At Gallery MAR, we’ve long celebrated artists who go beyond paint and canvas. From stones and sand, to salvaged wood and vintage frames, the materials themselves become part of the artist’s message. These artists don’t just depict the world, they work with it.

Sometimes, the most compelling detail about a piece is what it’s made of. A hidden layer, an unexpected element, or a reclaimed material might carry a story that resonates with your own. It’s in those details that meaning deepens and connection begins.

Here are just a few of our artists whose practices are shaped by the earth beneath their feet, the stories of forgotten objects, and the belief that beauty often lies in what we choose to reuse.

Stained Glass Mountains,  36″ x 48”, mixed media  

Havoc Hendricks

Instead of brushstrokes, in some works Hendricks has been known to build his detailed topographic linework using painter’s tape, meticulously layering and carving to create patterns that echo natural formations. His process turns a utilitarian material into a meditative exploration of control, chaos, and geography.

 

 

 

Grotto, 12″ z 11″ x 4″

Nelson Parrish

Parrish’s sleek sculptural works combine bio-resin, reclaimed wood, and automotive finishes: materials chosen not only for their aesthetic impact, but for their sustainability and innovation. He’s been working with plant-based resins like Entropy for nearly a decade, crafting dynamic pieces that feel both grounded and futuristic. His wood is also reclaimed, using fallen logs from his family’s property in Alaska. Or the first cut of logs, called “flitches” *which are typically discarded from lumber yards) for his vertical and hanging installations.

 

 

 

Orchestra of the Earth, 48″ x 34″, mixed media  

Samantha da Silva

da Silva infuses her canvases with earth itself.  She has been known to incorporate sand, soil, saltwater, and ash collected from the places that move her into her works.  We love that they have sand from Southern Utah and salt from the Great Salt Lake. These raw, local materials become active agents in her work, creating texture, patina, and presence. Her paintings don’t just depict the land but rather they’re made from it.

 

 

 

Honing In, 25″ x 40”, cold wax  

Bridgette Meinhold

Known for her ethereal encaustic landscapes, Meinhold often frames her pieces in reclaimed wood, hand-built in the workshop behind her studio by her husband, Matt. Meinhold has even been known to have crafted her own “living inks” from natural materials foraged on hikes: elderberry, chokecherry, rabbitbrush, and more. It’s a full-circle relationship with nature where medium and subject are intrinsically connected.

 

 

4 Girlfriends,  48″ x 60″, mixed media  

Jane Maxwell

Maxwell’s mixed media collages feature vintage papers, ephemera, and found objects she’s collected from flea markets and antique shops. (Friends will keep an eye out for her on her travels too!) Each material carries its own story. By assembling them into layered narratives, she invites viewers to consider how we construct identity, memory, and meaning through what we choose to preserve.

 

 

 

Owl Deep Forest,  29″ x 24”, oil

Hunt Slonem

In a nod to nostalgia and sustainability, Slonem frames his iconic bunnies and butterflies in ornate vintage and antique frames. These salvaged beauties bring a sense of history and opulence to his playful pop aesthetic, proving that the frame can be just as much a part of the story as the subject itself.

 

Sterling,  81″ x 92″ x 30″, Wood, Steel & Rock 

Jamie Burnes

Burnes gathers scrap steel, petrified wood, cypress trunks and more from across the country to create large-scale sculptures that live in harmony with the land. His work explores the tension between the natural and the manmade: melding forged steel with raw wood to craft striking animals and abstract forms. Each sculpture is a conversation between past and present, permanence and change.

Written by Madison Baer

Tags: Art materials, Art Media, Havoc Hendrics, large sculpture, Mixed Media
Posted in Gallery News