We Cling to Beauty as the World Falls Apart
Paintings by Eva McCauley
at the Saint John Art Centre
In a time of rising waters, wildfire smoke, and environmental uncertainty, We Cling to Beauty as the World Falls Apart brings together a compelling survey of paintings created by Eva McCauley between 2020 and 2025. These works explore the fragile tension between catastrophe and beauty—where vulnerability, memory, and human connection persist within a world under strain.
Through charged colour, shifting atmospheres, and small figures dwarfed by immense landscapes, the paintings invite us to pause and reflect.
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Saint John Art Centre, Port Saint John Gallery, Saint John, N.B.
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May 8 – June 27
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Opening Reception: May 8, 5–7 PM
- Artist Talk: June 27, 1 PM
All are welcome!
A full colour exhibition catalogue will be available.
Upcoming Exhibition: Saint John Arts CentreI’m very pleased to share that I will be presenting a solo exhibition of paintings “We Cling to Beauty as the World Falls Apart”, at the Saint John Arts Centre in Saint John, New Brunswick, opening in May 2026. This exhibition brings together three interconnected bodies of work created over the past five years—Splendid Isolation, Ruptured Landscapes, and Cataclysm. Shown together for the first time as a comprehensive survey, these paintings reflect an ongoing response to our changing relationship with the natural world and the accelerating realities of the climate crisis. The works emerged during a period marked by environmental disruption, global uncertainty, and a growing sense of instability. Across the paintings, small human figures appear within vast skies, turbulent seas, and fractured landscapes. They are not heroic or dominant, but vulnerable—witnesses to forces far larger than themselves. Fire, water, and weather act not as backdrops, but as active presences, shaping the emotional and physical terrain of the work. Although the subject matter is rooted in climate disruption, beauty plays a central role. For me, beauty is not a denial of crisis, but a way of staying present with it. It is how grief, fear, awe, and love coexist—how we acknowledge what is being lost, and why it matters. These paintings do not offer solutions; instead, they invite reflection on what it means to live attentively and ethically in a world that feels increasingly fragile. I believe there is real value in seeing these works together, in one large gallery space. The exhibition reveals the continuity between these bodies of work and creates a strong visual and emotional impact that is difficult to experience when the paintings are seen in isolation. An artist talk will take place during the exhibition, where I’ll speak more directly about the work, the climate crisis, and the role of painting as a space for reflection, attention, and connection. I hope you’ll join me at the Saint John Arts Centre in May to pause, reflect, and spend time with this work. More details to come soon!
 
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Here in southwestern Nova Scotia, as we all painfully aware, we are in a period of dire drought and wildfires are spreading rapidly, locally and all over Canada. Not only is the world being engulfed by fire, but massive flooding is taking place globally. The escalating global climate crisis continues to preoccupy me. My current painting series "Cataclysm", is about the climate crisis and our relationship with the environment. I've created a series of paintings that depict images of our ravaged oceans, shorelines and skies, juxtaposed with images of larger-than-life faces printed on transparent silk organza scrims. These will be suspended from the gallery ceiling so that the ravaged landscapes can be viewed through the emotionally-charged faces as well as independently. I am painting the faces of people who I speak with about the climate crisis, their reactions to it, and its impact on their lives and who have agreed to be photographed during our conversations. The paintings and the suspended printed scrims together will create an installation I hope will create a springboard for reflection, dialogue and action. The first iteration of Cataclysm will be exhibited at the ArtCan Gallery in September, in Canning, N.S. The show runs from September 6 to 27th, and the opening reception takes place on Saturday September 6th, from 7 to 9 p.m. I hope to see you!