'Under the Influence'

This show in the Vermont Metro Gallery presents the work of Nissa Kauppila and Erika Lawlor Schmidt, who both incorporate Asian influences into their artistic practice. It’s the first exhibition of works that Kauppila has created in China, where she studies under master silk painter Lin Bo. Her sparse paintings of subjects from the natural world suggest precariousness, as well as the importance of balance. Schmidt has long found inspiration in Eastern philosophy and Indian mysticism, which in turn has directed how “form emerges from negative space” in her collaged works.