Stanek Gallery is proud to present Decisive Moments, a solo exhibition of new work by Donna Quinn. Quinn’s compositions are an open love letter to place and memory, drawing from specific objects, locations, and experiences from her own life and her family’s past. Rooted in internal examination and perspective, Quinn’s practice explores the tangible traces of the past that affirm we were here and considers what that presence means within the arc of personal and familial history. Quinn’s abstract paintings incorporate charcoal rubbings taken from sites of deep significance, including streets where her father lived, sidewalks in neighborhoods tied to formative memories, and surfaces that have quietly witnessed the passage of time. These rubbings are cut into strips and collaged alongside painted and drawn elements that she also fragments and reconstructs in the studio. Through this process, painting, drawing, and texture converge into layered works that hold both physical and emotional resonance. “My work is a pursuit of a painter’s decisive moment,” Quinn writes, “a felt convergence where a brushstroke, a gesture, or a poured mark suddenly resolves into meaning.” Her process balances anticipation and instinct as she builds, disrupts, and reassembles surfaces, allowing chance and intention to coexist. Each work preserves the memory of these decisions, indexing time, movement, and the point where creating and feeling meet. Born from fragments of previously painted and discarded materials, the work finds new harmony through recomposition. Quinn reflects on renewal and continuity, revealing how something once set aside can be transformed into a vital presence in a new context. The interplay of texture and color evokes history and connection, inviting a dialogue between varied experiences and backgrounds. Her work ultimately celebrates the beauty that emerges when past and present, familiar and unexpected, exist together. Decisive Moments will open with an artist reception and talk on June 6th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and will be on view through July 18th at Gross McCleaf Gallery as part of Stanek Gallery’s Outside the Box collaborative program.