“How oft the warmth of the sun above
Makes a pretty young girl dream of love.”—Gustav Flaubert

L’Hirondelle offers a fantasy. Juliet Phillips, Naomi Chambers, and Alexandre Pépin, working across a diverse mix of media, prod to life a fantasy which centralizes figurative and emotional innocence, explores longing and myth, and brings childhood dreams and fears to light. The works in the exhibition create a new world, building a reality that encourages both reverie and delusion.

Taking inspiration from Gustav Flaubert’s 1856 French novel Madame Bovary, L’Hirondelle plays with themes that plague the eponymous Emma Bovary’s life. Though she suffers intense swells of boredom and despair, Emma also finds thrills in romance and desire. The hirondelle, a typical 18th century public horse-drawn stagecoach, comes to symbolize a vehicle for freedom and rebellion to Emma. Her weekly rides to meet her lover in the city allow her to lose herself in the passion of romance, and escape the banality of her married life. Emma builds worlds in her mind, quietly dreaming of a life in which her self and future hold grace, opportunity and opulence.

Phillips, Chambers, and Pépin transform the gallery into a place to play and dream; to revel in the joys of raising a child; to romanticize, contemplate, yearn, and wallow in the lives we lead and the lives we wish we could pursue. Just like Emma’s world in the novel, L’Hirondelle gives voice to the interior desires of those who seek softness. Though Emma’s naive delusions eventually lead to her downfall, L’Hirondelle graces us with hope, encouraging the dreamer to stay asleep.

About the artists:

Juliet Phillips (b. 1990, Brooklyn, NY) lives in Pittsburgh, PA as a teaching artist whose work explores myth, memory and family lore through painting, drawing and ceramics. She holds a BFA in painting from Boston University. Her most recent exhibitions include works at Bottom Feeder Books and PULLPROOF Studio in Pittsburgh, PA. She has taught at arts institutions such as Dieu Donné and The W.O.W. Project and is currently a member of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and The Pittsburgh Creative Corps. She was a 2026 Project Art Resident Teaching Artist at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Naomi Chambers is a multidisciplinary artist born in Pittsburgh in 1987. She paints, makes objects and creates installations bringing the two mediums together. She received undergraduate degrees from University of Pittsburgh, one in Studio Arts and one in Marketing. In 2017, she worked with a collective of artists to open Flower House, a community art studio and creative space in Wilkinsburg offering workshops and classes to the predominantly black community. In 2018, she had her first solo exhibition,

titled “Communal Futures,” at an arts institution, the August Wilson Center: African American Cultural Center. She is currently Community Liaison of Alisha Wormsley’s

Sibyls Shrine, a residency for creative mamas and a MFA graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Alexandre Pépin (MFA, UT Austin, 2022) is a French-Canadian artist born in Tio'tia:ke (Montréal) (1992) living and working between Austin, Tx and Pittsburgh, Pa. Pépin draws from the legacies of Byzantine and Early Renaissance Frescoes, Post-Impressionism, The Viennese Secession, and Pattern and Decoration, alongside a legacy of Queer modernists to portray moments of Queer intimacy and contemplation. Pépin’s recent work was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Esker Foundation (Calgary, 2026), Chili Art Projects (London,2025), Bradley Ertaskiran (Montréal, 2023) and Arenal Contemporary(NYC, 2022), and presented at the Dallas Art Fair (2025), SWAB Barcelona (2024), NADA NYC(2023), and on Platform by David Zwirner(2023). Pépin was recipient of the Quebec Arts and Letters Council(2017) and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation(2019), fellow of the Vermont Studio Center(2017) and the Ox-Bow School of Arts(2021), reviewed in Esse Arts(2021), New American Painting(2022), Glasstire(2022), and Sightlines(2022). Upcoming projects include a group show at Uffner & Liu (Nov 2026, NYC, Ny), and a solo show at Zalucky Contemporary (Jan 2027, Toronto, On).

Tomayko Foundation

On view