American Archive 2026: Paintings, Drawings, and Works on Paper by Jessica McGarry Bartlet

American Archive 2026 is a line-centered visual record of the people, places, and conditions shaping the artist’s life as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. The work functions as an evolving archive of observation, memory, and unanswered questions.

First Street Gallery is pleased to present American Archive 2026 , a multidisciplinary exhibition of Jessica McGarry Bartlet’s paintings and drawings, documenting the artist’s lived experience in a time of profound social tension. McGarry Bartlet constructs a visual record of observation shaped by the question of how individuals persevere within conditions they did not author and over which they have little control. The exhibition moves between figurative works that register social and political consequence and landscapes that attend to continuity, endurance, and moments of quiet presence. Rather than offering resolution, the work holds rupture and restoration within the same field. Figures bear evidence of societal conditions, while environments record what persists beyond immediate conflict. “I oscillate between exposure and retreat… the news cycle and the woods. Studying cyclical concepts of time has made me wonder: Is this rhythm of rupture and restoration simply part of being human?” -McGarry Bartlet Line functions as both structure and inquiry throughout the work. Surfaces are built and revised through layering, abrasion, and return. Many images originate in the sketchbook of the artist as studies that evolve over time, forming an archive of questions rather than conclusions. Together, the works map a practice of witnessing grounded in attention to both strain and survival. Jessica McGarry Bartlet is an artist and educator based in New England. American Archive 2026 will be on view April 1 through April 25, 2026, at First Street Gallery, marking McGarry Bartlet’s sixth solo presentation in New York City. For press inquiries, images, or additional information, please contact the gallery at (646) 336-8053 or info@firststreetgallery.org .

What to expect:
Painting, Mixed media, Drawing