Crossing… by Lynn Batchelder and Found by Sound by Bianca Triinu Toots at A-Galerii Windows

Artist list

Lynn Batchelder, Bianca Triinu Toots

crossing… by Lynn Batchelder  
The title crossing… provokes a sense of transformation or journey. Crossing over …out …paths …a threshold. 

The works on A-Galerii’s Windows reflect time and investigations into local stone across Tallinn and the artist's Lynn Batchelder home in New York. In her works she used granite sorted at the sea in Estonia and quartz dug up in the woods in the Hudson Valley. Gathering resonance from both locations, these stones traveled across continents in the process. She writes:
Over the past decade, I have explored ideas about mark making through repetition, dots, lines, and grids. Crossed lines are among the earliest recorded human drawings, marked upon a stone surface. I collect, inspect, dissect, and smooth lithic fragments, and present these alongside direct illustrations to connect momentary and geological time.
Aluminum is a soft skin depicting segments of ground or landscape, like in dot to dust, dividing what is above and below. Anodizing offers a porous, paper-like substrate for examining and absorbing expressive surfaces. In stills, I create an aggregation of rock drawings meant to disperse as pins or ‘polaroids’ of wandering. Through each work, I also explore solutions to and ruminations on ‘stone setting’—as both a method of capture, and a reference to a place or the stone’s site of origin.

Exhibitions in A-Galerii are supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment. 

Lynn Batchelder is an artist and educator in the Hudson Valley, New York. Her creative practice centers on acts of drawing and theories of mark making. She received an MFA in Metal from SUNY New Paltz and a BFA from Western Michigan University. Batchelder is the recipient of several grants and awards, including the Art Jewelry Forum Artist Award. She has exhibited her work internationally, was recently included in the Schmuck 2024 exhibition in Munich, and is a represented artist at Gallery Loupe in the United States. She has completed residencies at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Women's Studio Workshop, Penland School of Craft, and the Estonian Academy of Art. Batchelder is Associate Professor in the Metal Program at SUNY New Paltz.


Found by Sound by Bianca Triinu Toots  
The earrings and necklaces by Bianca Triinu Toots, presented in A-Galerii’s Windows, highlight the experience of listening and the ear itself. The jewellery is made using filigree technique from pure silver and is influenced by research into sound studies as well as the soundscapes of Central Portugal. The wearer also plays an important role, the person whose ear was used to shape the piece remains present in the work, even if not physically there.

Sounds surround us everywhere. They arrive before we become aware of them. The door creaking, birdsong between branches, moths tapping on the window, trees swaying in the wind. Sound waves lurk like unspoken thoughts. They reach us in the kitchen, on the terrace, by the sea, or from the next room. They appear both during activity and in moments of silence. Sounds are close to us. They are the rhythm of the heart. They wait. And then, at some point, we notice them. The sounds have reached us.
The air is filled with sound. The hum of bees in a camellia tree, a distant airplane, ice melting in a glass. Sound holds and directs. Not loudly. But sometimes very loudly. Not all at once, but layer by layer. The rustle of dry hay in the wind. Raindrops on metal. Simultaneously and one by one. Our ears seek meaning and are drawn to sound. They make choices. They determine volume. The ticking of a clock. A conversation in the next room. A melody that lingers. Our personal soundscape forms between the ears. When we close our eyes, we perceive through hearing. The echo of a voice across a lake.
Sounds move directly into us: bypassing thought, they reach the heart. When abundant, sound waves can become emotion. A sense of recognition in a familiar voice. The soft ringing of wind chimes. The quiet breathing of a sleeping cat. An unexpected knock on the door. Sounds bring back moments we were unaware we had forgotten. They ask for full attention and in return become memory, both fleeting and lasting. The crunch of autumn leaves underfoot. A fire crackling in the hearth. The turning of a page. They surround us. And then, like a whisper in sleep, they move on. What remains is a faint outline in the air, still subtly resonating.

Exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Estonian National Culture Foundation, Kadri Mälk's foundation.

Bianca Triinu Toots (b. 2000) is a jewellery artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA 2024). During her studies, she gained international experience as an exchange student in Italy Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School and Germany Campus Idar-Oberstein. Toots’ work includes jewellery and small objects, often using traditional materials such as stone and silver. Wearability and the relationship with the body are central to her practice.