redwood, Scheff utilized objects from the betterArts property at Better Farm—such as neglected metal tools, ash from the bonfire, bones, and feathers—as base materials for her creations, focused during her residency on paintings on canvas and wood panel. 

In her process, Scheff strategically assembles each item and puts it in conversation with another. There is physical fragmentation: breaking the fluidity, breaking the ritual, breaking the stability. But there is also discovery, in which chemical reactions turn into something unexpected. Pieces are created and separated through layers, allowing them to be viewed separately as segments of the past, but also as a whole, working in juxtaposition together.

The gallery reception will be held in the betterArts Barn at Better Farm, 31060 Cottage Hill Road, Redwood NY, 13679. betterArts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase access to the arts in the North Country. Central to this effort is a belief that creativity and play can inspire us to live more in tune with the Earth. Learn more at betterarts.org.