In her painted collage series Intermezzo, Gerri Spilka brings the same visual language that defines her textile work—bold abstraction, human resonance, and intuitive composition—into a new, more fluid process. These collages are not a departure but a momentary pause, a shift in medium that invites spontaneity and immediacy. The word intermezzo—a short break between movements—captures both the spirit and speed of the work: here, paper and pigment replace fabric and thread, allowing ideas to unfold with greater agility and fewer constraints.

While Spilka’s quilted works often rely on physical labor and structural planning, the collages offer a more forgiving and direct process. Shapes can be layered, reworked, or removed without consequence. With fewer process boundaries, decisions come quickly, guided by the same intuitive impulse that fuels all of her work. As she describes it, “There is layering in my other work, but here, I can apply shapes and paper on top of others endlessly—even erasing what was there prior.” The result is a body of work that feels playful, curious, and deeply responsive to the act of making itself.

Color, too, takes on a new life in these pieces. After recently working within a restrained grayscale palette, Spilka embraces a broader spectrum with renewed freedom. Because paint and paper are immediate and adaptable, she can create a color in minutes that might take days to achieve in dyed fabric. This reintroduction of color is joyous, surprising, and open-ended—each collage a vibrant conversation between hue, form, and space.

Though formally different, the collages still carry the essential themes that ground Spilka’s practice: the human condition, interpersonal dynamics, and the occasional aerial or place-based perspective. Her biomorphic shapes, dynamic rhythms, and sense of movement remain intact, now distilled into works that feel lighter, but no less resonant. Some of these works act as direct studies for future fabric pieces; others explore ideas that may never translate beyond paper—but all deepen her ongoing inquiry into how abstract form can communicate the complexity of lived experience.

With Intermezzo, Spilka invites us into a freer, more experimental moment in her practice—one where the speed of thought and gesture are more closely aligned, and where each piece becomes a record of both exploration and insight.