The Sky Held by Trees
Gausden's interactive landscapes and intimate figurative works are inspired by social media content and influenced by photographic techniques. Gausden's works have smooth surfaces with impasto elements and white sides, the canvases are ready to hang framed or unframed.
About this work the artist says:
"This work [along with Holding the Line and The Patience of Trees] comes from a deeply personal place. I had traveled to B.C. for the opening of my show Fairytales for the End of the World and gave myself a few extra days on Vancouver Island. My grandmother had passed away only months before, and I was still raw from that loss. She had been such a constant, kind, and quietly funny presence in my life. Grief sat heavily beside the ongoing anxiety of the pandemic, and I felt untethered. Wandering through those coastal rainforests became a way to find my footing again. Surrounded by massive, ancient trees, I felt both small and supported, as though their quiet strength was offering me space to breathe, to grieve, and to begin piecing myself back together." - Mel Gausden, 2025
