We often think of art as being uplifting — a sort of creative soaring of the human spirit. Cathy Barry’s “Overview” at the Chelsea Center for the Arts follows this aspiration to its logical creative — if not always socially felicitous — conclusion.

As Barry, an art instructor at Washtenaw Community College, says in her gallery statement, “Aerial views of Earth have been the subject matter of my paintings for 5 years. I use many resources for material including satellite photography; cartography; geological surveys; oceanic and atmospheric photography; and photos from flights taken by myself.

“Most recently, I have been interested in the intersections and transitions found where land use changes,” continues Barry. “In these paintings, I’m experimenting and exploring different methods of paint application. I’ve become increasingly interested in surface and texture.”

It’s these observations in surface and texture (as well as environmental accountability) that account for Barry’s airy exhibit of 18 oil on birch and oil on canvas paintings at Chelsea’s Art Center.

For this exhibit, which initially appears to be an investigation into gestural abstraction, becomes even more intriguing as her earthbound elements begin to reveal themselves. Barry’s paintings have a rigor, and a spiritual dimension, missing in much recent gestural abstraction.

Some of the paintings feature overlays (ranging from templates, dripping, spraying and sanding) that are reminiscent of cartography; while other motifs, typically representing urban development, feature a rectilinear design whose repetition resembles a sort of geometric minimalism.

"Crossroads" oil on birch painting by Cathy Barry. On view in "Overview" at Chelsea Center for the Arts through March 26.

Image courtesy Cathy Barry

This combination of design and gesture makes Barry’s paintings more than a repetitive or design-oriented exercise. It is art with a purpose.

For example, the strategic blues and impasto of Barry’s 2010 oil on birch “Peninsula” are mingled to reference cartographic design with opposite shades of green jutting diagonally across the composition, to create the suggestion of a protruding land mass. Barry suggests an abstracted groundcover as seen from an impressive height.

“Encroachment,” on the other hand, features a vigorous handiwork whose predominant greens suggest water in marked juxtaposition to a confluence of squares in the composition’s bottom right corner. A spidery gray, blue, and green overlaid crosshatching gives the painting a foreground relief coupled with broader applied swipes of paint, speaking to Barry’s environmental concern as well as her creativity.

"Overview" oil on canvas painting by Cathy Barry. On view in "Overview" at Chelsea Center for the Arts through March 26.

Image courtesy Cathy Barry

And 2 30" x 40" oil on canvas compositions — “Urban Density” and “Overview” — serve as Barry’s supreme achievements. The green and yellow palette of “Urban Density” gives this painting a flashy charge that abets its aerial view of an urban development. “Overview,” by contrast, has a reddish tinge with a strategic gray contrast that thoroughly enlightens the composition.

Both paintings reflect a sharp eye intent upon observing the terra firma, but the distinction between palettes gives these works a keen expressive judgment. Whether rosy or not, Barry’s high altitude views of the world’s landscape are visual metaphors for what we are doing to our environment every day.

“Overview: New Paintings by Cathy Barry” will continue through March 26 at the Chelsea Center for the Arts, 400 Congdon Street, Chelsea. Gallery hours are noon to 2 p.m., Monday-Wednesday and Friday; and 3-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. For information, call 734-433-2787.