Understudy Art Incubator

"Unfamiliar, Familiar Faces" presents Blake Ritenour’s exploration of deeply felt and universally shared human emotions through charcoal and graphite. Drawing inspiration from people in his life as well as artists he admires, Ritenour reflects on personal experiences to convey the intensity, vulnerability, and complexity held within each portrait. Throughout the exhibition, Ritenour turns to the familiar faces around him to illuminate the emotional highs and lows that shape every human life. His meticulously rendered charcoal drawings capture pores, shadows, reflections, and subtle imperfections, details that transform an “unfamiliar” subject into a mirror of our own interior worlds. The result is an environment that feels both intimate and communal, reminding viewers that these emotions belong to all of us. This body of work continues Ritenour’s ongoing interest in self-acceptance and in the quiet power of preserving a moment. It also reflects his drive to grow, challenge himself, and embrace new mediums and modes of expression. Ultimately, "Unfamiliar, Familiar Faces" invites viewers to recognize themselves in the work and to leave with the quiet assurance that they are not alone.

"Unattended Grief" transforms the gallery into the childhood bedroom Joseph Martinez never had. Shaped by memories of instability and growing up as the third of eight siblings without personal space, the artist reimagines a room of solace, curiosity, and self-expression.

What is your heart’s deepest desire for the future of the Earth? In this, the dawning of the Symbiocene, we seek to heal wounds our ancestors left upon the Earth in their pursuit of greed and material comfort. The death drive of extractive individualism brought life itself to the brink. This is a new age of regeneration where each of us plays a role in the planet’s great web of interdependence.

"Hard Ain’t it Hard: A Song to Woody Guthrie" is artist Laura Conway’s tribute to the legendary folk musician, exploring his lesser-known work as a visual artist, poet, and political thinker through research at the Woody Guthrie Archive. The project weaves together Conway’s personal connection to Huntington’s disease and her ongoing exploration of movement and dance as a form of embodied research.

"The Great Wait" explores the strange tension of living in anticipation—caught between arrival and departure, motion and stillness. It’s like standing on a train platform, unsure if the train is coming to take you away or about to hit you. The show reflects this disorienting in-between space: we’re waiting for something to begin, or perhaps to end, all while the ride is already in motion.