Transcendent Terrains: Outer Landscapes and Inner Temples

Transcendent Terrains: Outer Landscapes and Inner Temples is a solo exhibition by artist Sarah Spector at Waverly Street Gallery, running from August 30 through September 26, 2026. The show presents a vivid, abstract exploration of landscape and inner vision, featuring boldly colorful and playfully expressive compositions in a range of sizes. Included are dreamlike, shimmering 3‑by‑3‑foot color field paintings, as well as an extensive miniature landscape series depicting Block Island that covers one entire wall. Spector’s work grows out of a deep fascination with how light transforms surfaces and atmosphere, making the palpable become evanescent, and she draws on abstraction to capture that ephemeral quality.

When: Sunday, August 30 through Saturday, September 26, 2026.

Reception: Friday, September 4, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

Tickets: Price not listed; likely free and open to the public, but contact the gallery for confirmation.

Description: The exhibition centers on “Abstract Landscapes”—vivid, playful, and strikingly original acrylic paintings. Spector also presents 3‑by‑3‑foot color field works that feel dreamlike and shimmering, plus an extensive miniature landscape series of Block Island that covers one wall. Her process began with observing light on objects in still lifes and landscapes; she found light’s ability to morph surfaces and create ephemeral, reconfiguring effects intensely magical. That fascination led to abstraction, where she uses acrylic for its viscosity, ease of creating transparent, translucent, or opaque marks, and ability to build layers of varying transparency (pentimenti). Collage emerged from playful experimentation and a sense of serendipity and adventure. One viewer remarked that the pieces feel like Buddhist thangkas—spiritual, transformative. The small watercolors in the show were all painted on Block Island in Long Island Sound, where the landscape and the freshness of the medium inspired her; she sometimes made them while sitting on the road, which led to various adventures.

Featured Works: Titles include *Couches de Brouillard*, *Blue Orb*, *Prayers*, *Blue Smoke Hovering*, *Celebration*, and *Mahatma*.

Artist: Sarah Spector.

Venue: Waverly Street Gallery.