Solo show at Super Secret Projects opens June 10

Soon after Allegra Jordan experienced the devastation of losing her father to suicide, she gave birth to her son. In the midst of emotional chaos, the Beacon resident sought, as she often has done, “an exploration of consistency, a following of the thread of meaning” through her art.

The result, arrived at through “sitting with my low points and trying desperately to understand their origin,” she says, is a solo show, Even This Will Change, that opens June 10 at Super Secret Projects in Beacon. The six paintings were created on 40-inch square wood panels.

“Mother Big River”
“Mother Big River”

Jordan says her father’s death in 2017 engulfed her. She recently wrote: “For six years, I have felt like two different people: the one of before and the one of after. These are easy words to say, and written on this page, they look so small and insignificant. It’s not how they felt. They were huge, shockingly huge, moments. They felt like free fall. They felt like panic. They felt like nothing I know. I felt like a stranger to myself.

“I’ve been scared to explore fully the connection between who I was then and who I am now; the consistencies between the young girl whose world has been lost and the young woman who is building a new one.”

Jordan says three of her six works represent “before” and three are “after.” “What they share is what remains when life falls apart and pieces itself back together,” she explains. “I had to close the door of someone I’d known. I had to try to make something tangible out of it, giving a feeling to that experience.”

"Portrait of a Man"
“Portrait of a Man”

Jordan, who has a son in kindergarten, was born in Tokyo and grew up in Hong Kong and Singapore, among other Asian cities, because her father worked in foreign trade. When Jordan was in high school, he was transferred to Wisconsin and then New York City.

Jordan began painting at age 15 and found it therapeutic because of “the application of it, the feeling of release, of completing and creating without control around it,” she says. “The subject matter changed, but my style always revolved around that practice.”

She had thoughts of becoming a medical illustrator and enrolled at Fordham to study biology but was unhappy and left. After she participated in two group shows in New York City in 2017, her world was upended, and she focused on building her life, made both richer and more complicated by the birth of her son.

As a single, 19-year-old parent, Jordan sought companionship and found it in Beacon, where she moved in 2019, despite not knowing anyone. She was aware of the city through visits with high school friends.

Not long after relocating, she organized a group show at Big Mouth Coffee. That brought her work to the attention of the newly founded Super Secret Projects, which runs a gallery at the back of the Hyperbole boutique. The connections have led Jordan to additional opportunities, such as Beacon Open Studios.

Her move to Beacon proved a catalyst. “It’s giving me a reason to do this again,” she says. “It’s hard to make it a priority when there’s not someone giving you a reason to. Here, I have a community I can turn to and feel a part of. That is monumental when it comes to creating.

“It also allows me to see how other mothers approach their art,” she adds. “That’s what I’ve gleaned from the experience. This helps me with understanding the art world, how it functions and how I can find my own space within it. Beacon gives ways to fit art into the busy world of mothering. Beacon says, ‘You can do that.’ ”

Super Secret Projects is located at 484 Main St. in Beacon, inside Hyperbole. Its exhibits are open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. See supersecretprojects.com and allegrajordanart.com.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Rooney has been writing for The Current since its founding in 2010. A playwright, she has lived in Cold Spring since 1999. She is a graduate of Binghamton University, where she majored in history. Location: Cold Spring. Languages: English. Area of Expertise: Arts