‘All is a Circle Within Me’ at San Juan Islands Museum of Art
River of Their Passing (detail) | ink and collage on paper | 70” x 600”
A meditation on time, spirit, and connection, Emily McIlroy’s work interweaves geometric abstraction and organic figuration to explore the circle as a symbol of unity across cultures and lifeways.
The works in this exhibition showcase the eternal interconnectedness of existence through two radically different modes of representation—one figurative and organic, the other abstract and geometric. Both modalities take the circle as their central theme, a universal symbol used across many cultures and spiritual traditions to embody wholeness, unity, and timelessness.
Emily’s work, Blessings to the Seven Directions, consists of six geometric works structured around a Celtic infinity knot. It abstractly represents both the temporal plane of life in which time is chronological and the eternal plane in which time and space are boundless.
The figurative work, River of Their Passing, alludes to an unbroken circle of time represented by an overlapping and interconnected line of caribou. It images an existence in which there is no division between past, present, and future, and no separation between the world of the living and the world beyond. In this work, the artist conceptualizes that caribou assist in the circle of life by assisting the spirits of salmon, which have spawned and died, to return to the sea.
In creating these pieces, McIlroy embraces a world view in which all beings and phenomena are profoundly and elegantly bound together in relationship.
—San Juan Islands Museum of Art
All is a Circle Within Me will be on view September 26th-December 1st, 2025 at San Juan Islands Museum of Art in Friday Harbor, WA. There will be an opening reception on September 25th from 5-7pm. Please stop in and visit the caribou and the Celtic knots, if you can! Learn more about the exhibition by visiting the SJIMA website HERE.
South/Summer | pastel, colored pencil, acrylic on gessoed paper | 60” x 60”