WHAT A WALL HOLDS
curated by Jilaine Jones
An Exhibition of Bas-Reliefs
November 9, 2025 - February 11, 2026
Opening reception: November 9, 3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Wagner College Union Gallery is pleased to present an exhibit curated by Jilaine Jones, Sculpture Atelier Leader at the New York Studio School. The exhibit questions, and perhaps even expands, the notion of what bas-relief can be. Participating artists include: Gal Amit, Cathy Deuschle, Katherine Earle, Reiko Ishiyama, Jilaine Jones, Jenny Toth and Amelia Wykes.
Bas-relief is an art form that spans the divide between the illusionistic dimension of painting and the real dimension of sculpture. Navigating this intermediate place can be perplexing, creating quandaries and revelations peculiar to the discipline. Jones is intimately familiar with this territory. The selected artists have all worked with her as students and independently, but their singular vision and investigation have helped her better understand the potential of this art form.
Jones states, “Relief work makes a unique, natural companionship to each artist and reveals a surprising wisdom about reality and art, the private and interactive. It has had a crucial effect on my work as a sculptor for how it can embody the seen and felt world, to understand the spatial as material.”
And she offers this: “I have come to feel relief’s connection to the wall as profoundly embedded in the ar as t form. The wall is our second skin, perhaps the first human made form, the protective element. What it holds, is a consciousness about the intimacy and tactility of place and imagination about what is outside, beyond it.”
For Jilaine Jones, this exhibit celebrates her experience of, and conviction for, teaching and working in bas-relief over many years. All those influenced and enriched by her art and teaching celebrate her devotion to championing this undersung art form.