The Echoing Green

A solo exhibition at Nationale in Portland, OR
April 5 - May 10, 2025
Opening reception Saturday, April 5, 2-4 PM

Artist Talk Saturday, April 26, 11 AM.

Press Release

By Luiza Lukova

Nationale is pleased to announce the opening of The Echoing Green by Portland-based painter Anya Roberts-Toney. The title of the artist’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery alludes to William Blake’s poem by the same name, which recounts and intertwines memories of the outdoors and youthful exuberance. At the poem’s close, the green has shifted from echoing to darkening as the sun sets—a visceral allusion to the passage of time. The twenty paintings on display in the Front Gallery and Project Room emulate these feelings on mortality and the future, and reference the artist's ongoing inquiry into feminine power, motherhood, and the natural world. Lush blues, purples, and greens give way to Roberts-Toney's distinctive motifs of portals, archways, and pools of water. These repeated images present as opaque and mysterious yet ever-present across the work, marrying the anxiety of the unknown with an enduring sense of perseverance and strength.

The rich pigment emerald green plays a crucial role in the color palette of this exhibition and creates a thoughtful throughline amongst the pieces. While nontraditional as landscapes, these paintings create their own natural world wherein green becomes embodied as a harbinger of vitality. Works such as Hope in the Dark and The Pearl strategically employ light to hint at the possibility of transformation within each painting. A bright orb casts soft shadows across the water’s surface in Midnight Sun, bringing a refuge from the surrounding murky and dark background.  In other instances, light breaks through clouds or serves as a central focal point drawing the viewer in. The presence of fountains serves as an endless source of life, their free-flowing water a symbol of perseverance. In this way, the paintings on display present reverently in the space of the gallery. Hope abounds within The Echoing Green if we so choose to look for it.

Select Images

For information about available works please contact Nationale at may@nationale.us or send me a message.

Documentation by Mario Galucci.