Chaos Suspended

From earth to image, Jackson Hole artist Avery Fleeman quilts color, chemistry, and care into a tapestry of transformed time.

Crystalline surfaces, chemical reactions, and hand-dyed papers come together in paintings that feel both unstable and meticulously controlled. Fleeman’s process is part science experiment, part ritual—resulting in pieces that hover between chaos and intention.

Shari Brownfield Fine Art is proud to present Chaos Suspended, a solo exhibition of new works by Jackson Hole artist Avery Fleeman. Fleeman is known for her alchemical approach to paper-based works that blur the boundaries between art and science, chaos and control, art and craft, and hardness and softness. Her aesthetic developed nearly by chance; having left a grapefruit on an oxidizing metal plate in her studio, rusting for over the course of a week, Fleeman returned and noticed an alkalizing reaction, releasing natural dyes from the fruit. Given Fleeman’s unique educational background across both chemistry and studio art, this led to a host of experiments incorporating organic dyes extracted from fruits and vegetables, then applied to chemical sheets to produce an unpredictable, kaleidoscopic reaction. The surfaces are later distilled through a meticulous process of cutting, measuring, and arranging.

In Chaos Suspended, Fleeman continues this exploration of visual paradox through a series of mixed media works that fuse hand-made organic dyes, quilting practices, and chemical reactions, unified under precise geometries that stand as vibrantly textured, crystalline-like compositions. “Fleeman’s paintings speak to the various dualities in all of us.” says Shari Brownfield. “It’s not often that ‘elegance’ and ‘mad scientist’ merge. Fleeman walks that line with a precision that I am continuously drawn to; I feel a pull to continue exploring every inch of her surfaces when I stand in front of her work.” 

Fleeman is a graduate of Davidson College and has exhibited throughout the Southeast in solo and group exhibitions, including ArtFields (SC), The Bascom (NC), and McNeese State University (LA). She was most recently an artist-in-residence at the Byrdcliffe Art Colony in Woodstock, NY, and currently serves as Director at Maya Frodeman Gallery.