The Valley is pleased to present Sophia Heymans' second solo exhibition with the gallery. Titled Made Of This Place, this body of work began with a question: How does the timeline of a human life look when layered into a landscape? 

In dense narrative paintings teeming with life, Heymans depicts figures who simultaneously blend with and emerge from their surrounding forests, prairies, ponds, and rivers. Rooted in memories of her upbringing in Central Minnesota, the works in this exhibition range from depictions of autobiographical events and places to universal coming-of-age scenes taking place in imagined and dreamlike landscapes. 

In the portions of her paintings representing childhood, Heymans intentionally uses a more playful, naive approach, even painting with her non-dominant hand. The scenes depicting her teenage years are dramatic and moody, containing hidden symbols like broken hearts and scribbled words, recalling the themes and aesthetics present in her artwork at this time. As the timeline progresses to adulthood, the landscapes take on a more subdued and contemplative tone. Muted colors and meticulous attention to detail reflect the gravity and complexity that time imbues as we age. The land in Heymans’ paintings is more than a setting or a backdrop, it becomes a language unto itself. 

Throughout this body of work, Heymans uses landforms, weather patterns, plants, animals, and the changing seasons to illustrate personal and universal themes of growth. Just as landscapes are continuously transformed by forces great and small, cosmic and microscopic, human lives are also shaped by both our transformative and mundane experiences—our first love, the night sky filled with stars, a transcendent moment with a sibling, watching a bird soar high above the treetops. From childhood to adulthood, across seasons, and throughout geologic time; the paintings included in Made Of This Place offer viewers a powerful reflection on how deeply our life stories are intertwined with the land, illustrating that we are constantly shaping and being shaped by the environments we inhabit.