CONCORD MASS.- Lucy Lacoste Gallery is presenting Sisters, Rocks and Roots, with the painter Ilana Manolson and her ceramist sister Frith Bail on view through January 12, 2025. The exhibition, which blurs boundaries between humanity and nature, is our first with both artists. Shown in tandem, their work stands as a representation of what most inspires each artistically—a deep love of earth and nature.

Manolson’s abstract paintings capture imaginative landscapes while Bail’s ceramics echo an earthly essence in their likeness to the natural world around us.


Frith Bail, Large black sculpture, 2024. 9h x 15w in.

Nature, as experienced in their youth exploring the beautiful landscapes of Canada, inspires both artists. Bail’s art is tactile in form, while Manolson’s is tactile in composition. Paired together, they evoke their playful spirit and strong connection to environment that both women hold deeply in their hearts and artistic practice. This exhibition conjures up memories of the seasonal beauties of nature. Bail’s vessels hold a simplicity in shape and form, while simultaneously conveying a deeper message of respect for the natural world. Manolson’s paintings capture a sense of happiness and, at the same time, a sense of darkness that suggests nothing in this world lasts forever.


Ilana Manolson, Is and Becoming VII, 2024. Acrylic on Yupo, 14h x 11w in

Manolson describes herself as “a painter, printmaker, and naturalist, weaving together environmental systems of earth, water, and life.” Seamlessly moving between representation and abstraction, she captures the soul of the great outdoors and presents it to us as though we are experiencing moments in real-time such as leaves falling into water on a sunny clear day or water rushing over rocks in a stream. Her artistic practice is oriented to place and responsive to her environment, “Just as rivers flow into lakes and fires ravage forests, my work operates in both the additive and subtractive. I stack layers of paint and scrape into pools of color. In doing so, I document the growth and loss within a landscape.“ Her paintings encompass the transition between the birth of something new and the decline, a narrative we see constantly in nature.

Since her youth, Bail has felt drawn by a spiritual connection to the earthly world around her and states “Every time I work with clay, I listen to it. Clay has always told me what to do.” The language of her sculpture reveals itself through these earthly elements with which she so closely resonates. Like her sister, Bail is heavily inspired by her Canadian roots, especially her years growing up in the Laurentian Mountains near Quebec. At her current studio in the hills south of Georgian Bay, she harvests blue clay from the pond on her property and incorporates ash from her wood stove, allowing her the opportunity to explore new methods of glazing and deepening the connection of each piece to the landscape which inspired it. Bail’s ceramic vessels spark a quiet but powerful dialogue, between hand and soul, resulting in a “viscerally compelling celebration of spiritual transcendence through form and texture and color.” In Sisters, Rocks, and Roots, her work aptly reflects the essence of the pre-Cambrian rocks and boreal forests of the Laurentians she so loves.

Manolson and Bail were born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and moved to Montreal at a young age. Many weekends spent in the thick forests of the Laurentian Mountains with rivers long and wide taught these sisters to look closely at the environment and nature ever-present around them. Drawing inspiration from rocks and boulders known by name they make pots and paintings bringing nature’s vitality.


Frith Bail, Large black, 2024. 9h x 15w in

Manolson studied botany at Dawson and Goddard Colleges and after a series of different occupations, such as working as a puppeteer and interpreter of nature, ultimately studied printmaking and painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Manolson’s work has long been represented by Jason McCoy Gallery in NYC; Qualia Contemporary, Palo Alto, CA; and Cadogan Contemporary London and has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions, most recently in a solo exhibition at the Brattleboro Museum. Her work can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the RISD Museum in Providence, RI and the Berkeley Art Museum in CA, among others.

Bail received a BA in Fine Arts and Education from Goddard College and a master’s in professional studies in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute. Bail’s sculptural art has been shown in Boston MA and Quebec, Toronto, Collingwood, and Creemore in Canada. Her work can be found in private collections in Canada and the US. Manolson lives and works in Concord, MA. Bail lives and works in Creemore, Ontario, Canada.

“When you live in the same land for a very long time it gets into your soul.” --Frith Bail

“Every painting is a story formed by a compilation of miles walked through the past and into the present.” -- Ilana Manolson