July 5-August 9, 2025
Reception with the Artist:
Saturday, July 5, 2025, from 6 to 8 PM, with live music by Brianne Sargent.
The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
Intertwined Detritus shines a light on challenges facing White Rock Lake and other bodies of water across the globe. Created by Dallas artist Jane Cornish Smith, the exhibition underscores how trash and silt threaten the viability and health of community waters, both environmentally and visually. It is through awareness that the exhibition goal of inspiring increased recycling, cleanup, and single-use efforts will become a reality, bettering the environment for wildlife and citizens alike.
The exhibition incorporates trash collected largely from White Rock Lake during monthly volunteer cleanups facilitated by the Dallas organization For the Love of the Lake, along with more traditional art media. Paintings, collage, wall reliefs, and sculpture inhabit the Bath House Cultural Center gallery—an array of diverse work consisting of encaustic, cold wax medium/oil, paper, gauze, powders, silt, and discarded detritus. Additional materials include crocheted and woven strips of painted paper, cord, and other found paraphernalia. Trash such as Styrofoam, plastic lids, cups, labels, toys, fishing line, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and more—along with the woven media—echo the intertwined nature of litter in the natural world. These expressive, beeswax-infused, textured creations contrast with the ugliness of litter and neglect.
The artist is presenting a total of twenty-two pieces that aim to raise aesthetic awareness among gallery visitors about the importance of lake health, beauty, and safety—both in general and specifically for White Rock Lake, located just steps from the Bath House.
Originally from Canada, Dallas-based artist Jane Cornish Smith was raised in a creative environment by her artist mother, sparking a love for art early on. Her work spans painting and sculpture, often using cold wax and encaustic, along with materials like paper, plaster, textiles, and paint. These are layered, crocheted, or collaged into richly textured 2D and 3D forms that are figurative, abstract, or environmentally inspired.
Jane’s art explores universal themes of vulnerability and resilience. While rooted in personal and symbolic expression, her recent work responds more directly to current events and environmental concerns. At its core, her art seeks to express a sense of liberty—freedom from worry, pollution, and loss of human rights—and envisions a world that is open, verdant, and where we are free to move.
