Life is a continuous movement between thresholds—each one a portal, each one offering both a goodbye and a beginning. In Portals, artists Carolyn Newberger and Dawn Nelson explore the liminal spaces that shape who we are, where we come from, and who we may become.

Nelson traces the voyage of her ancestors, stepping through time from a small red house in rural Sweden to a new life in America. Her work evokes the echoes of those who came before, revealing the courage, longing, and transformation that define the immigrant journey. Newberger, by contrast, turns inward, contemplating the recent death of her husband. She peers through the doorway of grief into the layered history they shared, and the uncertain but unfolding landscape of life without him.

Together, they ask: how do we move forward when something ends? What does it mean to cross into a new chapter, willingly or not? Every portal is both an entry and an exit, a space of transition and possibility. Through painting, mixed media, and storytelling, Newberger and Nelson not only reflect on personal shifts but also invite viewers to consider broader transitions across history, geography, politics, and imagination.

Portals invites us all to stand in that in-between space—to pause, reflect, and ask: where are we going next?