Curated by SVAC’s Alison Crites, Into the Abstract will be on view through January 4, 2026. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, June 28, 2025 from 4-7 p.m. in the Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum.

SVAC has three concurrent exhibitions opening June 28—the campus will be alive and ready to view. The opening reception will be free and open to the public. SVAC encourages free registration available at: https://www.svac.org/class/into-the-abstract-exhibition-preview-party/.

Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) is excited to announce Into the Abstract, an exhibition opening June 28, 2025, at the Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum in Manchester, Vermont. This dynamic exhibition brings together two compelling voices in contemporary abstraction—Paul Gruhler and Neha Vedpathak—artists separated by generations but deeply connected through their commitment to form, process, and introspection.

Presented with generous support from the Art Bridges Foundation and the Wolf Kahn Foundation, Into the Abstract examines how abstraction continues to serve as a powerful language for expression, structure, and meaning.

For over sixty years, Vermont-based Paul Gruhler (b. 1941) has explored geometric abstraction through paintings, drawings, and sculpture. His meticulous approach—rooted in structure, balance, and color—acquired renewed personal significance following a later-in-life diagnosis of severe dyslexia. In contrast, Neha Vedpathak (b. 1982), who grew up in Pune, India, and now resides in Detroit, MI, embraces abstraction as a site of emotional and cultural exploration. Since 2009, she has worked with a self-invented “plucking” technique, laboriously separating fibers in handmade Japanese paper before reassembling and painting them, creating vibrant, textured compositions that speak to time, labor, and care.

Though stylistically distinct, both artists share affinities with minimalist traditions: the disciplined use of line, shape, and negative space. These themes are expanded by the inclusion of national loans within the exhibition space from the Art Bridges Foundation, including works by Sam Gilliam, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Alice Trumbull Mason—further deepening the conversation between historic and contemporary abstraction.

Alison Crites, curator of Into the Abstract for SVAC, commented: “Since inception, the touchstone of the project has been the striking visual language of geometry, space, and color that permeates and connects Paul and Neha’s work. Over time, it felt important to expand the narrative to consider how notions of slow productivity intersect with their artistic process and practice in ways that feel acutely relevant to our post-pandemic society. Furthermore, through generous loans from the Art Bridges Foundation, we’ve been able to broaden our exploration of what delving “into the abstract” can look like and mean for a range of artists.”

At the core of Into the Abstract is a meditation on intentionality. Whether in Gruhler’s structured layering or Vedpathak’s slow, meditative process, both artists offer an antidote to today’s fast-paced life. The exhibition invites viewers to pause, look closely, and consider how abstraction can offer both clarity and complexity.