Stained by Time – Selva Aparicio – On view October 8, 2026 through November 16, 2026

Stained by Time, 2026

Selva Aparicio (born 1987, Barcelona; based in New York)

pressed peony petals from the Martin House gardens collected in spring 2026,
ash-tree imagery, and insect rubbings on paper
seven panels, each 84 x 21 in. (213.4 x 53.3 cm)

Created during Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Creative Residency
Courtesy of the Artist and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco

“I felt like something very real and precious had gone out of my life when they [the screens] left Buffalo, but I am sure the inspiration and joy they have always had for me will be passed on to others. After all, do we ever lose anything that has enriched our lives?”
— Letter from Isabelle R. Martin to Frank Lloyd Wright, June 19, 1941

Selva Aparicio arrived at the Martin House Creative Residency thinking about Frank Lloyd Wright’s art glass, particularly the Tree of Life motif. Wright had translated nature into geometry, metal, and glass; Aparicio set out to reverse that gesture by returning organic material to the architectural screen.

In spring 2026, with help from Martin House volunteers and friends, Aparicio collected and preserved thousands of peony petals from the historic landscape. Their color surrounds seven images of ash trees from the artist’s own property—trees killed by the emerald ash borer. On one side, they appear as dark silhouettes among the flowers. From the other, patterns emerge from insect rubbings hidden beneath their bark.

While developing the work, Aparicio soon learned that the Martin family had once lived with Japanese screens acquired through Frank Lloyd Wright. No image of them is known to survive. What remains are Isabelle Martin’s letters about the inspiration and enjoy they brought her, and the difficulty of eventually letting them go.

Stained by Time does not attempt to reconstruct those lost screens. Instead, Aparicio imagines another from what remains: the Martin House and its garden, her own changing landscape, and the traces left by things no longer physically present.

Selva Aparicio is an interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of sculpture and installation. Her practice explores memory, death, intimacy, and mourning, inspired by her observations of the cycles of life and death in the natural world.

The Martin House Creative Residency Program is made possible through the Herer Family Charitable Fund.