Barrenderas: Maintenance for Impossible Weather; Drift, 2006
Camas de Ceniza / Ash Beds (2026)
Pueblo Unido Gallery
6212 N. Clark Street, Chicago
June 27–October 1, 2026
Saturdays, 10 am–3 pm, and by appointment
Camas de Ceniza / Ash Beds moves between Lake Michigan and the volcanic terrain surrounding Popocatépetl and Paso de Cortés, tracing connections between body and weather, breath and ash, erosion and maintenance, memory and place.
Born in Mexico City and based in Chicago, Susy Bielak brings into dialogue two landscapes that have shaped her life: the volcanic terrain surrounding Mexico City, where much of her family still lives, and the shoreline of Lake Michigan, her daily horizon for the past thirteen years. Geological diagrams, bathymetric maps, hazard maps, retinal scans, and other scientific imaging systems become tools for thinking through accumulation, instability, and the traces left by environmental, political, and bodily forces.
Developed over three years through research, travel, fieldwork, and studio practice, the project grew through dialogue and collaboration with Mexico City–based artist Nuria Montiel. Later fieldwork at Paso de Cortés brought Bielak’s longtime collaborator Fred Schmalz into the conversation. The collaboration drew together monitoring data from Lake Michigan and records of Popocatépetl’s exhalations, revealing unexpected correspondences between distant geographies and lived experience.
Bringing together paintings on amate paper, visual poems, suspended broom forms, volcanic ash, storefront paintings, needlefelt works, and photographs documenting temporary actions, Camas de Ceniza / Ash Beds considers how we orient ourselves within unstable environments—and how gestures of care, maintenance, and attention become ways of living with uncertainty.
Installation
Barrenderas: Maintenance for Impossible Weather. Handmade brooms and volcanic ash in handmade glass vessels
Paintings on amate
Barrenderas; Drift. 2006. Acrylic on amate paper, 47 x 95 inches
Accumulations, 2026. Acrylic on amate paper, 95 x 47 inches;
Visual Poems
The visual poems weave together text, scientific imaging systems, medical language, weather reports, and personal observation as overlapping forms of record.
Field Actions
A series of temporary actions, photographs, and observations developed during fieldwork in the volcanic landscape surrounding Popocatépetl.
Maintenance for Impossible Weather I, 2026. Photograph.
Correspondence I, 2026. Photograph.
Storefront painting
Bielak and Montiel painted the gallery storefront together, extending the exhibition into the street and surrounding neighborhood.
Storefront painting by Susy Bielak and Nuria Montiel, detail.
Credits
Camas de Ceniza / Ash Beds
Susy Bielak with Nuria Montiel
Curated by Abigail Winograd
Presented by Pueblo Unido Gallery, with support from Isabella Aguilar and Peter Fitzpatrick, and research support from Lake Forest College
Works by Susy Bielak
Paintings on amate paper, visual poems, suspended broom installation, storefront paintings, and photographs
Collaborative contributions
Storefront painting by Susy Bielak and Nuria Montiel
Needlefelt works by Montiel
Fieldwork/photographs at Paso de Cortés with Montiel and Fred Schmalz
Essay by Abigail Winograd
English–Spanish translation by Kenya Dworkin and Laura Martínez Terrazas
Exhibition photography by Ry Thiel and Chris Evans
Essay and Exhibition Materials
Press
Teddy Sandler, “Time stops at Pueblo Unido Gallery,” Chicago Reader, September 2026
Ally Fouts, “Susy Bielak’s Homes Interlace,” Newcity, September 2026
Press, interviews, gallery visits, images and inquiries
susybielak@gmail.com