Issy Wilson: Rhizomes

New work by Issy Wilson (BFA ​’20) is featured in Rhizomes, a solo exhibition on view at Willmette’s Patrician Gallery from April 24 — May 31, 2025. 

Working across painting, drawing, textile, and fiber art, Wilson’s practice is rooted in organic processes, transformation, and material experimentation. Rhizomes brings together new works that explore themes of shedding, regeneration, and interconnected ecosystems — both in nature and in the evolution of her own artistic practice.

Wilson, who received her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London in 2024 and her BFA from the University of Michigan in 2020, approaches painting as an active, living process rather than a fixed outcome. When working she treats pigments, inks, and natural materials as scientific concoctions, allowing them to seep, stain, and spread organically across the surface. Her compositions often evoke the structures of mosses, lichen, root systems, and mycelial networks. As a result, mirroring the decentralized, non-hierarchical structures found in nature.

Through Rhizomes, Wilson invites viewers into a world where nature’s processes of growth, decay, and renewal become metaphors for artistic creation and transformation.

Issy Wilson: Rhizomes
April 24 – May 31, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 24 from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Sunday, May 4 from 4 — 6 p.m.
The Patrician Gallery, 1135 Central Ave, Wilmette, IL