Brenna McBroom & Amy Massey, Opening July 1

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But when Pittsburgh native Amy Massey began exploring photography as an undergraduate at the Columbus College of Art & Design, she realized the medium’s limitations. “Photography is a reflection of what is physical, seen, [and] tangible. What I wanted to speak of through my art was more cerebral and emotional,” says Massey, who discovered painting — her current medium of choice — after college. Her most recent body of work, “Portals and Passages,” took root in 2018. According to Massey, the series consists of ethereal vignettes painted in watercolor and gouache. “My work reflects the ways in which we must turn inward in order to nurture and expand the softest parts of ourselves,” she says. “It is a reflection of my own healing and growth processes, and I hope it can be an opportunity to bring solace to its viewers, as well.” A curated selection of her pieces will be on display this summer at the FW Gallery at Woolworth Walk. Massey will be joined by Brenna McBroom, an Asheville maker who specializes in wheel-thrown, crystalline-glazed ceramics.