Dana Ellyn

Another Dog Day Afternoon by Dana Ellyn

Dana Ellyn, whose art is widely known and collected throughout the animal rights and vegan communities, will be exhibiting her work alongside fellow DC-artist Matt Sesow at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD from Aug. 4 to Aug. 30. The opening reception is on Aug. 4 from 6pm-9pm.

1. What is your art about?

My art most often focuses on animal rights and veganism and pretty regularly strays to politics and current events. And for fun I throw in some more light hearted scenes of drinking and debauchery. I also have an ongoing historical series of work, started in October 2013. I am using the Cultural Tourism DC Neighborhood Heritage Trail guides to inspire paintings, creating a visual history of Washington’s most fascinating moments. (dc.danaellyn.com)

2. Within the framework of your own work, what is the purpose of art?

The purpose of my art is to make people think. I don’t expect to convert everyone to being a vegan (or vegetarian), but I know my art is affecting people. It's helping them to open their eyes to the plight of the animals and encouraging them to give more thought to the food they put on their plate. When I paint about politics, half my viewers probably disagree with the opinion I’m expressing.  But I believe that’s the beauty of art - to engage the viewer, not just placate them with pretty pictures.

3. How has your work changed over time, and what should we expect to see at Artists & Makers?
To go way back …. I was first attracted to the ‘pretty’ art of the Impressionists when I was in grade school and high school. My earliest art was purely realistic and proper, garnering good grades and praise for my technical skill. Once I started to study art history in college, I gained a great love for art that had stories to tell - whether historic-, allegorical- or religious-themed. But it took me a long time to inject what I’d learned into my own art. It wasn’t until about 10 years after I graduated from college, when I quit my corporate job to pursue art full time, that I truly started to explore and grow as a painter. Over the past 15 years of full time painting, my style has evolved from pure realism to be more expressive. My subject matter has run the gamut from religion to politics to what it means to be a woman. The past few years, I’ve turned my focus to be about veganism and animal rights, creatively posing the question, “why do we love some animals and eat others.”

Columbia Pike Artist Studios Open House and pARTy in Arlington, VA

On Saturday, Nov. 14 from 6-9 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 15 from 2-5 p.m., the Columbia Pike Artist Studios (CPAS) located at 932 S. Walter Reed Drive in Arlington, VA welcomes all to an open house event and party. Tour studios and meet artists working in a variety of media, including oils, pastels, acrylics, collage, encaustic, watercolor, printmaking, photography and sculpture.

Below is a sampling of the artwork on view and what some of the artists had to say about the role of art and CPAS in their lives.

Barbara Wolcott

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

I have been at CPAS for 22 years. I joined while finishing my junior year at the Corcoran School of Art and Design and was worried I would have to give them money that day (I had only $2.00 in my pocket ). After graduation, CPAS was where my "art community" lived. It encouraged and enabled me to dare move my process and learning further. Art can not just stay on one rung of a ladder.

2. How would you describe your work?

Movement is a major issue for me, and I am curious to observe the variety of shapes that are created by dance or work in humans and machines, how they produce their products. I am also interested in the shapes created as they produce. Gesture drawings of humans acting out their dramas of life. these initiate my paintings and are fun beginnings.

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

I have really thought about this before. It just seemed necessary. I will answer by saying that life is so important, but words rarely express the necessary depth needed to describe the emotion a person is feeling. This makes art extremely important for reaching that depth of feeling, whether by visiting an art gallery or creating the art yourself (which is always challenging).

Maria Panas

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

I first sublet a studio at CPAS nine years ago and became a member and got my own studio one year later. It's been great. The encouragement, warmth and friendship I experience at CPAS is priceless.

2. How would you describe your work?

Observing all art gives an education and pleasure, but the works of the New York Abstract Expressionists put me on fire, so that is the genre I have developed. I also like the peacefulness and depth of Zen paintings and develop that feeling on paper and canvas in my quiet moments.

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

Being an artist has given me great pleasure. Painting offers a wealth of self-knowledge. It is a venue for self expression, a place of refuge, an escape when needed, and a chance for pure fun. 

Jay Young Gerard

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

I had to wait two years after moving to the Columbia Pike neighborhood before I could get off the waiting list and into a CPAS studio! It was worth the wait. I have been here for over two years now, and it is exactly what I hoped it would be. It is three blocks from my house! It has provided a collegial atmosphere among similarly-minded artists. It has given me not only dedicated space, but incentive: I think if my studio were more difficult to get to or unwelcoming when I got there, I would not feel as supported as I do here. It is a community and a refuge and an ongoing education.

2. How would you describe your work?

I have been a design professional for 40 years. In my professional life, I had to be able to justify every mark, color, word, decision to the client, and every single thing had to be perfect. There could be no errors in concept or execution. Painting for myself has proved to be a challenge: letting go of both concept and perfection is an ongoing goal. My ultimate goal was stated by Rothko: "The purpose of my painting is painting."

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

I can't sing! Less facetiously, it's what I've done my entire life, every day of my life, in one way or another. I also write. Between words and pictures, I am constantly expressing myself, my world view, my feelings, my memories. It is frustrating, thrilling, satisfying, ridiculous. Sometimes I stand back and look at my work and cannot remember how I did what I did, how I got there. It's eerie, and the biggest high ever. It's also extra wonderful when someone else values my work. That is the cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae I made after having churned the ice cream and melted the fudge and whipped the cream all by myself. It is the best stuff of life.

Sarah Bentley

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

I have been at CPAS for one year, exactly since last Nov. 1.  Having a community of supportive artists of all types has been invaluable, almost as invaluable as having a space dedicated just for working on art!

2. How would you describe your work?

My work has yet to settle into a theme.  I am a classical realist working with oils, exploring still lives and allegories, and coming back to portraits again and again.

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

Through making art, we are bringing something new into the world with every piece. It's a way to safely emote and decompress in a world where we are constantly aware of dangers around us, or a way of finding a small portion of peace in a chaotic life. Art is an expression and sharing of ideas in a visual language that surpasses a need for words.

Nan Morrison

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

I have been a CPAS member for six and a half years. Being a member of CPAS has enriched my artistic endeavors immeasurably. It is inspirational and educational to be in a community filled with diverse artists, multiple points of view, and various approaches to creativity. I have learned so much about technique, style, materials, resources and mediums from my fellow CPAS artists. It is great fun to compare notes with my friends at CPAS about composition, scale and framing regarding my paintings and how they evolve along the way to finality.

2. How would you describe your work?

First of all, I am a colorist. My paintings are very intuitive and expressions of how I feel in the moment. My abstract works reflect my interest in color, line, shape, texture, pattern and form.

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

Art is a huge and incredibly valuable part of my life. I love the individual nature and unique qualities of creativity. My paintings are a wonderful and important extension of who I am and how I feel. I am a docent at the National Gallery of Art and teach the art of the Renaissance for Georgetown University. The special thing about my own paintings is I can do whatever I want: my work reflects an important part of my overall well being. Art is great therapy!

Anne Hancock

1. How long have you been involved with with CPAS and how has it helped you in your artistic endeavors?

As one of the three founders of CPAS, I have been at the studio from the beginning, through the process of incorporating, leasing, fundraising and renovating.

2. How would you describe your work?

My work is largely personal and reflects my interactions with and memories of places, family and friends.

3. Why is art and art-making meaningful to you?

Creating art is my way of expressing my thoughts and reactions to the world where I live and the people with whom I interact. It is a way of capturing and paying tribute to those small, everyday activities that collectively define who I am.

Shanthi Chandrasekar

This article appeared in the Gaithersburg Patch on March 5. 2011.
 
Update: Shanthi Chandrasekar is exhibiting between now and the end of September in a solo show titled "Cosmic Vibrations" at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville: 100 Welsh Park Dr, Rockville, Maryland 20850.

"What do you do if your whole life is a point," asks Shanthi Chandrasekhar, who is a painter with an academic background in physics and psychology. She paints kolam patterns, which in their native setting in Tamil Nadu, India, intend to bring prosperity and longevity to households.

"Women paint the kolam patterns with rice powder outside their doorways. I always lived in an apartment, so I never got to do it as much as I would have like to," said Chandrasekar, who grew up in Chennai and has lived in Bangalore and Singapore before moving to the Unites States.

"The dots represent obstacles that we have to face in our lives. When I paint, I usually put down a grid of dots and then I weave the kolam around them. But what if your whole life were a dot?"

Among the kolams are a series of paintings that feature matrices of women's portraits. Myriads of women in different emotional states, expressing serenity, anger, sadness and myriads of other emotions through their painted countenance, coalesce into what Chandrasekar deems a representation of Shakti, or Energy. In Hindu mythology, Shakthi is the female counterpart of Shiva or Vishnu, the Creator and Destroyer diety. Shakthi represents the creative power of the feminine, and Chandrasekar's paintings of collective female energy operate at the level of scale.

"I could keep on adding to them," she says, as she muses about the powerful effects of a cosmology constructed entirely out of feminine energy.

Tirelessly enthusiastic about producing work and talking about her work, Chandrasekar exudes some of this feminine energy herself. In her home studio, she has canvas upon canvas of artwork covered in kolam linework, ancient and modern scripts from a variety of linguistic backgrounds, and meticulously hand-crafted Tanjore style paintings depicting Krishna, Shiva and Lakshmi among other deities.

"I did some of my Tanjore style paintings while I was pregnant and bed-ridden," said Chandrasekar who does not let anything get in the way of making art.

Her interests in physics, cosmology and culture intersect not only in her kolam paintings, but also in her elements paintings, representing Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. Among her works are also a small-scale chakra painting, as well as a number of small kolam paintings in ink.

Otherwise, Chandrasekar works in acrylic and uses gesso to create any relief patterns she requires to evoke energy fields or ripples in time and space.

After a short discussion on wormholes and sunyata (the Hindu/Buddhist concept of emptiness) in front of her Nataraja (or the depiction of Shiva as a cosmic dancer preparing the universe for Brahma's act of creation) set against an endlessly deep phalo blue universe with comsmological concepts like e=mc2 and etched in white paint against the bottomless hue of the background, Chandrasekar mentioned that she loves to paint to music. Some of her pen and ink drawings evoke a loose visual seriality that only musical scores express with consistency.

"My work often plays with direction. In the Shakthi series, I paint some of the faces looking backward, but the overall painting intends to communicate forward motion. As with the kolam, which is impermanent, the nature of reality is such that we look back, not forgetting the past — our roots — while moving forward."

Chandrasekar has introduced five new original kolam designs as part of her current repertoire. Painted against a multichromatic background of ochres, reds, greens and siennas, these kolam patters are modelled according to a pinwheel, a grid, a single vanishing point, and multiple vanishing points. Each takes a slightly different interpretive spin on the kolam tradition while staying true to the basic principles of the line drawing ritual. The dots mark the obstacles and the lines that weave through them remain continuous and uninterrupted.

Anne Cherubim

 This article appeared in the Gaithersburg Patch on February 19, 2011.

Update: Anne Cherubim has moved studios and can now be found at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD. Her new studio is at 11810 Parklawn Drive, Studio 15, Rockville, MD 20852. She and the other artists at Artists & Makers Studios are hosting an open house on June 5, from 6-9 pm.

Born in Montreal and of Sri Lankan descent, Anne Cherubim recycles her own artwork. She creates fascinating 3-dimensional spaces out of sections of old paintings, drawings and monotype prints. The outcome is unrecognizable as a piece of the original. It opens up a whole new world of extruded geometry.

Zooming in on a small section of a digitized piece of artwork she has created in the past, Cherubim breaks up the sample into pixels, which she then extrudes at different angles in Photoshop.

Short of revealing her entire working process, she says that the work can be both addictive and "something you can get lost in."

Regardless of the motivation behind its making, Cherubim's Recycled Art Project, recently on exhibit at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, is a sight to behold.

Subtle color shifts and neutral tones explode into perspectival spaces, from a distance, reminiscent of JMW Turner's turbulent seascapes. Color schemes in the Recycled Art Project are in part determined by the original sampled artwork that Cherubim chose to focus on, but the artist does not hold to any steadfast rules of production. Sometimes, a closer look at one of her Recycled Art Project pieces reveals an added layer of linework or a new color overlay executed in Photoshop.

"I do all my work on my PC," said Cherubim, who is patient, talented, and has a tremendous creative vision.

Before starting the Recycled Art Project she was working on a series of landscape paintings. In her home studio, which is conveniently located next to her kitchen, she has a rack of Recycled Art Project, as well landscape paintings. A few small pieces on canvas board are demonstration paintings, she has completed as part of a workshop series for Michaels stores in the Gaithersburg area. They feature woods in purple hues and are well-rendered for quick demonstration paintings.

The rest of her landscapes are large-scale acrylic paintings that are primarily abstract.

"At an art festival I was in a few years back, where I displayed my landscapes, people would walk into the booth, and some would say things like 'Wow. They’re so zen. They’re so calming.' Someone beside them would say, “No, I see a lot of motion.” I enjoy the contradictions that they are," said Cherubim. "I see them as energy."

Compositionally, the landscapes are vastly different than the Recycled Art Project in that they do not have a perspectival vanishing point and read more horizontally and less centrifugally. Both the landscapes and the Recycled Art Project have a certain smokey airy lightness about them.

"Since my kids were born, I only paint in acrylic," said Cherubim, who is equally invested in her children's upbringing as in her art creation.

She moved to Gaithersburg with her husband in 2003 and has devoted herself to painting full time ever since.

Self-taught, Cherubim began painting because she did not have a job that she would be giving up in order to pursue her passion. She was familiar with the starving artist scenario, but decided to take advantage of what she came to see as good timing to delve into painting.

"I would consider the Recycled Art Project digital painting," she said. "People usually come up to me and wonder how I did it. They want to know how long it takes."

The level of abstraction she attains in her recent work is about letting go of preconceptions and delving into an unknown territory. Cherubim is pushing the limits of her medium in the Recycled Art Project.

Besides teaching painting at the Kentlands, Rockville and Germantown Michaels arts and crafts supply stores, Cherubim is a member of the Art League of Germantown, the Rockville Art League and the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association.

A Portrait of the Artist: Rulei Bu

 This article appeared in the Gaithersburg Patch on August 9, 2011.

Update: Rulei Bu is showing his work once again at the Gaithersbug Arts Barn from April 24 through May 17, 2015. The opening reception is Tuesday, April 28, 2015 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Rulei Bu produces 30-40 paintings a year and teaches over 100 students.

He is an avid landscape, still life and figure painter, approaching all three subjects with a different set of criteria.

"Cityscapes are my absolute favorite subject. I want them to be colorful and vivid, and I usually layer them with heavy brushstrokes for texture."

Bu has painted scenes from Adams Morgan in Washington, DC, nautical landscapes in Annapolis and Bass Harbor, Maine, scenery from Acadia National Park, as well as quaint, historic canal towns on the outskirts of Shanghai in China. He has an eye for perspective and uses a limited but bold palette that captures lighting conditions accurately and evenly across the canvas.

"I want my still life works to have a modern realistic feeling. For instance, a straight line or a big, uniform field of color in the background might contrast with the realistic flowers in front."

He uses color and texture to make all of his works more interesting and evocative, he says.

"For my figure paintings, I use a more classical realistic look."

From photographs on trips across remote regions, Bu has painted portraits of minorities in China such as migrant Tibetans and Yi people.

A native of Shanghai, he moved to the United States in 1998 to reunite with his mother.

"My father is a painter and professor of art at Shanghai University. You could say he inspired my career," said Bu who studied Fine Arts at Shanghai University.

"In school I did quite a bit of drawing and watercolor painting, but recently I have been painting mostly in oils."

He claims that his work is not influenced by anyone in particular or any individual style.

"I analyzed different styles of art from art magazines and galleries and absorbed a lot from these sources," said Bu who has been featured in various national magazines himself.

In 2008 he was one of 30 entrants to be chosen for publication in Artist's Magazine out of a pool of 10,000 artists. While he was featured in several solo and group shows in China, since he moved to the Washington, DC - area, Bu has had 20-30 solo shows locally. He
has also participated in national group shows throughout the United States.

In 2010, the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society awarded him the Platinum Palette Award.

On July 29, 2011, a show of his work will open at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg. He will be exhibiting ten of his paintings alongside two works from each of ten of his students. There will be 30 pieces total in the show, which has a free-to-the-public opening reception on August 9, 2011 from 7 pm - 8:30 pm.

"I tell my students that the most important thing is to love art and keep drawing and painting. They have to both enjoy it and work hard in order to develop themselves."

Bu teaches high school and middle school students from Montgomery County, Hagerstown and Northern Virginia out of his home studio in Boyds, Maryland. He teaches 5-7 students at a time on the weekends.

"I am looking forward to the Arts Barn show with my students. I have shown there in the past twice on my own. My young students are very talented and hard-working. This is a great opportunity for them to exhibit their work early on in their career, and I think it's always interesting to see the influence of a teacher on his students."

In 2008, Rulei Bu and three of his students showed together at Gaithersburg City Hall.

He is represented by Framer's Choice Gallery in Kentlands and has had recent solo exhibits at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in 2008; Visions Exhibition Space in 2007; Arts Club of Washington in 2006; BlackRock Center for the Arts in 2006; The Art League Gallery in 2005; Gaithersburg Arts Barn in 2003 & 2005; Weinberg Center for the Arts in 2002; Glenview Mansion Art Gallery in 2001; Dumbarton Concerts Gallery in 2000; Rockville Arts Place in 2000; National Institutes of Health in 2000; Strathmore Hall Arts Center in 2000.

A more complete listing of his awards includes: Platinum Palette Award in The National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society "Best of America! 2010 Exhibit"; Honorable Mention in The Artist's Magazine's 25th Annual Art Competition in 2008; Top 100 Winner in Paint the Parks Art Competition in 2008; Top 100 Winner in Paint America Top 100 Art Competition in 2006 and 2007; Top 10 Finalist in The Kirkland's Home Next Great American Artist Contest in 2006; Best-in-show Award in Rockville Art League Show, The Art League Show, Montgomery County Art Association Show, and Reston Juried Art Show.

A Portrait of the Artist: Hiu Lai Chong

Hiu Lai Chong in her studio at VisArts in 2011

This article originally appeared on the Gaithersburg Patch on Aug. 20, 2011.

With multiple awards and gallery and museum shows already under her belt, oil painter Hiu Lai Chong only resigned from her full time career as a video game artist last year. She is a resident artist at VisArts in Rockville and paints there full time when she is not on a plein air outing. ...

"You have to work harder than anyone else and then you will get better," said the artist who has produced well over 100 paintings in the past year. Although her studio is covered in paintings from the last two years or so, most of her work is away on loan.

"I am always in competition with myself. If this painting is better than the last painting, what more could I ask for."

She also has fun with it:

"Plein air painting is like going on adventure or exploring. When you are painting full time, you are exploring full time."

Chong tends to get personal with her subject matter. She prefers to paint outdoors where there is action and things are constantly changing. Racing against shifting light conditions and undeterred by snow or blazing heat, she does quick study paintings, which she takes back to the studio and scales up in greater detail.

"Camping at Sky Meadow," which won First Place in the Washington Society of Landscape Painters 97th Awards Banquet, was one such study. She blew up the painting later in order to better capture the expression on the faces of the figures.

"I was really captivated and moved by the way one man was reaching out to fuel the fire and felt that it was important to show the expression on their faces. I also thought that the contrast between the gun in the foreground and the peacefulness of the rural scene was interesting," said Chong.

Another one of her plein air paintings "Across from Train Station" won the 3rd Prize in the 2010 Cranford Plein Air Quick Draw.

"I don't know who would paint stop signs at an intersection," said Chong. "I think I won because no one else would paint this subject. It caught my eye, and I'm using it to express my own personal mood and feeling."

The painting makes use of a distorted perspective, significantly foreshortening the crosswalks leading up to the muted train station in the background albeit its potentially mundane subject matter.

"Travelift," which won Best in Show in the 2010 Paint Annapolis outdoor event also makes use of an expanded foreground. It is part of Chong's extensive marina series.

"When I was doing this painting, one of the workers in the marina came up to me and told me how happy he was that I was painting such an important piece of machinery, which is used to lift boats in and out of the water for routine repairs. I really felt like I was a part of what was going on around me that day. It was sweltering hot, I could hear the clamoring of the hammers, and I could smell the grease on the ground."

She has painted many local waterfront scenes including views out to Reagan Airport from Alexandria, Tilghman Island and the St. Michael's Maritime Museum. When discussing her love of boats, marinas and life on the water, Chong sympathized with sailors:

"Just like artists, sailors get better at what they do through practice, regardless of weather conditions."

It is this kind of reverence for what she paints and sensitivity to her environment that allows Chong to capture the light quality and inherent movement of any given place with delicacy and attention to detail. She does not seem to mind hot or cold weather.

When she moved to Gaithersburg about ten years ago, she went out to the train station in Olde Towne and painted the train. Last winter, she revisited the locomotive on a snowy day and painted the steam engine sitting out on the tracks covered with snow.

"It was like revisiting a friend," she said.

"It was before they put the red nose on it," she reminisced. "I feel like trains are alive. They are like a person when the steam comes out. They are so picturesque and remind me of the Industrial Revolution. They are an icon of an era, so to speak. The internet, which is the icon of our era, is invisible. It's very difficult to paint. Trains are visible."

The painting, titled "Snow Day," was featured in the Oil Painters of America 20th National Exhibition.

"Baseline Array" and "Sea of Clouds" were painted from photos she took above cloud level on the top of Mauna Kea Volcano National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Hawaii.

"I felt like I was in a surreal place. The setting made me think of the relationships between humans and nature. There are just so many unknowns out there, and so little we know about the universe."

With a low horizon line and looking up to the sky, both paintings evoke a sense of wonder and perhaps even futurism.

Chong received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Insitute of Chicago with a Fellowship Award. Prior to her time at the Art Institute, she studied art at the Jockey Club Ti-I College in Hong Kong and Applied Science at Navarro College in Texas. She confirmed that art was her true calling while on an internship through the Art Institute's New York Studio Program, which provided her with a studio to work in and an internship near Wall Street in New York.

"Seeing everyone going to work in business suits and working around the clock, I realized that I really wanted to do something I would enjoy. All the foot traffic around the New York Stock Exchange inspired me to make a film - 'Grid Lock'," said Chong.

Although she spent many years working a creative job in an office, Chong is now dedicating herself to producing more work and participating in shows.

"When I first got to VisArts, the Gallery Director, Brett Johnson, gave me a solo show in the Spotlight Gallery, which was wonderful. I travel a lot so I can't teach much, but when I do teach, I try to share the influence of my own teachers with my students."

Chong took classes at the Art League of Alexandria with Ross Merrill, a painter and Former Chief of Conservation of the National Gallery of Art.

"He had a lot of insight into the work of the Old Masters. He was a plein air painter. Sadly he passed away last year. His influence and career makes me think: Don't waste time. Go full swing with it."

Chong also studied with Ed Ahlstrom at Montgomery College. As one of her first teachers in this area, he gave her the direction she needed to take off.

Her influences include: John Singer Sargent, Rembrandt, Chao Shao-an, Richard Schmid, David Leffel and Nelson Shank's Studio Incamminati. Robert Liberace, Rick Weaver, Danni Dawson, Ted Reed, Sara Poly, Ross Merrill, Ed Ahlstrom, Sandra Dowd and Tom Sale are some of her past teachers.

She is a member of the Portrait Society of America, Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists, a member of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painter Association, and the Chinese Culture and Art League. Her paintings have won awards and been shown in museums around the country including the Academy Art Museum (Maryland), Coos Art Museum (Oregon), the Biggs Museum of American Art (Delaware), the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (Maryland), the Buffalo Naval Park Museum (New York) and the AnHui Museum in China in "Ten Artists of Greater Washington, D.C."

She has gallery representation with McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland and South Street Art Gallery in Easton, Maryland.

Interview with Glen Kessler: How to Market Yourself as an Artist

Photo Credit: Evan Goldman

The following interview about marketing your work as an artist is based on a lecture that Glen Kessler, founder of the Glen Kessler Atelier in the Academy Program in Rockville, Maryland, gave to the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association on November 13, 2014.

1. Who should think about marketing his or her work as an artist?

Everyone!

In all seriousness, marketing is a skill - just like making art is. You don’t want to wait until you are producing masterpieces at the easel to begin learning how to apply to shows, develop a website, manage a social media presence, or talk to prospective galleries and buyers. You want to go through your "awkward- student phase" of marketing while you are still going through your student phase of making art.

Another way to think about marketing is to understand that cultivating a career in the arts is like owning a company. Like with any business, in order to be successful, you need a CEO to chart the course, CTO to work on the web and social media aspect, CFO to check on the financial viability of your operation and on taxes, legal department to handle contracts for commissions, PR department to advertise for you, and of course, a sales force. All of these people are you! Making the art itself represents just the "manufacturing plant" of this business. If you don’t advertise, learn how to sell and use technology, and network, then, you just might end up with a warehouse full of unsold merchandise.

2. To whom should artists be marketing?

When you start, start locally. It is cheaper, easier, and you are more likely to net results when targeting your local community. As your reputation builds, and you learn what works and what doesn’t, only then, you might want to expand your range, budget and ambition.

Many artists exhibit their work in juried group shows, many of which are listed on sites like TheArtList.com or ArtShow.com. There are thousands of shows to apply to. One factor I encourage emerging artists to consider is geography: Determine a distance that you are willing to drive your artwork (30 minutes, 4 hours, whatever) and only apply shows within this distance. This is recommended in part because of the high cost of shipping. For modestly sized works (up to 18x24"), it can cost $30 to box up a painting, $30 to ship it, and don’t forget about the return shipping fee, which you must purchase in advance. So, you’re in for approximately $100 a piece, per show, in addition to the entry fee.

Delivering your own artwork to local exhibits also gives you an opportunity to talk with the organizers. They might be more inclined to advocate for you if they know who you are, have talked with you about your work, or even like you. I once got a solo show out of such a conversation. It’s good to be a person to them, and not just a piece of art.

Another important aspect of marketing is learning how to talk about your work. You want to project an air of professionalism at a show of your work, whether it is a group or solo show. You may still consider yourself a student, but that is not something to tout in a public forum, like in an exhibition, an application proposal, or to prospective patrons. Also, learn certain buzzwords or phrases that easily convey what your work is about. Try to boil it down to as few words as possible, practice those phrases, and begin to own them across all platforms of your public persona (website, promotional materials, and in conversation).

3. What are some basics Do's and Don'ts of marketing your work as an artist?

Do cast a wide net. Apply to group shows, join local arts organizations, go to art events in your area, apply for competitions, grants and residencies, talk to other artists, accept speaking, jurying or teaching opportunities. Build your brand through repetition.

Don’t get discouraged. I wear it with pride that still, after 20 years, I get rejected from half of the shows I submit my work to. If I’m not getting rejected, that means I’m not being aggressive enough.

Do study what others have done, and make it yours. Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” So, observe other artists’ websites and social media, exhibition records and talking points, and then own the best lessons you can draw from them.

Don’t only apply to things you think you will get. Apply to shows, competitions and residencies that you don't think you can win. You will be surprised just how many you might get.

4. Why is this an important topic to lecture on? How do you integrate marketing know-how into your curriculum at the Academy in Rockville, MD?

There is only one other topic that is more important to discuss in a program that claims to offer students the ability to become professionals in their field  - of course, that other thing is how to paint, which we do quite admirably in the atelier.

It has always astounded me that discussion of the business side of one’s art career is a taboo topic in so many art schools. It’s as if these institutions believe that upon graduation, their students will be magically endowed with a skill set that often contrasts the sensibilities that brought them to their chosen artistic field in the first place. It’s an absurd notion, of course, and one whose time has expired.

In the atelier, we devote a significant portion of the third, thesis year to learning about the business. We cover everything from how to enter shows, photograph artwork, frame and price art, write grant proposals, develop a website and social media presence, and we even discuss how to teach. I sincerely want every one of my students to be able to operate at a professional level of art making, and I believe that every one of them can in fact achieve that.

Artist Interview: Natalya B. Parris

"Winter Evening" by Natalya B. Parris

Natalya Parris has won the Best in Show award for her painting "Winter Evening" at the annual Woman's Club of Chevy Chase multimedia exhibit. (Parris is an artist and art educator, who will be teaching a Spring Break camp, "Art Around the World" for children at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg from April 14-18.) Below is an interview with her on her views about art and art-making.

1. Where and how would you display your work in an ideal situation?

Since I am working on a series of artworks "Memories of Hillwood," where the artworks are inspired by the orchid flowers I saw in the Hillwood Greenhouse and museum’s priceless collection of art, in an ideal situation, I would love to display my art at the Hillwood’s Dacha. The Hillwood Museum & Gardens in Washington, D.C. has the largest collection of Russian fine arts outside Russia. If I were to dream further, I would like to exhibit in my favorite museums - the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. I learned that life is full of surprises, more unpredictable and fascinating than any Hollywood thrillers. I hope my art journey will give me an opportunity to exhibit my art in places beyond my wildest dreams.

2. If expository writing is good at elucidating and proving a point and descriptive geometry gives us the tools by which to map objects in space in relation to one another, what kind of an apparatus does art afford us? What does art do best?

What art does the best is healing the soul. I know it from my own experience. I know it from my young students who are discovering the world, and mature senior students who come to class with the words, "I do not know how to paint and draw" and later discover that while they are creating they forget about troubles, pain and sadness. They are one with art and not only love doing it, but they are also good at it. As my four-year-old student said, "Art is the best thing in the world. I cannot live without art."

3. What can you expect from your audience/fans/viewing public? What would you like them to know about your work?

I hope my audience/fans/viewing public continue asking not only me, but also themselves, the question, "How does she do it" [create this art?] and try to find this answer. I hope my art evokes curiosity and interest in art and life; I hope it encourages people to be creative in all aspects of life. I hope that the audience/fans/viewing public know that I am very sincere and honest in every work I create; I do not hide my thoughts, emotions and feelings. I share them with people in the language of art, and my tools are brushes with paints, pencils and pens. Through my art, I tell the audience all my life adventures with the passion given me by nature. It is all there, just take a deep breath, keep an open mind, and you will see a story of my life in my paintings.

4. Marcel Duchamp said - "Enough with retinal art!" What is your reaction as an artist to this statement?

It is a catchy phrase – an invitation to dialogue, discussion about "retinal art." As there are many people and points of view, there are as many opinions about "what is retinal art, and why some are bored with it?"

5.Do you think that there is still room for art movements in today's pluralistic climate?

Life does not stand still; neither does art. There are new art techniques, interesting styles, new materials that artists use to create innovative work. For me, art is the form of life – the way we think, the way we talk, the way we write, the way we dress, the way we cook, the way we paint and draw, it is all art.

6. What is one question you wished we had asked you about your art? Please feel free to answer it .

The question is, "Where can we see your art now and in the coming months?"

My artworks are on display at:

"Women in the Arts 2014" the MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS March 14 – April 5, 2014 exhibit; MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS, 2500 NW 79th Avenue, Suite #104 - Doral, FL 33122

Art of Stewardship (TAOS) "Artist as Messenger" March 12 - April 19, 2014 exhibit at the Howard County Conservancy;10520 Old Frederick Road/PO Box 175  Woodstock, MD 21163; PH: 410-465-8877

10th Women International Exhibition, March 5 – March 29, 2014 at the Latino Art Museum; 281 S. Thomas St. Suite 105, Pomona, CA

"Call for the Halls" March 14 - May 15, 2014 exhibit at Capitol Arts Network; 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852

Art League of Germantown (ALOG) February 7 - April 4, 2014, exhibit at Kentlands Mansion, 320 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg MD

Woman’s Club of Chevy Chase 39th Annual Community Art Show and Sale (March 28 - 30, 2014) Address: 7931 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-5922

Art League of Germantown (ALOG) "Shades of Spring," April 2 – 6, 2014 exhibit at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD 20874 301.528.2260;  Opening reception on Wednesday, April 2 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Closing reception on Sunday, April 6 from 1 pm – 3 pm.

Natalya B. Parris: 'A Kiss of Sunshine'

"A Kiss of Sunshine" by Natalya B. Parris

Natalya B. Parris, Maryland artist and educator, recently accepted an award in the "Her People" category of the annual Keep Montgomery County Beautiful photography contest. Her photograph, "A Kiss of Sunshine," features a moment at early sunset during April in Milton M. Kaufmann Park, Montgomery Village: A patch of sunlight grazes her daughter, Victoria Parris's brow, as golden light pierces the branches of a blooming magnolia.

On an opportune nature outing turned modeling photo shoot, Parris snapped the photo just in the nick of time, as the fleeting golden hue paused on its cosmic arch:

"This park is my favorite place to walk and run. I took a walk there and saw magnificent blooming trees. I went home to take my camera, and my daughter Victoria wanted to go with me for a photo shoot. She asked me to teach her how to be a fashion model. I explained to her that being a model requires a lot of hard work before you see a beautiful photo.

"While we were working on taking her photos with Saucer Magnolia blooms, I noticed how beautifully the bark of the tree matched the color of her hair. The ray of sunset sun touched her face, and here it was, that magical moment, when the sunshine kissed her eye in the shape of a heart and changed the color of her green eye to golden. It was like a sun whisper, 'Good night sweet girl. I will shine for you tomorrow.'

"I am happy I captured that moment.  It will forever remind me about my special bond with my daughter."

Parris learned of the photo contest 10 years ago at her local library. She decided to enter the contest because she is very active in and a strong believer in contributing to the community, she said. She won awards in both instances.

An art instructor at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, where she has expanded her teaching program to include a popular children's camp, "Art Around the World," she has also recently ventured into teaching "Wine with the Masters" and art appreciation classes to adults at the regional BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown and Sunrise in Montgomery Village, respectively.

In collaboration with the Maryland Department of Transportation, the annual Keep Montgomery County Beautiful contest recognizes noteworthy photographs taken in Montgomery County by county residents, as well as public and private landscaping and gardening projects.

"ZigZag" at Gallery B

Figurative4Group, composed of four artists who explore the human figure, will be exhibiting in a show titled "ZigZag" at Gallery B in Bethesda, 7700 Wisconsin Ave., Suite E, from Nov. 6 - 30.

"Our show is called 'ZigZag' because although we’ve each come from different directions to figurative art, technically and thematically, we’ve been moving forward together. Even though all the work is figurative, each artist has a unique approach. This show is where our artistic paths cross, our focuses align, and the influence we exert on each others' work will determine our future directions," says Nancy Abeles, one of the participating artists, who also noted, with Cathy Abramson, that shared commitments to family, career and community have brought this group together.

An opening reception will be held Saturday, Nov. 16, from 6 - 9 p.m. at Gallery B, which is also participating in the Bethesda Art Walk, Saturday, Nov. 8, from 6 - 9 p.m.

Each artist has provided a preview of her work in the upcoming show.

Nancy Abeles, whose work focuses primarily on the role of women in American culture, reflects on how luxury consumerism has replaced religious devotion in society:

"House of Worship” fools with Baroque compositions and iconography. Your "It Bag" brand is your denomination; the faithful flock weekly to the shopping mall. We are saints or sinners depending on budget. On the right, as the "crone," I initiate my daughter into the ritual. On the left, she’s the postulant attaining a purse epiphany. Instead of putti flying overhead in a fresco, there’s the atrium skylight, though true heavenly salvation beckons from the shops.

Cathy Abramson, whose work captures urban environments, inviting the viewer into an isolated moment or nook in a complex scene, depicts a wedding celebration on the streets of New Orleans:

“Second Line” is a typical New Orleans scene of wedding guests who parade and dance behind a brass band. The energy and spontaneity of the celebration contrasts with the young woman’s thoughtful expression. The vibrance, light, the time of day, and the woman's expression set up juxtapositions of emotions in a momentary scene.

Elaine Lozier, whose work explores the human figure through movement, wearable cultural artifacts and the histories these suggest, wonders how a Japanese girl in traditional costume fits into her contemporary context. 

I’m interested in people, not just how they look, but where they’ve been and the influences in their lives that continue to affect their thoughts and actions. As a swimming coach to youth and college counselor, I saw these influences take shape. In this picture, “Japanese Past 1,” we have a traditionally attired Japanese girl. Does she know where the costume came from? Did her grandmother wear a similar one, and what did she think about while traditionally dressed? Romance? Beauty? Cherry blossoms? Or everyday matters? Today and every day, we are a product of yesterday.

Jan Rowland, whose work treads between realism and abstraction by bringing subconsciously perceived phenomena to the forefront through an intricate layering of patterns, documents reflections in city windows:

"City Reflections" captures the instant of a fleeting reflection in a city store window. Reflections of the passersby are woven into surrounding patterns and shapes. This is similar to our subconscious mind, which recalls fragmented images or patterns, or a bright color or strange shape, which then merge together to form a memory. This painting is one of a series that delves into memories and window reflections. The images merge together to create a fascinating interplay of figures, shapes, colors and patterns.

  

Natalya B. Parris: Artist and Educator

Natalya B. Parris, From Russia with Love

Prolific and widely exhibiting painter and children's art instructor Natalya B. Parris has three juried shows in Maryland during August. They are at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Glenview Mansion in Rockville and the Capitol Arts Network in Rockville. Parris has created several new pieces, part of her "Memories of Hillwood" series, which will be on view at BlackRock (Breaking Traditions: An Exhibit of Innovative Art, July 31 – Aug. 24; Reception: Sat. August 3, 5:30 -7:30 pm, Main Gallery, BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown) and Glenview (Symbols, Series, Selves, Aug.3 - Sept.4, 2013; Reception: Sun. Aug. 4, 1:30 p.m., Glenview Mansion at Rockville Civic Center Park, 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville).

More about the artist

In one corner of the long gray formica table, one student is vigorously mixing tempera paint with an old watercolor paintbrush. A few feet away, another is meticulously gluing a piece of orange construction paper to a shoe box in preparation for the next layer of family photographs. Yet another is stamping out silhouettes of cats and apples with a shape cutter, deliberately and methodically setting them aside for later use.

A young boy listens as Natalya explains how Paul Klee paints abstract compositions of adjoining color by mindfully subdividing a blank page into geometric shapes.The students unanimously recognize Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel as their teacher diverts their attention to a celebrated representational artist.

These are Natalya B. Parris's Inspired By The Masters students, and they are no more than three to six years old. They don large button-down shirts as smocks, and roll up their sleeves when they set to work on their masterpieces. Natalya opens their eyes to the work of renowned artists, simlutaneously encouraging them to continue developing their oil pastel drawings, fresco paintings or memory boxes, as the case might be.

Parris, an artist and educator, lives and works in Gaithersburg. She has been teaching art classes for young artists at the Arts Barn since 2007.

When she is not teaching, tending to her family or meeting with other artists in the area, Parris devotes all of her energy to her paintings. There is more to her pieces than meets the eye, but she refuses to divulge her working process. But her lips are not sealed.

On the contrary — she encourages you to look closely and notice all the layers of paint that are visible to the naked eye, but only on very, very close inspection. She prods and quizzes until you begin to see for yourself how all the acrylic paint on the canvass creates a visual field of subtle color and depth variation.

Whether painting organic forms or strict geometric patterns, Parris uses meticulously overlayed and opaque swathes of color or perfect circles of acrylic to generate the perception of depth. In her recent painting, "The Bride," depicting a white waterlily against a deep, Prussian blue background, she even creates a relief-like underlay out of acrylic.

"It's not resin," Parris said. "Artists usually use resins to achieve this kind of effect. I use pure acrylic paint."

Born and raised in Moscow, she attended The Moscow State Construction University to become a civil engineer. With an understated sense of humor, she recalls her first day on a construction site. The construction manager was in utter disbelief at the sight of a "ballerina" on his rough and tumble turf. An avid storyteller who can string episodes from her past into a logical and colorful succession, Parris uses this motif to segueway into her career as an artist.

"When I moved to the US, I thought to myself: new place, new beginning! I always had a lot of creative energy, and my engineering background is not lost in my paintings."

In a group show titled "Under the Spell of Minerals and Gemstones" held at The National Institutes of Health in 2008, Parris displayed a series of acrylic paintings that blend swirls of pigments modelled after gemstone colors.

There is a chaotic precision to the interplay of shape and color on paper, and at first, the image appears to have been created digitally. On second glance, it becomes clear that layers of acrylic have dried on top of one another to create these carefully crafted explosions of seeping paint. The paintings in this series are evocative of a chemical process seen under an exacting magnifying lens.

Although technique is very important to Parris, the cultural relationships that her work references do not remain understated. In preparation for the NIH exhibition, Parris studied the significance of gemstones in forging social bonds in ancient and contemporary cultures. She learned that turquoise protects health and lapis lazuli conveys romantic love. Her artist's statement for this show, as do most of her anecdodes, focuses almost exclusively on these more tangible details about her work.

Over the past few years, Parris has shown her work throughout the United States and internationally. She has exhibited at the International Art Expo in Las Vegas, the Museum of the Americas in Doral, Florida, the International Artists exhibit in Malmö, Sweden, at Svenska Konstgalleriet, the International Artists In Florence exhibit at the FYR Gallery, Borgo Albizi 23 – Florence 50122, Italy, and Barcelona Award 2009 Mallorca, 284 - 08037 Barcelona, Spain. Most recently, she exhibited at the Latino Art Museum - poet, writer, and former editor of Arte y Cultura, Gustavo Alfonso Coletti, curated this show.

No matter where her art takes her, Parris always returns to her roots in Gaithersburg and brings something back to share with the community. Her award-winning painting "Daffodils for Mardi Gras," which was inspired by a trip to New Orleans unifies the cultural-symbolic motif of purple, green and gold beads with the natural endurance of the flower itself.

"Daffodils are very special flowers for me, because they brighten my garden, my life and my children's lives every spring. They are the only flowers that are not eaten by the herds of deer that visit my garden every day."

Parris's love of nature is evident in both her carefully studied and constructed floral motifs and her gemstone-inspired acrylic explosions. As a parent, educator and mature artist who has perfected a technique, she wants nothing more than to forge new community connections through her artwork and to open people's eyes to the creative potential of their surroundings.

- excerpted from an article that originally appeared on Gaithersburg Patch 

Anne Cherubim: CAN Resident Artist

"Excitable Cells," (left) and Cherubim's CAN studio space, featuring her work (right)

As the Capitol Arts Network (CAN) gears up for its "Abstraction at its Best" show, opening Aug. 2 and running through Aug. 26 at its new Rockville, MD location, abstract resident artist Anne Cherubim discusses the organization and her recent work, the "Ethereal Series." 

1. What is CAN?

Without speaking for CAN directly, my take is that it is an arts-based nonprofit, offering artists studio space to work, teach classes, come together, inspire - a space for networking opportunities and gallery shows, and of course, a space to include and inspire community. There are 31 resident artists (myself included), working in a variety of media, as well as teaching classes and workshops. Some of the artistic media we work in include painting, sculpture, woodworking, and glass, among many others.

2. How did you become involved with this network of artists?

It’s a bit hazy to me now, but there was a Montgomery County artists survey, which I remember filling out. It basically addressed artists’ needs and surveyed what criteria local artists were looking for in a working space. As you know, we do not have an organized space like this locally, where artists can work, offer classes, attend arts business lectures/seminars and network.

Essentially, CAN and the Washington School of Photography (WSP) came together to fill a void we had here in Montgomery County. This type of dynamic space is what was missing in the area.

As a working artist, who happens to be a mom of young children, I have sometimes passed up great work opportunities because of the issues of transport and rent, while I’ve been trying to stay closer to home. Another issue has been ridiculously high rent, when everyone knows the average artist cannot afford to pay exorbitant studio rent on top of home mortgage/rent. CAN came closest to having reasonable rental fees.

When CAN and WSP came together, I submitted an application and was juried in as a CAN resident artist.

3. What do you hope to accomplish during your residency? Are there any requirements that you must meet as part of your commitment?

My aim is to work large-scale, which is something I was not able to do in my workspace at home, but also I just want to be able to work in a dedicated space, not having to worry about setting up, searching for or putting away art supplies, which takes up time, leaving much less time to put toward the actually work of painting.

My aim is to finish up the last few paintings of the "Ethereal Series" and then embark on the next few series I have in mind. While I’ve had time/space constraints until now, my imagination had no such constraints. I aim to catch up to the next few series I have started painting in my head.
 
Again, without speaking for CAN directly, my take is that there are no constraining requirements imposed on us at CAN, and we have flexibility in our hours, with 24-hour access to our studios. Having said that, I think we all recognize that some semblance of regular hours is beneficial for people coming to find us or visit our studios to see new work.

I cannot think of any working requirements other than common sense stuff any organization would have in place. Sounds utopian, doesn’t it?

4. How long is the residency? Do you have your own or a shared studio space? When can people visit you at work?

The initial residency is for one year, with the option to renew at the end of the year. It is my own space, not shared. While it is a tiny space for the time being, hopefully I can move to a larger space if all goes well.
People can visit me between the hours of 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (while the kids are in school), and I am hoping to add weekend hours as well. CAN is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays for events and gallery shows.

5. What does your recent work look like. Pick one piece and discuss it in detail (concept and process).

My recent work is essentially the tail-end of the "Ethereal Series."

These paintings are an extension of the series that came before: "Luminosity," a study of light, particularly at night, and the ways in which it changes the appearance of things.

That work inevitably evolved into what is now a more abstracted study of light. Like most of my paintings, these pieces are built up in layers, much in the way that memory is layered with perception, emotion, time, experience.

While "Luminosity" consisted of contemporary landscapes based in realism, mostly without a vanishing point, the "Ethereal" paintings are largely rooted in a sense of place and emotion. While painted onto a 2-dimensional plane, the layers lend a feeling of depth beyond the surface. Like most of my work, these paintings continue over the edges of the canvas, free from the confines of a frame. 

My paintings can be seen as calm and quiet, allowing the viewers’ eyes to rest and be drawn in, while at the same time, energy emanates from the smallest to the largest of them. They are still and moving, all at once — a contradiction.

The image included here is of the painting, "Excitable Cells" (20x20 inches, acrylic on canvas).

I had been thinking a lot about memory and layers, the ways in which one memory leads to another, like little sparks. These memories are just beneath the surface, waiting to be remembered.

I also used metallic paint in this piece, so the image changes depending on how the light hits it, revealing more dimension to the painting, which shifts as you move around the room.

I generally just start a painting with an image of color or a color combination in mind, and I was drawn to this combination of purple and gold. The more the painting took shape, the more I started to see in it what reminded me of images of synapses and dendrites from biology class. It seemed so fitting in dealing with memory and layers.

'Outloud! Abstract Artists' at the Foundry Gallery

 

 "Windy Spaces" by Amy Barker-Wilson 

"Painting for me is a joyful spontaneous earthy heavenly means of investigating and solving ways of finding points of intersection and integration of many levels and layers, contradictions and paradoxes in the world, myself, the cosmos - all of which can come together with a certain openness and awareness in unique and unexpected ways within every painting." -- Amy Barker-Wilson

The OUTLOUD Artists are having a group show at the Foundry Gallery in Washington, D.C. from April 3 to April 28, 2013. Artists Speak spoke with Donna McGee, who is both an Outloud member and a member of the Foundry Gallery, about the nature of the group's work and the current show.
(This interview has been paraphrased from its original version.)

1. The OUTLOUD Artists have exhibited widely in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. How did you end up at the Foundry Gallery?

The OUTLOUD Artists have 12 members. Two of us, Amy Barker-Wilson and myself, are also members of the Foundry Gallery in Washington, D.C. Amy was supposed to have a solo show this month. When she found out she could not due to unforeseen circumstances, the Foundry asked the OUTLOUD Artists to put on a group show.

2. How many artists are in the show? What is the title of the show? What media are represented?

There are 11 artists in this show titled "Outloud! Abstract Artists." The show, which includes abstract works in acrylic, runs from April 3 to April 28, 2013.

3. Is there a theme that ties your work together in this group show?

The interesting part about this is that everyone has their own style -- some more meditative, while others use collage and mixed-media, some bright, while others stay more subdued. Art is always in the eye of the beholder. Each of us has found her own voice as an abstract artist, but each one is different.

It is interesting that all of us have the same mentor, the late Helen Corning, but none of us paint like she did.

When we start painting, most of us don't have an idea of how it's going to end up. I choose my palette, but then I start working with the paint and the colors on the canvas until I feel that it's done. I don't have a message that I want to convey. People get their own message.     

Lori Anne Boocks at the Sitar Arts Center

Narrative painter Lori Anne Boocks is currently exhibiting 14 paintings at Sitar Arts Center in Washington, D.C. in a solo show titled Narratives and Numbers through 19 April 2013.

1. Is this your first solo show?

No, but I have only had just a few up until this year. This is a really busy year for me, with four solos in a 12-month span. I hope people do not get tired of me inviting them to receptions!

2. Where is it being held? How would you describe the venue? What are the opening and closing dates? Have you shown in this venue before? 

This exhibit will be held at Sitar Arts Center, from 11 March 2013 through 19 April 2013.  I have never shown there before.

The exhibit space consists of white walls in a triangular shape. Instead of the paintings facing each other in a square, they taper in. I like that when you walk through, they almost make you look. 

Sitar’s focus is arts education for kids from low-income households. Volunteers teach music, dance, drama, creative writing, digital art and visual arts classes. When I went there to meet with Loretta Thompson, director of program operations, about show details, the place was bustling! Apart from engaging kids in every classroom in wonderful projects, the center organizes a scavenger hunt at the culminating art receptions, so families can take their interaction with the art one step further. 

3. What is the show's title? Why did you choose this title?

This show is called Narratives and Numbers. I use words and numbers in my paintings so I wanted to reference writing and storytelling in my title. When creating a painting, I often reflect on stories from my past and use them as inspiration. When using numbers as subject matter, I try to make them represent something unexpected. I like telling stories through numbers. Plus, I liked the alliteration.

4. How many pieces are in the show? Is there a theme that ties them together? What media are you working in?

There are 14 pieces in a variety of sizes, all in acrylic and charcoal on canvas. Besides sharing text as the subject, the pieces tell stories through color and shape. When putting together the proposal for the show, I took into account that children might make up the majority of viewers. I hope they think up their own stories about the pieces too.

5. Where are you exhibiting next?

Starting 10 April 2013, I will be in a three-person show called Remembrance with Oletha DeVane and Nina Chung Dwyer at BlackRock Center for the Arts in my own backyard, Germantown, Maryland. This show runs until 27 April 2013.

6. Choose one piece from the show and describe it in depth, including its process and meaning. 

One of my favorite new pieces is Back in Memphis Again. It is my usual charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 24 by 22 inches. 

After I laid a basic ground on the surface with my hands, I thought about Thomas Wolfe's title, You Can’t Go Home Again, and how, in my experience, you really can. Things may be different, and you may be different, but where you have been makes up who you are for better or worse. 

While letting the washes of color dry and after removing some layers with a cloth to give the piece a bit of history, I passed by my daughter’s band stuff and saw a logo for Memphis Guitars. I thought about Elvis and aging and blue suede shoes and how easily suede can scuff. 

I added the words "never go back to Memphis she said, never going back" in charcoal, then drew squares in charcoal and sealed the charcoal with a matte medium to stabilize it. After that dried, I painted the blue squares and scarred them with my fingernails in gloves and dripped water down the canvas. Then I smoothed over the surface with a cloth, which pulled some of the pigment away from the lines of water. After that layer dried, I put on a final wash of brown-black with a brush, burnished some of it off with cloth and sealed all layers with a mix of water and gloss varnish. 

Of course, the subject/narrator of this particular piece does end up in Memphis again. We can only guess at how, but I can feel the push-pull, the "I belong, yet I don’t anymore" feeling that creates tension for her.

Luba Sterlikova: Poster Art Lecture Series

Luba Sterlikova, PhD, artist and educator, will be giving a lecture, Poster Art Between the Wars: Bauhaus and Art Deco on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2 p.m. at the Live and Learn Bethesda (LLB) education center. Sterlikova has lectured at the Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C. and LLB in the past.

1. You are a painter. What has prompted you to give talks on poster art? How would you describe your work?

I lecture on the history of posters because I am an enthusiast of poster art and also a poster artist.

 
I work in different mediums – oils, oil pastels, charcoal, monotypes, – and genres – from florals to abstracts. My recent works are created in a new style, Innergism, which can be interpreted as sensual energy art. I also teach oil pastel workshops and classes.

2. What is significant about poster art of the 1920s and 30s? What is significant about poster art in general?

It was a very vibrant time when the world was recovering from the ashes of WWI. Russia was shaken by the Bolshevik revolution, and many social and technological changes were happening. There was hope for peace and progress. "Dawn of a New Day"  was a slogan of the 1939 New York World Fair. Artists responded with different "isms," including Dadaism, Cubism, Suprematism, Constructivism, etc. 

Posters occupy a unique place – they are both art and historic documents. Combining the visual and intellectual, they respond immediately to social change.

3. What other talks have you given in the past? What talks will you be giving in the future?

Over the last two years I have lectured on poster art for the Docent Education program at the Kreeger museum in Washington, D.C., as well as at the Live and Learn Bethesda education center. My lecture series covered poster art of la Belle Époque, Soviet posters, as well as Bauhaus and Vkhutemas posters.

I will lecture on poster art between the world wars on March 17, WWII posters on April 21, and Posters of the Cold War in the fall at the LLB.

4. What is the format of your talk?

The lectures are presented as Power Point presentations with about 40-60 poster images.