Natalie Preston cuts up her sketchbooks

Circling Issue #22, featuring Natalie Preston

Natalie Preston graduated in 2020 from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, where she received her BFA in Painting with a minor in Art History. Preston had her first solo exhibition, The Darkest Valley, in March of 2020 at the Gateway Gallery in Baltimore, MD. She has exhibited her work at Current Space Gallery in Baltimore, MD and VisArts in Rockville, MD. She has recently shown in New York City at Paradice Palase, and she will be part of a forthcoming exhibition at Studioninedee. She has also shown in Miami, FL at the National Young Arts Foundation. She currently lives and works in New York City.

Natalie and I have studios in the same building in Brooklyn and it’s been a pleasure to sit down for several conversations recently about her art and process, balancing being both an artist and an arts worker, and the importance of finding small ways to be a part of your local community. Her recent paintings move beyond a simple plane, with woven surfaces and formed edges …