Surrender To The Chaos - Limited Edition Print by Ariane Callender

In Surrendering to Alchemy, Ariane Callender explores the unseen forces that shape creation. Her work is a dialogue between control and surrender, intention and accident. Like the alchemists who sought to transmute base elements into gold, Callender experiments with materiality—layering texture, color, and gesture to encode meaning within the surface.

This theme of transformation became deeply personal after the birth of her first child. Motherhood, like alchemy, is an act of creation—one that is both intentional and unpredictable, both physical and intangible. Each painting in this exhibition reflects that journey of transition, renewal, and becoming.

Original: Surrender To The Chaos (2025) 

44 inches x 56 inches

Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas

Print Attributes:

30 Editions

Print Size: 14 inches x 18 inches
Margin: 1"
Inkjet on Moab Entrada RAG 290gsm Bright White

(Frame not included)

Curator’s Note:

As the first painting Callender created in this new collection, it represents a return to the studio—an embrace of spontaneity, movement, and the unknown. With a lavender backdrop illuminated by brilliant pinks, yellows, and subtle notes of other colors, this piece embodies the exhilaration of letting go.

Initially rooted in the desire for control, the work evolved alongside a realization: true clarity often emerges when expectations are released. Layers of color build upon a dark base, a technique Callender uses to soften the intimidation of a blank canvas. Through an intuitive process of adjustment and refinement, she allows each section of the canvas to develop in response to the whole, mirroring the way structure and order can arise organically from what first appears chaotic.

The painting serves as an invitation—to surrender, to adapt, and to trust that something new and unexpected will emerge.

- John Wesley Sargent, Curator and Art Advisor