Lake George, N.Y. – The exhibition “Balancing Ecosystems,” on display at The Courthouse Gallery of the Lake George Arts Project from Saturday, June 21st to Wednesday, July 2nd, features the work of four artists: Lauren Comito, Milcah Bassel, Amanda Thackray, and Rachel Frank. Their multimedia artworks invite viewers to explore the visible, hidden, and symbolic aspects of natural beauty found in aquatic environments. Each artist expresses ideas of interconnection between organisms within ecosystems through imagery such as grids, nets, and repeating patterns.

This curated exhibition came together after visual artist Lauren Comito received a Community Art Grant from the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council in 2025. The New York City and Huletts Landing-based visual artist used this grant to examine and portray copepods, tiny crustacean zooplankton, along with aquatic plants found in Lake George, bringing to light the interconnected systems that contribute to the purity of the lake.

Comito enlarges the scale of these microscopic organisms through cyanotype prints, making them visible. The images reveal the delicate and intricate structures of these tiny creatures that play an essential role in filtering and purifying the water, elevating them to the status of “guardians of the lake.”

Milcah Bassel, whose work has been exhibited at the Rubin Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and other venues both nationally and internationally, applies unique materials and processes to explore both cultural and natural structures. Her pieces in the exhibition are inspired by the use of a grid to represent water in ancient civilizations, creating intersecting rippling patterns on unique pulp papers.

Amanda Thackray, who is currently the inaugural Environmental Protection Agency Artist in Residence for the lower Passaic River in New Jersey, also utilizes grid patterns in handmade paper designs that combine notions of nature, industry, and human experience. Her netlike imagery is a malleable grid referencing both organic material and human intervention within an environment.

Brooklyn-based artist and wildlife rehabilitator Rachel Frank uses various material processes, such as ceramic, fabric, and drawing. The material transformations that occur in the art-making process mimic the restorative processes that occur in the healing of lives and habitats. The repeating patterns in her work express the interconnections and exchanges between species.

The Artists’ Reception for Balancing Ecosystems will be held at The Courthouse Gallery, 1 Lower Amherst Street, Lake George, NY, on Saturday, June 28^th from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. The reception is free of charge and open to all.

On Sunday, June 29^th, the gallery will be open from 12:00 – 4:00 for a Sunday Arts gallery tour and art-making opportunity.  The program is free of charge and open to all ages.

The Lake George Association and the Lake George Arts Project are offering a special Floating Classroom experience in conjunction with the exhibition on Wednesday, July 2^nd, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.  Participants will measure the water, identify and examine the zooplankton depicted in the artworks, and create their visual interpretations of the experience. For more information and tickets, visit the LGA website, lakegeorgeassociation.org.

On Saturday, July 19^th, Beyond the Shore, an event day that is the culmination of Lauren Comito’s work, sponsored by the LARAC Community Art Grant, will be held at the Huletts Landing Park, 6303 Sunset Bay Road in Huletts Landing. The artist’s cyanotype banners will be on view, and there will be a reception from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in the pavilion.

Lake George Arts Project Courthouse exhibitions and programs are funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature, the Town and Village of Lake George, 518 Profiles, The Alfred Z Solomon Charitable Trust, The Touba Foundation, and LGAP members.

The Courthouse Gallery is located at the side entrance of the Old County Courthouse, on Lower Amherst Street in Lake George, NY. During scheduled exhibitions, our in-person office and gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, 12:00 – 5:00 pm, Saturday, 12:00- 4:00 PM.

If you would like to visit exhibitions outside of gallery hours or request a tour for a group, please contact June Waters, Director of Exhibitions, at junew@lakegeorgearts.org.

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Image: Lauren Comito, Copepod No. 8, 2025, cyanotype on paper