Prairie & Sky

Prairie & Sky brings Grass and Feathers into a quiet dialogue between grounding and uplift. Ordinary natural forms become images of resilience, belonging, and renewal. The exhibition asks us to slow down enough to notice what is close at hand, and to consider the threshold between where we are and what we might become.

Grass · Grounding and belonging

The Grass series began after a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in Oak Park. His attention to the horizontal rhythms of the prairie changed how Turnell saw a familiar landscape. Individual blades became subjects in their own right: bending, adapting, and enduring. Repeated through the mosaic process, they form fields of pattern and color that connect identity to place.

Feathers · Uplift and connection

The Feathers series grew from daily walks near Turnell’s home in the St. Louis area. Friends, family, and neighbors began contributing their finds, turning observation into a shared practice. Each feather carries a tension between fragility and strength, stillness and movement. The works invite reflection on breath, connection, and the unseen forces that carry us forward.

At the horizon

The horizon joins the two bodies of work. Land and sky become a meeting place between rootedness and possibility. For Turnell, this is a threshold: a pause in which change can be felt before it can be named.

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