Visuals 05.14.26

MELANIE WALKER

The Center for Photographic Art is showing works by its 2024 Critical Mass Solo Show award winner, Melanie Walker. In the exhibit Nomadic Dreamer: A Modern Myth of Shelter and Passage, Walker constructs a surreal allegorical world where figures wear houses as heads, merging architecture with identity. The work explores how we carry history, memory and belonging within us, questioning what separates “house” from “home.” Playful yet unsettling, the show reimagines reality through constructed forms and emotional truth. Walker is a third-generation photographic artist, a Californian, now living and working in Colorado. An opening reception takes place from 4-6pm Saturday, May 16. Regular gallery hours are noon-4pm Wednesday-Sunday inside Sunset Center at 9th and San Carlos, Carmel. On display until June 14.

SUSAN SWARD

Three Sisters, Three Visions is the title of another exhibit opening this Saturday, May 16. This group show at Gallery at Del Mesa features works of, fittingly, three sisters – Susan Sward, Charlene Sward McNally and Cheryl Sward. Susan Sward is a Rhode Island–based painter whose work reflects the quiet beauty of coastal landscapes and the natural world. Raised on the East Coast, all three sisters developed a sensitivity to landscape, season and place. While each approaches their subject differently, all are drawn to moments of quiet and stillness. Join an opening reception at 4-6pm Saturday, May 16. Gallery hours: 11am-8pm Wednesday-Sunday at Del Mesa, 500 Del Mesa Drive, Carmel. Through July 5.