Erin Treacy

Erin Treacy: Reciprocal Relationships focuses on her Compost Project, which began in 2019, where she explored personal food remnants and debris that she stored in her freezer in Brooklyn, NY. Whether it is through a life drawing session, or many photographs taken while the food defrosts, Treacy is depicting an evolving scene where pieces fall, compositions shift, and colors change. It is a glimpse at the changes that will occur through the actual composting process, as our ‘garbage’ becomes fertilizer, facilitating reciprocal nourishment, yet another way how our environment can mirror our internal worlds and interpersonal relationships. Included in the exhibition are paintings of growth in the landscape as well - compositions of flora striving for new life and establishing roots in unexpected places. Treacy is interested in how our environment depicts time through layers of growth and decay, and how this can serve as visual metaphor for our own internal worlds. Both are in constant states of change – morphing and diverging to meet the needs of the present situation.

Previous work has explored similar themes while focused on the landscape. In her Island series, Treacy worked with the idea of ‘no man is an island’ through looking at theory and landscapes of the archipelago. In The Burren, she explored the geological diversity of a small region of Ireland to highlight the unexpected symbiotic relationships of existing flora and fauna, and how that relates to community. These are just two examples, of how Treacy is drawn to the landscape, which in turn encourages her to research the geology and biology of what she sees. The rich relationships that are visible on the outside help her to better understand the internal dialogue she has with herself in attempts to understand her own history and that of relationships with others.

Treacy has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been the recipient of many residencies and grants throughout the US, Ireland, Italy, the Slovak and Czech Republics, and Finland. She is a Fulbright alumnus, 2009-2010, having conducted independent research in The Burren, County Clare, in West Ireland. She utilized the diverse geological history to highlight how a valley of "dull looking", forbidding limestone could simultaneously support sub-arctic and Mediterranean flora and fauna; addressing how fact informs fictions and how place triggers memory. Treacy's Fulbright research culminated in multiple solo exhibitions throughout Ireland. Treacy’s additional influential residency and grant opportunities include MICA Faculty Grant (2020), Windy Mowing Residency, VT (2019), Queens Council on the Arts, Arthotel Residency & Grant, Queens NY (2017), The Wassaic Project, Wassaic NY (2017), 2 Rooms Contemporary Art Project, Newfoundland Canada (2016), and the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation, New Berlin NY (2012).

Select solo and two-person exhibitions include Long Island Arts Council, Freeport NY (2020), Blue Table Post, Brooklyn NY, (2019), Sunny's, Brooklyn NY (2018), Reservoir Art Space, Brooklyn NY (2017), BoxHeart Gallery, Pittsburgh PA (2009, 2011, 2015). Group Exhibitions include Eubie Blake Cultural Center, Baltimore MD (2019), Spaceworks Gowanus, Brooklyn NY (2018), BRIC, Brooklyn NY (2016), Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY, and more. Treacy’s artwork has been reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, NY1, ArtnetNews, and the Huffington Post.

Treacy received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from UMASS Dartmouth.

View images from Erin Treacy's 2020 BoxHeart Exhibit, Reciprocal Relationships!