Susan Swartz Studios to open environmental duo show Residual Impressions

Cristina Lei Rodriguez and Susan Swartz will debut Residual Impressions at Susan Swartz Studios in Park City on Dec. 11, pairing paintings, prints and sculptures shaped by nature, climate risk and environmental loss. The exhibition will also direct 20% of artwork sales to Grow The Flow, a nonprofit focused on Great Salt Lake.

Why it matters: - Residual Impressions uses contemporary art to frame environmental preservation as a present-tense issue, not a distant one. - The exhibition puts Great Salt Lake, coastal erosion, and climate pressure into a gallery setting tied to fundraising support. - Twenty percent of artwork sales will benefit Grow The Flow, linking the show directly to restoration work.

What happened: - Susan Swartz Studios in Park City will open Residual Impressions on Dec. 11 with an invitation-only reception. - The duo exhibition pairs Cristina Lei Rodriguez of Miami with Susan Swartz of Park City for their first major show together. - Madeline Watterson of Salt Lake City and Claire Breukel, a U.S.-South African curator, organized the exhibition. - The show will include a talk program with Rodriguez, Swartz and the curators.

The details: - The exhibition centers on shared explorations of impressions, abstraction and expression across paintings, prints and sculptures made over the past two decades. - Rodriguez’s work blends technology and nature through artificial materials, computer scanning and natural forms. - Rodriguez embeds and recreates coral, shells and other ocean remnants in work shaped by climate risk in Miami. - Her “Portholes, 2025” series is cited as part of that practice. - Rodriguez will debut a major public artwork during Art Basel Miami Beach in December. - Swartz’s practice draws from her international career and from her own life-threatening struggles with environmentally borne diseases. - Swartz’s current solo exhibition, “The Infinite,” is on view at NIA gallery in Prague, Czech Republic. - Swartz’s new relief painting, “Looking After The Lake, 2026,” uses remnants found along the drying beds of Great Salt Lake. - Susan Swartz Studios says the exhibition sales support causes focused on the environment and social justice. - The studio also says the broader programming is designed to elevate contemporary art and inspire environmental stewardship. - More information is available on the studio’s Instagram page.

Between the lines: - The exhibition pairs two women artists and two women curators, which reinforces the show’s emphasis on dialogue, care and lived experience. - Watterson’s framing suggests the works are meant to function as a warning and a call to action, not nostalgia for disappearing landscapes. - The title Residual Impressions points to what remains after environmental change and what could still be saved.

What's next: - The Dec. 11 opening reception will launch the exhibition and set up public conversation around the work. - The scheduled talk program will extend the show’s environmental themes through direct discussion with the artists and curators. - Sales from the exhibition will continue to support Grow The Flow as the show runs. - Rodriguez’s Art Basel Miami Beach debut later in December will further expand attention on her sculptural work. - Swartz’s Prague exhibition will keep her environmental practice in view alongside the Park City show.