Tender Alchemy is the first exhibition to present the works of Beth Ames Swartz and Julianne Swartz—mother and daughter artists whose distinct practices are united by a shared devotion to transformation, healing, and the invisible forces that shape human experience. Though their materials and methods differ, both artists engage in a kind of alchemy: a transmutation of matter, energy, and emotion into forms of quiet power and profound presence.
For more than sixty years, Beth Ames Swartz (b. 1936) has devoted her practice to spiritual inquiry and personal evolution, delving into esoteric wisdom traditions and spiritual cosmologies. Her layered, luminous paintings act as meditative spaces—vessels for reconciliation, transformation, and the poetic resolution of brokenness. Both deeply personal and interpretive, her practice reveals an enduring quest for enlightenment through symbolic and often ritualistic mark-making.
Julianne Swartz (b. 1967) synthesizes sound, light, energy, and other matter into participatory experiences that are both intimate and expansive. Her sculpture and site-specific installations invite tactile, auditory, and affective engagement, often incorporating ephemeral or immaterial elements to make subtle energies and emotional frequencies physically felt. Less about representation than presence, her work attunes viewers to unseen forces and suggests alternate modes of embodiment and empathy.
The exhibition unfolds across three galleries. The first surveys six decades of Beth Ames Swartz’s abstract interpretations of universal spiritual themes, revealing her lifelong pursuit of art as a catalyst for inner awakening and collective healing. The second presents new and recent sculptures by Julianne Swartz made as multisensory instruments to attune viewers to the energies that animate the body and environment. The third gallery presents their first collaboration in an installation of Beth’s newest series, Quantum Light, expanded through an immersive soundscape composed by Julianne.
Together, their work forms a cross-generational dialogue, grounded in tenderness, perception, and transformation. While their methods differ, their intentions echo across time and space, offering complementary visions of how art can serve as a bridge between worlds.
A catalog co-published with Hirmer Verlag will accompany the exhibition, featuring full-color images of Beth Ames Swartz’s paintings, Julianne Swartz’s sculptures and installations, and documentation of their creative processes and research. New scholarly essays deepen the exhibition’s themes: Lauren R. O’Connell explores intergenerational artistic vision by comparing the two artists’ practices, Dr. Susan Aberth situates Beth’s work within the tradition of transcendentalism; and Nancy Princenthal examines Julianne’s use of sound and vibration as participatory, experiential media.
Organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by Lauren R. O’Connell, curator of contemporary art. Support provided by World Class Sponsor Sarah and JT Marino, Signature Partner Ann B. Ritt Charitable Foundation, Signature Sponsors Jill M. Brown, Richard Corton, Nancy and Michael Gifford, Diane and Gary Tooker, and an anonymous donor, and Supporting Sponsors Jane and Mal Jozoff, Sally and Richard Lehmann, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, and an anonymous donor.
About the Artists
Beth Ames Swartz is an Arizona-based painter and artist who has interpreted spiritual systems through her work for over four decades. Her work has been presented in over 80 one-person gallery exhibitions and four solo museum exhibitions at The Jewish Museum, New York; Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary; Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona; and Arizona State University Art Museum. Swartz received the Arizona Governor’s Individual Artist Award in 2001. Her art is in public and museum collections, including The Jewish Museum in New York, The Smithsonian National Museum of American Art, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her work has been published in numerous books and catalogs and featured in ARTnews, Art in America, and Artforum reviews. A short documentary on the artist’s life and art, Beth Ames Swartz/Reminders of Invisible Light, is airing on PBS stations nationwide.
Julianne Swartz is a New York-based artist who creates immersive installations, sculptures, and photographs, giving substance to invisible forces such as sound, light, air, and magnetism. She has exhibited her work at national and international venues, including Tate Liverpool Museum, United Kingdom; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; New Museum, New York; Jewish Museum, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; Israel Museum Jerusalem; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; and Art Gallery of Western Australia. Awards include the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellowship in Music and Sound, the Anonymous Was a Woman Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Artist Fellowship, the Joan Mitchell Foundation award for Painters and Sculptors, and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture. Her work has been featured in articles and reviews in The New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, Frieze, Sculpture Magazine, Artnews, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.
Mar 21, 2026 – Jan 31, 2027
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