Eleanor Harwood Gallery is pleased to announce Carmen McNall’s solo exhibition in our Project Space.
Unbound Passages is a series of paintings that explores thresholds—doorways and portals that open into spaces of refuge, freedom, and continuity. These passages are not fixed in time; they move fluidly between past, present, and future, echoing ancient architectural forms that have long served as markers of transition, protection, and arrival.
Throughout the work, vessels, hands, and interior spaces function as holders of knowledge and memory. Architectural forms suggest a living library, safeguarded by caretakers entrusted with carrying wisdom forward. Quilted and woven, net-like patterns appear as visual structures of connection and protection—systems that bind, support, and hold.
Vessels and figures are adorned with recurring symbols and offerings, embedded within layered pattern and texture, reinforcing the work’s focus on nurture, guidance, and healing.
Female figures anchor the paintings as embodiments of strength, confidence, and feminine energy. Faceless yet assured, they exist as both personal and collective presences—echoes of ancestors and guardians. Their hands act as conduits between inner and outer worlds, emphasizing the body itself as a vessel of memory, intuition, and care.
Unbound Passages ultimately invites the viewer into a contemplative space—one that honors transition, remembrance, and the quiet power of those who protect what cannot be contained, only carried forward.
Artist Bio
Born in the Bay Area and currently living and working in Oakland, CA. McNall has recently shown in San Francisco at Glass Rice Gallery, New York at Uprise Art, in New Orleans at Octavia Gallery and in LA at Hashimoto Contemporary and New Image Art.
McNall recently completed multiple large scale murals and installations at LinkedIn, Google HQ, Facebook HQ, The Four Seasons in Calistoga and in an affordable housing community building in Santa Rosa.
About Eleanor Harwood Gallery
Eleanor Harwood Gallery opened September 2006 in the Mission District and is now located in San Francisco’s premier gallery complex, the Minnesota Street Project. The gallery specializes in work with complex craft and concept, exhibiting painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles and photography by emerging to mid-career artists. The roster includes artists that are represented in major American, European and Asian collections. The gallery actively promotes and encourages career growth for represented artists.
Location
1275 Minnesota Street, Suite 105, San Francisco, CA 94107
Hours
Tuesday-Saturday 11 am-5:00 pm and by appointment
Contact
(p) 415.867.7770
(e) eleanor@eleanorharwood.com
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
