Between Stillness and Storm
Duet Exhibition Featuring
Alison McNeill
Rick Sullivan
Between Stillness and Storm
Curatorial Statement
Between Stillness and Storm brings together the abstract practices of Alison McNeill and Rick Sullivan in an exhibition that examines the shifting terrain of transformation. Though their visual languages differ in rhythm and intensity, both artists are drawn to moments of transition—those liminal spaces where one state dissolves before another fully emerges. Their works invite viewers to dwell within uncertainty, discovering beauty not in fixed conclusions, but in the continual process of becoming.
For Alison McNeill, transformation unfolds through quiet accumulation. Working intuitively in mixed media, she builds layered surfaces that gradually reveal themselves through time and process rather than predetermined intention. Organic forms, subtle references to plants and flowers, and geometric structures coexist in delicate balance, reflecting the relationship between intuition and order, stillness and growth. Her paintings suggest that change often occurs gently, through patience, persistence, and the quiet intelligence found in the natural world.
Rick Sullivan approaches these same thresholds from a more turbulent perspective. His expressive abstractions inhabit the unstable space between dissolution and emergence, where gestures fracture, color pulses, and structure continually shifts between coherence and collapse. Rather than seeking resolution, his paintings embrace emotional rupture, uncertainty, and the restless energy that accompanies profound personal transformation. Each work becomes an invitation to remain present within flux, recognizing that growth often begins where certainty ends.
Together, McNeill and Sullivan offer complementary perspectives on the experience of change. One reveals transformation as a slow unfolding rooted in stillness and contemplation; the other embraces its unpredictable, often chaotic energy. Their practices remind us that becoming is rarely linear. It is a process shaped equally by moments of calm reflection and periods of upheaval, by quiet resilience as much as emotional intensity.
Between Stillness and Storm celebrates the beauty of existing within these thresholds. It encourages viewers to embrace transition not as something to rush through, but as a vital and creative space where possibility takes form. In the dialogue between these two artists, abstraction becomes a language for resilience, renewal, and the ever-changing nature of human experience.
ABOUT Alison McNeill
Alison McNeill is an abstract artist inspired by quiet moments, earthy colors, and the beauty and tenacity of the natural world. She creates deeply textured paintings with themes of personal growth, resilience, and transformation. Rather than starting with a set plan, she builds her work layer by layer—adding paint and elements of collage, then scraping them back to reveal traces of what came before. This intuitive process leaves room for unexpected moments and hidden details to emerge on the canvas.
Based in Burlington, Ontario, McNeill actively presents her work through local and international platforms. She has participated in the Burlington Fine Arts Association sales, Oakville’s Art in the Park, and several online exhibitions, with feature coverage in Sfumato Art Magazine. Her work is held in private collections throughout Ontario.
ARTIST STATEMENT
This selection of works is drawn from an ongoing series exploring creativity and inspiration as something quiet, hidden, and slowly unfolding. It reflects an autobiographical experience of holding creative impulses beneath the surface—tucked into small, safe spaces—before they begin to emerge with tentative energy and cautious playfulness.
Built through layered acrylic and subtle collage, each piece carries a sense of history. Surfaces are constructed, disrupted, and revealed again, echoing the way creative expression can feel buried, then gradually rediscovered. Marks and forms are often partially obscured, suggesting something present but not yet fully visible.
There is a tension between restraint and release throughout the work. Structured elements sit alongside looser, more intuitive gestures, mirroring the shift from hesitation to exploration. Moments of brightness and play become more prevalent as the series progresses. These paintings are not about a single narrative, but about a process of becoming. They hold that in-between space where creativity is still building—where inspiration is quietly absorbed—before it moves outward with a sense of growing urgency.
Featured Works of Alison McNeill
ABOUT Rick Sullivan
Rick Sullivan is an Abstract Expressionist artist based in Oak Park, Illinois. Originally from a small town in northern Iowa, Sullivan moved to Chicago after graduating from Drake University. Although his passion for art began in childhood, his calling to paint emerged later in life, beginning in 2018 as a way of processing the complex emotions surrounding his experience caring for a parent with Alz- heimer’s disease. Working primarily with acrylic, latex, oil pastels, and mixed media, Sullivan draws inspiration from the expressive approaches of artists such as Willem de Kooning, Wassily Kandinsky, and Jackson Pollock while continuing to develop his own visual language. His work explores emotional rupture, transformation, instability, and the shifting space between dissolution and emergence. Sullivan's work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Missouri, including exhibitions at Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park Gallery, Gallery 218, Bridgeport Art Center, and Sage Gallery. His work has received numerous juried honors, including Best in Show, First Place, and multiple Ribbon Winner awards in 2025.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings begin when language ends.
I build surfaces though raw gesture, commanding color and marks made under pressure – I fight between instinct and intention and let it play out on the canvas. Nothing is precious. I bury it, tear into it, come back harder until something real breaks through. Color is force. Fire against darkness. Impact over elegance. Stillness in velocity. Every decision is physical, every layer a scar covered over. The figure haunts my work – not polished, not posed, but caught middissolution, energy escaping form. That’s the moment I’m after. The edge where control gives out. I don’t paint to decorate as much as excavate. What’s left on the canvas is evidence – and an invitation for you to find something of your own inside it.
