Ruminations – Mary Emma Gary (2025)
on view in the Elkins Gallery

A Dark Bath, "Ruminations" is a multimedia sculpture featuring a paper maché figure contained within a blank paper "tub", and chainlink "bubbles" containing headlines from the week it was created.

This piece explores the desire for relaxation when it seems impossible due to current events, social media, and the underlying disconnect between what self care looks like versus what it is. The accompanying zine further explores this disconnect as the artist recalls what first inspired dark baths- a setup from Andrew Clements novel Things Not Seen. Similar to the experience of the protagonist, light is what turns relaxation to rumination.

Greetings From Sylvan Park – Lana Cosic (2025)
Jul 2025 - Jan 2026

Greetings from Sylvan Park is the inaugural exhibition of the Elkins Museum: a visual love letter to the neighborhood and community that made the museum possible. The exhibit offers an affectionate cartography of Sylvan Park, featuring a collection of ten hand-drawn portraits of beloved neighborhood landmarks presented in ornate, golden frames. 

Depicted in these illustrations are: Billy’s Corner, Edley’s Bar-B-Que, Headquarters Coffee, McCabe Golf Course, The Produce Place, Rhino Booksellers, Richland Creek Greenway, Richland Park Library, Richland Park Tennis Courts, and Star Bagel.

At the center of the series, a single mirrored frame invites viewers to see themselves as part of the collection.

As the first exhibition at the Elkins Museum, Greetings from Sylvan Park sets the tone for the institution’s mission: to celebrate the small and relational. Like the museum itself, the work is sincere and gently surreal, intentionally framing the familiar as something precious.