Kathy Mitchell-Garton: Talking With the Ancestors

Elizabeth Ansley Delap: Awakening Microcosms

Jonathan Garbett: Pointy Thoughts

Core Art Space

6501 W. Colfax Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80214

August 1–17, 2025

Admission: free

Review by Paloma Jimenez

Meditative observation, of both physical and emotional terrains, unites the three concurrent exhibitions at Core Art Space. Kathy Mitchell-Garton and Elizabeth Ansley Delap contemplate belonging to timelines greater than oneself in the main gallery, while the annex space holds a collection of Jonathan Garbett’s liminal “clood” paintings. Each artist creates from a quieter channel of energy, probing at life’s more open-ended questions.

An installation view of Kathy Mitchell-Garton’s exhibition *Talking With the Ancestors* at Core Art Space. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

In Talking With the Ancestors, Kathy Mitchell-Garton confronts the complexity of grief using the bits and pieces of life her deceased loved ones have left behind. Her sculptural forms are unusual and intuitive, with abstract compositions and familial narratives emerging from materials that include clothing, handkerchiefs, photo slides, buttons, and other personal effects.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *An Orderly Mind (for George)*, 2025, decorative paper, handmade paper, discarded office papers, tulle, pencil, and cardboard cylinder. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

A detail view of Kathy Mitchell-Garton’s *An Orderly Mind (for George)*, 2025, decorative paper, handmade paper, discarded office papers, tulle, pencil, and cardboard cylinder. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Buddhist teachings influence the artist’s creative practice and perspective on life cycles. In many works, she incorporates circles, wheels, and round forms. “The successive teachings (hinayana, mahayana,vajrayana) of the Buddha are called 'turnings of the wheel'.” [1] An Orderly Mind (For George) neatly bundles together her father’s office files inside a collaged tube, all wrapped in the gauzy memory of her mother’s wedding veil. The clarity of the colors and repeated circular forms reflect the kaleidoscopic way we view our ancestral stories.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Miners*, 2025, cyanotype printed on deconstructed cargo pants, embroidery thread, beads, and baby booties. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Deconstructed cargo pants serve as another unexpected canvas in Mitchell-Garton’s work. Sunshine embroidery punctuates the ghost of a tin mine mill in Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Miners and pastel baby booties dangle from a strip of the pants, too precarious to be precious. The emotional tenor of this piece is unresolved and confusing; that might make it the most relatable expression of grief.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *George-isms*, 2025, cloth handkerchiefs, embroidery thread, sequins, beads, buttons, and cyanotype printing. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *George-isms (No Joy in Mudville)*, 2025, cloth handkerchiefs, embroidery thread, sequins, beads, buttons, and cyanotype printing. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

On the adjacent wall of hankie cyanotypes, images emerge from the sweat, snot, blood, spit, and tears of a life story. In these George-isms, the artist embroiders phrases her dad used to frequently say onto his handkerchiefs. The layering of diaphanous cyanotype images contrasts with the bolder stitched words—a humorously heartfelt marriage of materials.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *Open Hands, Open Heart*, 2025, gourd, paint, ink, pencil, and gloves. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

The handheld size holds special significance in Talking With the Ancestors. In Open Hands, Open Heart, a gourd with a map of colorful doodles on the skin expels a pair of pink gloves from its hollow center. The fingers of the glove splay sadly outwards, no hands left to fill them. You can look at pictures and remember stories about someone who has passed on, but the main thing you want to do is hold their hand one more time.

An installation view of Elizabeth Ansley Delap’s exhibition *Awakening Microcosms* at Core Art Space. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Elizabeth Ansley Delap also finds meaning in a tactile and relational understanding of the world. In her exhibition Awakening Microcosms she looks closely at forest lichen as an example of the “profound interconnectedness of all beings.” [2] Ansley Delap’s watercolor Lichen Studies float on the paper in delicate pools of subtle gradients. The shapes are drawn from observation, but they also feel like notes of abstract thought or aerial heat maps of life forms.

Elizabeth Ansley Delap, *Lichen Study*, watercolor on cold pressed paper, 22 x 30 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Elizabeth Ansley Delap, *Crimson Folios*, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 14 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Though Ansley Delap’s acrylic paintings of lichen lack the sensitive colors of the watercolor studies, they do achieve a focused textural depth not found in the other two-dimensional works. The delightfully scabby surface of Crimson Folios pushes at the edges of the canvas, a mere snapshot of a complex micro-world.

A display of Elizabeth Ansley Delap’s watercolor *Lichen Studies*, photographs of lichen, and sketches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

One wall of the exhibition offers valuable insight into Ansley Delap’s artistic process. Smaller watercolor studies mingle with her photos of the rocks and lichen in Rocky Mountain National Park. Even this small sampling of lichen displays the unimaginable variety of the often overlooked life forms. She explains, “This profound connection with nature and art cultivates the meditative state I find in creation, enhancing my five-year Zen practice and deepening my awareness of our interconnectedness.” [3]

An installation view of Jonathan Garbett’s exhibition *Pointy Thoughts* at Core Art Space. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Jonathan Garbett also looks inward in Pointy Thoughts, expressing the mercurial nature of emotions through morphing geometric shapes. The cloud forms in his paintings glow with an elemental allure, but the potentially easy tranquility of the work is punctured by spikes and mysterious halos of light. “My subject matter often centers on "cloods”—luminous forms that drift and shift, serving as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of emotions and the pursuit of inner peace.” [4]

Jonathan Garbett, *Don't Blame The Wrong Mirrors*, acrylic on handmade panel. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Jonathan Garbett, *Cululahedron 3*, acrylic on handmade panel. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

While the black spike aggressively stabbing a peachy cluster in Don’t Blame the Wrong Mirrors feels didactic, Garbett’s other paintings achieve a more nuanced perspective on navigating emotions. Cululahedron 3 depicts a “clood” floating uncomfortably amidst a purple haze, weighed down by the sharp points. A yellow ring of light levitates just above. It could be an aspirational halo of divinity, or a ring of fire one must jump through to reach enlightened realms; with a little more lightness and flexibility, the mind might reach it.

Jonathan Garbett, *Cululahedron 2*, acrylic on handmade panel. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Cululahedron 2 rises a little closer towards joyous unity. This bubbly shape is less encumbered by the intrusive spikes and the glowing ring of light above it twists into an infinity sign, offering an endless source of illumination. The painting reminds us that inner peace is a kind of holiness separate from any specific religion.

A view of Elizabeth Ansley Delap’s exhibition *Awakening Microcosms*. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

In their exhibitions at Core Art Space, Kathy Mitchell-Garton, Elizabeth Ansley Delap, and Jonathan Garbett display the many roles of an artist: to grapple with conflicting feelings, to find meaning in natural order, and to exalt the memories of loved ones.

Paloma Jimenez (she/her) is an Editorial Coordinator at DARIA and an artist, writer, and teacher. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in international publications. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from Parsons School of Design.

[1] From a label in Kathy Mitchell-Garton’s exhibition Talking With the Ancestors.

[2] From the artist’s statement in Elizabeth Ansley Delap’s exhibition Awakening Microcosms.

[3] Ibid.

[4] From the artist’s statement in Jonathan Garbett’s exhibition Pointy Thoughts.