Contributed by Sharon Butler / In June, Two Coats of Paint welcomes Mirabel Wigon as our resident. She is a California-based artist and educator whose work draws together ecology, philosophy, and visual art. In her drawings and paintings, she constructs and dismantles plant forms to explore what she calls “messy entanglement” – the overlapping relationships that shape life on the planet. Her art moves well beyond botanical illustration, building a visual mythology in which flowers and plants become central characters in stories about disruption and resilience.
At the heart of Wigon’s practice is the conviction that non-human life is not merely a backdrop to the human story – that flora and fauna are agents with their own logic and meaning. Drawing on sources such as photogrammetric scans of botanical specimens, she captures something fluid and uncanny. Forms emerge in states of growth and decay, shifting between the familiar and the unknown. She describes the images as “compost,” imagining fertile disorder from which new possibilities can grow. Though acutely cognizant of the environmental challenges we face, she appears open to the possibility of serendipity and, in any case, apprehends stamina in nature.
Informing this sense of productive chaos is contemporary ecological thinking, particularly the idea that life does not evolve in isolation but through constant collaboration and mutual transformation. From this perspective, her paintings are less observations of nature than participations in it.
Wigon’s work has been exhibited widely, with recent shows at Monca in Chico, CA, Strata Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. Her work is held in the UC Davis Health Collection and the Provost Collection at California State University, Long Beach. She has completed residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, ChaNorth, and The Place on PCH, among others. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at California State University, Stanislaus, where she teaches drawing and painting.
Mirabel Wigon Two Coats of Paint Artist Residency, 22-19 41st Avenue, 6th Floor, Studio #10, Long Island City, NY. May 31–June 5, 2026. Open Studio: Wednesday, June 3, 5–7 pm. For more info or to schedule a visit, email STAFF@twocoatsofpaint.com with STUDIO VISIT in the subject. Follow Mirabel on Instagram @mirabelwigon
Studio playlist: KEXP radio, Spotify playlists – neo-psychedelic rock and indie music. “I occasionally listen to podcasts or the news in the studio, but only when doing something monotonous like cleaning and cutting stencils. Those tasks feel very akin to driving in many ways.”
Upcoming exhibition:
“Earth Stars,” Pence Gallery, Davis, CA. July 10–August 16, 2026
About the author: Sharon Butler is a painter, publisher of Two Coats of Paint, and director of the Two Coats of Paint Residency Program.
