Presented by Marla Estes of Building Bridgers
This event is about learning how to hold our differences with nuance, so that we can work together without shutting each other out.
Studies like Hidden Tribes and the Perception Gap reveal that Americans are less polarized than we think-but our misperceptions fuel division. By learning to step outside rigid narratives, we can create spaces where curiosity thrives and solutions emerge.
HOW TO BUILD A BRIDGE
What You'll Learn
• The Power of Humility: Why admitting "| don't know everything" creates space for growth and dialogue
• Beyond Black-and-White Thinking: How stereotyping and psychological splitting keep us trapped, and tools to embrace complexity instead
• Unlearning and Rethinking: Insights inspired by
Adam Grant on when to let go of old narratives and identities that no longer serve.
In a time when conversations so often fracture along lines of "us versus them." this workshop offers a path toward curiosity, collaboration, and connection.
• Rewriting the Story of "Us vs. Them": How to shift from survival-driven division toward collaboration and empathy.
• Media Literacy for Bridge-Building: Recognizing framing, negativity bias, and the illusion of truth shaped by repetition.
• Viewpoint Diversity as a Strength: How encountering different perspectives sharpens your thinking and strengthens collective problem-solving
The presentation backdrop at Langford art Gallery:
Beneath the Surface — An Exhibition by Abby Lazerow Phoenix, Oregon | Langford Art Gallery | October 3 – November 1, 2025
The exhibition Beneath the Surface by Ashland artist Abby Lazerow delves into the hidden layers of contemporary life. Lazerow uses multi-layers in her oil paintings to communicate how memory, history, and mythology intertwine with the present. The artworks move between realism, expressionism, and abstraction, guided by color and light, to reveal and conceal.
Human connection is central to the exhibition, particularly romantic couples, highlighting themes of tenderness, tension, perseverance, grief, and power dynamics. Additionally, Lazerow addresses broader societal issues: social divisions, systemic injustice, protest, and the longing for reconciliation and healing.
Lazerow aims to create space for ambiguity and transformation, suggesting that beauty and despair can coexist and that renewal is possible. Rather than seeking resolution, Beneath the Surface offers a space for reflection and transformation. Lazerow asks what it means to live fully in a world where beauty and despair coexist, while also pointing toward renewal.
“In this exhibition, I have included paintings that explore the subtle and complex layers of contemporary life. Many of the works are created in layers, some painted over older pieces, with traces of earlier images emerging. This process mirrors how we can view life on a surface level and then over time, deeper stories, truths, symbolism and secret histories can gradually be uncovered,” said Lazerow.
Lazerow lives with her family on a small farm in Ashland where she paints in her studio and raises sheep, fruits and vegetables. Before moving to southern Oregon, she was a museum educator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, an art instructor at UCLA and USC, and a California Arts Council artist in residence.
Artist ABBY LAZEROW
Exhibition Beneath the Surface
Lazerow also designed stage sets for theaters in Los Angeles and in Ashland. In Oregon, she has exhibited her work at Davis and Cline Gallery, the Elisabeth Jones Art Center, the Rogue Art Gallery, and the Newport Visual Arts Center, as well as the Schneider Museum of Art and the Grants Pass Art Museum.
Exhibition Details
This event is about learning how to hold our differences with nuance, so that we can work together without shutting each other out.
Studies like Hidden Tribes and the Perception Gap reveal that Americans are less polarized than we think-but our misperceptions fuel division. By learning to step outside rigid narratives, we can create spaces where curiosity thrives and solutions emerge.
HOW TO BUILD A BRIDGE
What You'll Learn
• The Power of Humility: Why admitting "| don't know everything" creates space for growth and dialogue
• Beyond Black-and-White Thinking: How stereotyping and psychological splitting keep us trapped, and tools to embrace complexity instead
• Unlearning and Rethinking: Insights inspired by
Adam Grant on when to let go of old narratives and identities that no longer serve.
In a time when conversations so often fracture along lines of "us versus them." this workshop offers a path toward curiosity, collaboration, and connection.
• Rewriting the Story of "Us vs. Them": How to shift from survival-driven division toward collaboration and empathy.
• Media Literacy for Bridge-Building: Recognizing framing, negativity bias, and the illusion of truth
shaped by repetition.
• Viewpoint Diversity as a Strength: How encountering different perspectives sharpens your thinking and strengthens collective problem-solving
Presented by Marla Estes of Building Bridgers
October 12 | 4:00 PM – Artist Talk with Abby Lazerow
October 25 | 5:00 PM – Community Building Presentation with Building Bridgers and Marla Estes
The October 25 event marks the 7th presentation in a 10-part community-based series hosted by Langford Gallery, focused on strengthening human connection and building bridges among divides within our region.
