Rhett Lynch Studio / Heap Big Films

Elk Tooth Dress

For this show, the artist has created about twenty mixed-media and acrylic paintings, several of which are from a series called Prayers for Healing. Labor intensive and meticulous, these paintings are meditative mantras for the Navajo artist, who makes traditional "prayer ties" using strips of fabric which he fills with positive thoughts and sacred objects such as tobacco and sage. Lynch then sews the prayer ties to the canvas, and adds numerous layers of acrylic paint to fully incorporate the ties into the surface. He begins these paintings, as he does the majority of his works, by covering the canvas with gold foil. The foil creates textures as well as a translucency as layer after layer of pigments is applied. At the end, the surface resembles colored leather. Says Lynch, "My paintings record my journey to reconnect to the stillness that heightens the joy of doing."