For almost a decade, a cutting-edge community gallery in the heart of Maspeth has been making waves within the borough’s artist circles as a popular art hub. Offering enriching creative experiences for New Yorkers and tourists, Mrs. Gallery highlights emerging and established artists from near and far who have something important to share through amazing works of art.

The little Mrs. never disappoints, with yet another ambitious event! Art lovers across New York City and beyond: Don’t miss “QUEENS,” on view now through Aug. 14 at their gallery space (60-40 56th Dr.). Spend an afternoon enjoying an inspiring group exhibition, featuring conversation-sparking works by seven diverse, Queens-loving creatives, whose shared experiences – living and working in their favorite borough – are forever entwined through a unique collection of soul-stirring creations: paintings, sculptures and mixed media offerings that reflect deeply personal art making, inspired by Queens.

Our special borough still offers possibility, despite an ever-evolving landscape, shaped by economic realities (the “Whole Foods Effect?”). So, head on over to Mrs. and experience an event that captures a fleeting snapshot of art-making in NYC, at this pivotal moment in time.

“Going into our tenth year as a gallery, I think it’s important to reflect not only on how we’ve grown but how the borough around us continues to evolve,” Mrs. Associate Director and Curator Lily Pendery said. “Art history is shaped by community and influences neighborhood development. While many think that Maspeth is ‘far away,’ this show ultimately reveals it’s all relative.”

Exhibition artists Wallace Dibble, Olivia Sage Hamilton, Michelle Im, Mo Kong, Ada Roth, Isabelle Schipper and Kalina Winters all share a special bond. Some of the artists shared their thoughts about their relationship to Queens and what it offers creatives like themselves in this moment – and how their everyday surroundings have influenced their work.

Photo by Olympia Shannon

Mo Kong (born 1989, Shanxi, China) lives in Sunnyside and makes art from her studio in Jamaica. Her work combines sculpture, installation and emerging technologies to explore migration, survival and speculative futures.

Queens was the first place in New York that truly felt like home, as an immigrant. Its diversity and everyday immigrant communities have deeply shaped how I think about migration, belonging and survival in my work. It’s not just a community of art; it is a community for life.

Queens still offers artists space to experiment and a community shaped by many different cultures and perspectives. While that spirit remains, rising costs (in LIC) are making it harder for artists and local communities to stay.

One of Mo Kong’s works of art that will be on display. Photo courtesy of Mo Kong and Mrs.

Kong’s work investigates science, identity and speculative futures, which is specifically informed by her experience as an immigrant. “Compass I” is from her &”Swift Island Chain” series, which explores the melancholia and communicative informational gaps experienced by Asian immigrants. The freestanding sculpture serves as a compass, using magnetic fluid and astrological maps carved into the glass dome,
charting the past, present and future, which reveals and considers intrinsic migratory patterns. From the perspective of migrating birds, “Compass I” imagines a navigational device that reflects the uncertainty, memory and adaptation of the immigrant experience.

The artist has presented solo exhibitions at the Queens Museum, among other venues. Her work has been featured in a range of publications.

Olivia Sage Hamilton (born 1995, Boston, Massachusetts) is a painter, living and working in Maspeth.

Queens houses many of my favorite art-viewing experiences: the Noguchi Museum, SculptureCenter, MoMA PS1 and, of course, Mrs. – which I have been a fan of since moving to NYC in 2018.

For years, I shared a studio in the 1717 Troutman building in Ridgewood, which is chock full of phenomenal artists (such as Michelle Im, who is also in this show). I now have my own live/work space just down the street, where I’m able to roll out of bed, walk into the next room and begin painting. My studio window overlooks a corner of the Linden Hill Cemetery at the base of the Woodward Avenue hill. On the edge of Maspeth, I also have access to the Bushwick and East Williamsburg studios of many friends and fellow artists.

This show reaffirms that Queens is my forever home. I can simply never leave!
One of Olivia Sage Hamilton’s artworks on display at Mrs. Photo courtesy of Olivia Sage Hamilton and Mrs.

The artist’s recent practice is grounded in world-building. In a series, like “A Council of One,” Hamilton has pre-designed the floral backdrops occupying the background of each work, as well as the figures which she sculpts herself. Intentionally lighting each still life to consider formal aspects of the composition, her creations are contemplative, considering relationships between the feminine, nature and myth. Her work has been presented in various spaces across the US, UK and India.

Another artwork from Hamilton on display. Photo courtesy of Olivia Sage Hamilton and Mrs.

Michelle Im (born 1984, Atlanta, Georgia) is a Ridgewood-based, Korean American ceramic artist.

I live and work within a 20-minute walk from each place, in Ridgewood. Sometimes, I drive and it takes five minutes (no shame). Being in a neighborhood full of artists keeps me grounded and inspired. For now, I’m locked into relatively decent rent, which allows me to stay focused. But of course, that is always changing in NYC.

I make figurative ceramic sculptures about ‘women’s work,’ service, labor and the performative aspects of labor. Recently, I’ve been exploring this theme through service objects that accompany these roles, such as the stacked napkins in the current show.

“The American Club” is a recent work, created during Im’s residency at Kohler Co. in Wisconsin. The sculpture’s title is named after the hotel across from the Kohler factory, dating back to 1918, which used to house immigrants employed by the manufacturer. For Im, the napkins recall her time as a service worker, having to fold napkins repeatedly at the end of her shift. Repetitive and mundane, the task also created an intimacy between workers through shared gossip and working closely with one another.

Michelle Im’s “The American Club.” Photo courtesy of Michelle Im and Mrs.

The artist’s work was included in the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 2024, which was reviewed by The New York Times. She has held residencies at John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Kohler Co. (Arts/Industry Pottery, 2026). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, ARTnews, Hyperallergic and other publications. She is a faculty member at Greenwich House Pottery in NYC.

Isabelle Schipper (born 1995) is a Ridgewood-based painter.

Her interesting works, like “Two Girls under Two Arches (Visitation)” and “Paper Doll Chain Painting 4,” demonstrate the artist’s interest in femininity and interconnectedness. From a formal perspective, Schipper also investigates the possibilities that drawing and painting can offer. Her female figures are immediately recognizable, speaking to her use of symbolism and femininity. All clad uniformly, they hold hands, creating an image that is both visually compelling, but also seems to allude to something bigger – the female condition.

Isabelle Schipper’s “Two Girls Under Two Arches.” Photo courtesy of Isabelle Schiffer and Mrs.

In 2018, she collaborated with Small Editions to print and publish the risograph zine “Bikini Girls.” Originally exhibited at the New York Art Book Fair (MoMA PS1), this work is now held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ohio University, SUNY Purchase, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, the University of Michigan and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Schiffer’s “Paper Doll Chain Painting 4.” Photo courtesy of Isabelle Schiffer and Mrs.

Wallace Dibble (born 1999, New York, New York) is a multimedia artist, living and working in Long Island City.

I think the place where you live and grow up plays a fundamental role in forming your visual language. Having grown up in Jackson Heights and now working in LIC, I can say my everyday surroundings have undoubtedly influenced my work. Queens, as a borough, has a unique relationship to visual quiet and noise. Parts of it, like the city at large, are plastered with screens and posters, with visual stimuli every two feet; conversely, parts of Queens are suburban. In my own work, this has translated into a fascination with visual noise.

Although NYC is constantly changing, at the moment, Queens – like the Bronx and surviving remnants of Brooklyn – offers artists more affordable space than other parts of NYC. Having witnessed firsthand the ‘Sohofacation’ of Brooklyn in the 2000s and 2010s, I hope that Queens remains resilient, keeping its artists and its character.

Working with oil paint on printed mesh, my work features multiple painted images within a composition, in an effort to mimic and digest the way images are viewed online.
One of Wallace Dibble’s artworks. Photo courtesy of Wallace Dibble and Mrs.

In her painting practice, the artist looks to create narratives from the photographic archives of strangers. With humor and restraint, Dibble’s paintings look to mystify the visual language of everyday life, arriving at an uncanny realism. Some images appear as a distant memory, while others are rendered boldly, like printed snapshots, giving the viewer the feeling of fear that they missed out.

Kalina Winters (born 1995, Newburgh, New York) is a Maspeth-based still-life painter.
One of Kalina Winters’ artworks. Photo courtesy of Kalina Winters and Mrs.

Mostly interested in still-lifes, Winters’ recent paintings have also taken on the specificity of the vanitas genre (that symbolizes the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the inevitability of death). Originally used to visually convey morality, the objects and materials used communicated life’s fleetingness. In “Backlit Vase,” a red vase sits on a desk, illuminated. Low on a stem, lilies appear opened and pink, while above, unopened buds are silhouetted in shadow. A new candle has been lit but has gone cold.

Winters’ “Backlit Vase.” Photo courtesy of Kalina Winters and Mrs.

Ada Roth (born 1994, Milanville, Pennsylvania) is a Ridgewood-based painter who creates surreal compositions, oscillating between total abstraction and recognizable forms.

Roth’s works are grounded in an ethereal space, where total stillness seems impossible; some delicate shapes continue to elongate and some recess to the back of the plane. A bird emerges, a leg, a torso. Her own personal considerations and anxieties inform her work, often revealing their form before the artist can, and she developed a unique visual language that explores themes of emergence and transformation. Roth’s creations are an invitation to witness the artist’s continual journey into her own emotional and spiritual depths.

One of Ada Roth’s artworks on display at Mrs. Photo courtesy of Ada Roth and Mrs.

She told QNS: “It’s hard not to always come back to the issue of affordability. I believe Queens still has the potential to be a home for artists, but preserving that identity means protecting the affordability that has allowed its creative community to thrive in the first place.”

Another art piece from Roth. Photo courtesy of Ada Roth and Mrs.