ARTIST RECEPTION | Saturday, March 15, 4–6pm
Municipal Bonds is pleased to present Parallax, an exhibition of new and recent works by Jane Springwater, on view March 8–April 26, 2025. This marks the San Francisco-based artist's inaugural solo exhibition with the gallery, following her celebrated duo show last year. Join us for the artist reception on Saturday, March 15, 4–6pm.
Named for the optical phenomenon in which an object appears to shift depending on one's vantage point, Parallax explores how repetition, structure, and variation shape perception. Across Springwater's drawings and prints, precision and fluidity meet as forms expand, contract, and subtly realign. Working exclusively with ink on paper, she constructs intricate sequences of hand-drawn marks: some bound to geometric systems, others developing through organic motifs. Repetition provides both stability and transformation—grids offer a structural foundation, while shifts in density and placement generate an underlying sense of movement. As Springwater describes, "I devise rule-based systems to make works that are both highly ordered and free flowing."
Her compositions unfold through sustained concentration, accumulating over time into forms that are at once measured and evolving. In works from her Decelerating series, she establishes a glyph-like mark within a structured grid, using numbering systems and diagrams to determine placement, orientation, and layering. Other series, including In Motion and Between the Lines, develop with greater fluidity, adjusting balance and form in real-time. While these systems guide her process, she remains attuned to how each mark influences the whole—responding to what is already present while maintaining a sense of continuity.
This exhibition brings together works ranging from tightly structured compositions to forms that drift and intertwine, creating networks of density and openness. Tonal shifts generate gradients of light and dark, while in other works, patterns disperse and structure gives way to open space. Seen from a distance, they appear as tonal fields, their surfaces subtly shifting. Up close, individual marks emerge, revealing intricate layers—Springwater likens this to "an image coming into focus under a microscope."
Her process is one of construction and refinement, where rhythm develops through repetition and the interplay of precision and variation. The eye moves between density and spaciousness, registering form as something continuously reshaped. Small gestures accumulate into larger patterns, generating momentum that feels both deliberate and expansive. Internal logic informs the work, yet the structure remains responsive to shifts in balance and form.
While not explicitly referencing natural forces, Springwater's works suggest an inherent sense of motion and accumulation—forms responding to their own growth and shifts in density. "I am interested in how the smallest actions build into something larger and interconnected, how structure and spontaneity coexist, and how perception continuously shifts," she explains. In this way, Parallax reflects not only a perceptual phenomenon but a conceptual one: a way of seeing that is never fixed but always in flux. As light, distance, and attention shift, so too does the work—its structure responsive, its rhythms shaped by both intention and change.
Jane Springwater received her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, with a focus on conceptual art, as well as her JD from Washington University, and practiced law until 2019. She debuted at Municipal Bonds, San Francisco, with a duo exhibition in 2024. Her work has been featured in the Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Auction (2017, 2018, 2020, 2023) and included in Material Matters at Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA (2018) and the Kala Artists Annual Exhibition, Berkeley, CA (2018). In 2023, she received first prize for her etching in the national Works on Paper competition at the Long Beach Island Foundation for Arts and Science in Loveladies, NJ. Between 2019 and 2023, her work was also exhibited in national and international juried competitions, receiving numerous awards, including Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, England (2022); Sanchez Art Center (Regional), Pacifica, CA (2022); 12th Annual International Juried Exhibition, Gallery 110, Seattle, WA (2022); Transitions, 7th Annual Juried Exhibition, The Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, CA (2021); Searching for Meaning, Gallery Route One, California Society of Printmakers Juried Exhibition (2021); Ink & Clay 45, National Juried Competition, Cal Poly Pomona, W. Keith & Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, Honorable Mention Curator's Award (2021); Brand 48: Annual National Exhibition of Works on Paper, Glendale, CA (2020); 10th Annual International Juried Exhibition, Gallery 110, Seattle, WA, People's Choice Award (2020); Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA (2019); Works on Paper, National Juried Competition, Long Beach Island Foundation for Arts and Science, Loveladies, NJ (2019); Ink & Clay 44, National Juried Competition, Cal Poly Pomona, W. Keith & Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, Honorable Mention Juror's Award (2019). She is represented by Municipal Bonds.
