Oliva Gallery invites you to experience Holding Space, a group exhibition featuring artists Jan Nakao, Laurie LeBreton, and Macus Alonso. Each artist approaches their work as a form of care, reflection, and experimentation in holding space for complex emotions and cultural memory.The exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, and installation to ask how we process what we carry, and how materials help us release, remember, or transform. Rooted in each artist’s distinct background, Holding Space centers process over polish and meaning over spectacle.

Jan Nakao: Painting from the Unconscious Jan Nakao, trained as a Jungian psychoanalyst, creates paintings guided by images from the collective unconscious. Her practice draws from decades of work in the field of psychological trauma and is shaped by intuition and the internalized “third hand”. The result is a body of abstract work rich with emotional depth and symbolic resonance. Nakao holds a Diplomate in Jungian Analysis from the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago (2005) and degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Champaign-Urbana.

Laurie LeBreton: Sculptural Forms of Renewal Working with handmade paper and natural materials, Laurie LeBreton constructs large-scale installations that reference ritual garments, natural growth, and inner transformation. Her sculptural work operates in the space between delicacy and resilience. These forms test the boundaries of material and meaning, offering viewers meditative entry points into the emotional and spiritual dimensions of healing.

Macus Alonso: Geometry, Body, and Cultural Memory Macus Alonso’s geometric abstractions investigate structure, rhythm, and movement through color and form. A central theme in Alonso’s practice is the relationship between the body and spatial construction, drawn from multicultural influences and grounded in personal narrative. Her use of layered paint and structural patterning encourages a dialogue between spiritual exploration and material experimentation.

About Oliva Gallery

Oliva Gallery is dedicated to showcasing exceptional work by contemporary artists with roots in

the Midwest and beyond. Through exhibitions spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media,the gallery fosters critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exploration, and inclusive cultural

engagement.