"October Light," works by Basia Krol, is the October Gallery Exhibit at Princeton’s Prairie Arts Center. It runs Saturdays & Sundays thru Oct. 27.

The artist describes her inspiration for the works in this show:

"A simple walk in nature is not simple anymore, not just for city dwellers or suburbanites but even for farmers. To walk in a forest is to walk through second—or third-growth riddled with rosa multiflora, and to walk the prairie, we now have to reconstruct it.

It gives me hope when humans reconstruct and give our fragile systems the care they deserve. We protect and cherish what we have amid the abundance of loss.

The pandemic took me back to the natural world and recentered my mind. Since then, I have been walking and painting the slivers of reconstructed habitats I find nearby. Whenever my daughter rides horses on Woodland View Farm, I hike the prairie, woods, and wetlands. I meditate and take mental pictures. This experience is the source of my current painting practice. Through expressive mark-making followed by meditative detailing, the image is new and familiar. I want my art to be accessible and connect with the viewer.

"October Light" is a show of my recurring fascination with shifting light and abundance of color we take for granted at our latitude. And yet any dry blade of grass or a humble yellow leaf can be a tiny gift for your soul. I build my paintings around this sense of wonder. I want to take people to places they didn't know they missed."