It's Sculpting Time at VisArts

>VisArts at Rockville‘s current exhibit is like Rockville Central. How? Both welcome comments.

Each piece in Sculpting Time has a black sketchbook hanging on the wall with a question on the cover. Visitors are invited to pick up a small pencil and answer. Some of you may have waited your whole life to answer such questions. Kyan Bishop’s installation on the floor called A fascination with the potential of completely falling apart ($18,000) invites you to answer the question “Is this art? Why or Why not?”

With this interaction between artist and viewer, the exhibit goes beyond the hay, tree stumps, and pottery on exhibit. You can respond to the artwork on the spot.

A video on making ceramics is tucked away in the corner, along with another showing Louise Radochonski installing Fallen Figures in the Portfolio Gallery. Before I read the question for this piece I thought I sometimes felt like the figure, half-finished and torn apart. When the question was “Is it finished?”, I already knew my answer.

Some of my favorites from this exhibit:

Catherine White’s clay slips hang on the wall like signs weathered by the ages. In addition to manipulated plates, she also has a piece called Sketchbooks which is an assortment of books opened on a wall. The piece makes you feel like you’re getting a look inside her head, into her creative train of thought.

When looking at clouds and trees we sometimes imagine resemblances. Eric Serritella’s Birch Stump Teapot belongs in a fantasy world and one can’t help but be glad it’s preserved.

Laurel Lukaszewski’s Nameless Night ($8,400) hangs from the ceiling, a modern cascade of black stoneware and steel.

In the Children’s Discovery Gallery, kids can color pots and lids, glue pieces together, and learn about ceramics from around the world.

In this exhibit the “… artists have released clay from conventional forms to explore how time permeates everything.” Find out how until July 26, 2009.

Fine Art and Sculpture Indoors and Out at Civic Center Park

As I pulled into the >Rockville Civic Center Park driveway, I stopped the car and jumped out to see the new sculptures. Since I wanted to view the new exhibit in the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by such tremendously colorful and enticing artwork outside. The 23rd annual Sculpture on the Grounds has been installed and will dot the landscape until October 18, 2009. Details on the exhibit will soon be released.

Inside the Mansion, I discovered even more sculpture among June’s exhibit to be shown until June 30, 2009.

Floyd Roberts’ copper animal sculptures reminded me of large Alexander Calder circus animals. The lifesize “Wild Horses of Assateague” ($4,000 each) meander through the room. “Wolf” ($3,000) holds a metal bone away from the viewer with a warning in the tilt of his head. I felt like I was still outside.

You might think “Oh just another few nature photos”, but Albert Hartley’s nature photography captures movement and details creating works of art. “Female Black-throated Blue Warbler” ($350) magnifies each sliver of feather. The close-up of “Slide Rock” ($295) creates an abstract vision. “Savannah Hawk” ($295) perches on a furling white flag sending a breeze of excitement at spotting such majesty. The “Red-tailed Hawk Silhouette” ($295) transcends to become a shapely figure in the sky.

After all the color and form, the back room timidly offers simple basics. Lou Janesko’s drawings show small details, the naked basics without flash and color. The roots by the streams and leaves on the trees remind me of all the times I played by the water in the forest as a child. These drawings pensively and lightly define nature in pure whiteness.

The Civic Center Park is teeming with nature both inside and out, so stop by this month.

The City of Rockville exhibits the work of regional artists each month. Gallery hours: M-W-F 9 AM to 4:30 PM, Tue & Thurs 9 AM to 9 PM. The Gallery is wheelchair accessible.

VisArts Goes Vroom

Although the pavement was wet and the morning overcast, >VisArts held the First Annual Ride for the Arts last Saturday. Due to the unfavorable weather conditions only 35 riders participated. Unfortunately, my husband’s motorcycle needed to go back to the shop and I didn’t want to ride alone with the wet weather, so I wasn’t one of them. VisArts will hold another run in September or October.

Even though I missed the ride, I didn’t want to miss the afternoon festivities in Town Square. The Crimestoppers rocked the stage with the sun shining, too little too late. The VisArts studio artists decorated the donated motorcycle which was on display and will eventually be raffled. The paint now prevents it from running! An artist was sketching people and gave us a drawing of each of my sons. Bikes lined Gibbs Street, but not the kind for the stands on the sidewalks.

Upstairs in the Gallery several antique Harley Davidson motorcycles circled the room with historic descriptions. Down at the other end of the hall, Ram Cycles displayed racing bikes with an Xtreme video playing on the screen.

As always, I enjoyed talking with the artists in their studios and planned a design for a necklace with Mimi Harris. Last week, she moved to a larger studio. When she creates my necklace, I’ll be sure to share it.

If you have a motorcycle, please let me know. Hopefully we can ride together from Rockville Central this Fall and support our local art center.

Join The “Photo Op” for Rockville

>Contributed by Judith Heartsong.

As a professional artist living in Rockville with a studio at VisArts in our wonderful town center, I keep my ear to the ground for great artistic opportunities and projects. Recently a wonderful project came to my attention from Art House Co-op (we build art projects and communities) called “A Million Little Pictures”. Art House is known for creating open call exhibits that are inclusive and community building, and this one is no exception.

“A Million Little Pictures” is a show that will document some aspect of people’s lives as they choose with a disposable camera provided by Art House with your paid registration fee. Twenty-four frames of film, developed into 4 x 6 pictures, and returned by the postmark deadline of September 1st. The exhibit will open in Atlanta on September 21st, and will then travel to the city with the most participants.

The exciting thing here is that you need not be a professional artist or photographer to participate and you choose what aspect of your life to document. I am choosing to document my daily life as a professional artist, living and working in Rockville. You can document your work, your favorite hobby, your pets, your garden, your antique car, your collection of teapots, your favorite vacation spot or coffee shop. The sky’s the limit and the possibilities are endless. It’s all up to you.

I have been encouraging the artists and staff of VisArts to participate, and then I thought about the fact that lots of people in Rockville might be interested as well. The pictures will tell the story you choose to tell, whether the story is about the weather or your favorite ice cream flavor. And once the show opens thousands of people will see your pictures. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? You know you want to join in…..

To get all the details visit Art House at http://www.arthousecoop.com/ and stop by VisArts, our wonderful 28,000 square foot art center right here in town center, to see what the artists are up to!

Judith has also written about the project on her an artsy blog.

Graphic from arthousecoop.com

First Annual Ride for the Arts

>On Saturday, May 16, 2009, motorcycles will fill Rockville Town Square. With the help of some very dedicated Harley owners, Visarts at Rockville is raising fund for it’s Education and Outreach programs with a special ride. All bikes are welcome.

Registration starts at 9:30 AM and closes at 11 AM when the last bike will depart. Only $15 per participant. You can go on your own, as a group, or with a guided tour (every 15 minutes). Every rider will get a 1st annual t-shirt. Gibbs Street will be closed for event ride-up registration and motorcycle only parking. How cool is that!

Riders can compete in a specially-designed Poker Run to show off their art knowledge. $150 1st place cash prize with 2nd and 3rd place prizes too.

If you don’t ride a motorcycle, come on by from 1 PM to 4 PM for live music by The Crimestoppers and a vintage motorcycle display IN THE GALLERY. Yes, Harleys from 1927 to 1978 will fill the second floor galleries for the event. They’ll also be family activities, artist demonstrations, face painting and photos.

For more info contact Callie.

All I have to do is figure out what the kids will do while we’re riding!

How You See And Hear It at VisArts

When I go to art galleries, I escape into the visions of each wo>rk. The solitude takes me away to another place whether cheerful, vibrant, or unsettling. The current VisArts at Rockville exhibit, How You See It, includes a partial audio tour, so I wasn’t alone in my head when viewing certain photographs.

Gallery visitors can request a simple device with headsets to hear commentary about some of the photographs. The recordings are not in any particular order so when you find a recording symbol next to a photograph, you need to scroll through the artists’ names on the screen then click play. This allows the viewer to wander the gallery and listen at an individual pace.

If you want to see images of the artwork and hear the audio tour from home, VisArts has a brand-new blog (http://www.visartsgallery.blogspot.com/). The recordings by the curator, the artists, and the VisArts staff provide an excellent overview of this exhibit with images of the photographs.

Frank Goodyear, curator of the National Portrait Gallery, juried this exhibit and chose Saman Michael Far’s Saturday Afternoon II ($900), as Best In Show. His commentary ponders the future of black and white photography in this media-saturated world. Mr. Goodyear chose a brilliant variety of photographs, from Ground Zero to young flamingos. The natural lines and dark forms of Alan Sislen’s Antelope Lines & Textures ($450) set the eye in motion. If the shoe was real in Stuart Gluckman’s Talking on Your Cell Phone Can Be Dangerous When Traveling ($290), she’d be a goner. Scott Speck captures massive soaring columns with a pinhole camera in Archives ($600). However, Carole Hollander’s Dad Remains ($17,800), stays with you the most. She replicated a photograph of her father using his cremated remains without adding any pigment.

The new audio tour was like having a knowledgeable and engaging companion along for the visit.

The student photography exhibit reveals a world through much younger eyes, while the Children’s Discovery room’s bright new colors engage the younger art gallery enthusiasts.

How You See It will be on display until May 10, 2009. Gallery Hours are Monday to Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM and Sunday 12 Noon to 5 PM.

Turn a Motorcycle into Art

>

On May 16, 2009 VisArts at Rockville is having a “Ride for the Arts” starting at 10 AM. Since we here at Rockville Central love the motorcycles, we’ll be sure to post all the details.

A generous donor gave VisArts a Kawasaki 750 to raffle off at the event. Funds will go the their Education and Outreach programs. The idea is for an artist to transform the bike into a work of art. So far, no one’s creative juices have flowed.

The artist will be introduced at the event, talk about the design, pose for press photos, and show other work. A terrific opportunity for exposure and a heck of a lot of fun!

If you are interested call 301-315-8200 x 105 or just send a proposal to events@visartscenter.org right away.

Include:
Color renderings of your design idea
Written description of all changes
Name, address, email, phone, website (if you have one).

The artist must supply all materials. I believe it’s a ’97. It still runs!

Deadline Looms for Student Photographers

>

VisArt‘s Digital Arts Director, Tim Hampton, reminds us that this Friday, January 9, 2009 is the deadline for VisArts’ annual student photography call for entries.

Middle and high school students who enter will have the opportunity to have their photos juried by Frank Goodyear, the Assistant Curator of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery. If selected, their work will be exhibited at VisArts during the upcoming How You See It exhibition.

Entering is completely free to middle- and high-school students. Simply send an e-mail to digitallab@visartscenter.org with either one or two photos attached (they can be digitally altered or pure).

Include these 5 pieces of information:

1. Artist Name
2. Image Title(s)
3. Artist Age
4. Current School
5. Name(s) of the artist’s photography or art teachers.

The full details are available on the VisArts website.

As Tim points out, “Maybe some selected works will end up being submitted as candidates for your POTD.“

Book Art At VisArts

When reading children’s books, I would often notice strong brush strokes in the illustrations, providing a small glimpse of the original painting’s vibrancy. With lingering curiosity I would study each page of the book in an attempt to discover the technique used.>

The current VisArts at Rockville exhibit reveals the original artwork from 18 illustrators of children’s books. Turning the Page: the fine art behind illustrations not only presents the artwork, it offers the opportunity to read the published books in seats scattered throughout the gallery. The exhibit includes four gouache and colored pencil illustrations from Janet Morgan Stocke’s Minerva Louise, along with the artwork from Steven Walker’s boardbook, The Story of Rosa Parks. Since my favorite technique is acrylic on paper, the vivid underwater scenes from Jennifer O’Connell’s A Garden of Whales caught my eye. After viewing the exhibit they’ll never just be pictures in a book again. Viewers can’t help but appreciate the fine art that goes into each illustration.

In the Portfolio Gallery, The Art of the Book displays art in book form. Often these works expand one panel into many but they are also curved, origami, or keepsake box books. Using very few words, the artists tell a story with images. In Julie Friedman’s After, the book opens into four rooms revealing the secret of this relationship. Shireen Holman’s The Artist at Home is a series of woodcuts with wood covers that reveals a life much like my own with a coffee cup and legs in bed. In Milk, Butter, Eggs Alice Austin gives frustratingly limited glimpses into apartment building windows leaving your imagination to complete the scenes.

As always the Children’s Discovery Gallery engages the young ones in the media highlighted in the other exhibits. Kids can view the inspiring “Eric Carle: Picture Writer” on the interactive computer table, then make flipbooks and holiday cards while learning about blends of paper and papermaking.

The exhibit is on display from December 4, 2008 until February 21, 2009. VisArt hours are Monday to Saturday: 10 AM – 6 PM, Sunday” Noon – 5 PM.

Glass Evolving Glistens

As you enter the >VisArts at Rockville gallery, you are drawn into the oceans and cosmos of Martin Rosol’s Bird of Paradise ($24,000). To say that it is “Laminated, Cut, Ground and Polished Glass”, doesn’t describe how it is many artworks in one, all reflecting, repeating, fascinating.

This piece and the exhibit Glass Evolving take the glass art form to a new frontier. In the gallery brochure F. Lennox Campello expertly affirms that this glass is “dragged away from the crafts world and into the rarified upper atmosphere of the “high art” world.”

Sometimes organic like Richard Ritter’s fused-bead Floral Core Series and at other times true sculpture like Rick Becks stone-like solid limbs, these are most assuredly not bowls or vases. John Publick snakes glass around a found wooden object (Duality $1,800) and Nancy Weissner layers drawings and photos on glass (In Her Dreams).

The Gudelsky/Silverman Portfolio Gallery holds several pieces that stretch our perceptions of glass, just as the outstretched arms in Allegra Marquart’s Rapunzel ($2,800) reach upward in anticipation of new beginnings. Three video screens display original images while enclosed in blown glass in Tim Tate’s Surreal Dream Box ($21,000). A book is printed on glass so that you can read Elizabeth Mears Standing Book: In A Breath.

Children, along with their parents, can learn all about glass in the Discovery Gallery. The basics of sand, fire, and glass are explained. Here you learn about stained and fused glass techniques and can create a translucent craft with markers. Then you can test your knowledge by putting events in the proper sequence in a glass studio.

Since I create stained glass and love how it colors our world, this exhibit mesmerized me. If you share an interest in this solid medium that blends with light, you will be too.

The Evolving Glass exhibit is on display until November 15, 2008 at VisArts, 155 Gibbs Street. Gallery hours are Monday – Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM, Sunday Noon – 5 PM.

Free Classes at VisArts

>VisArts at Rockville is offering several free digital arts classes as a promotion for the upcoming session. If you have been wondering about the classes, this is an excellent opportunity to discover why the third floor computer rooms are cutting edge.

Look at this list!! Photoshop for adults! Design a computer game for kids! You must RSVP to Tim Hampton at digitallab@visartscenter.org. Space is limited, so don’t wait.

Tuesday, Sept 9, 6:30-7:30 FREE Introduction to Photoshop class at VisArts (for adults).

Tuesday, Sept 9, 4:15-5:15 FREE Music Production class at VisArts (ages 12 to 16). Studentslearn to create original rhythms, melodies, and harmonies on thecomputer. Parents welcome to stay or drop off.

Wednesday, Sept 10, 4:30-5:30 FREE Fun with Digital Arts class at VisArts (ages 7-11). Parents welcome to stay or drop off.

Thursday, Sept 11, 6:30-7:30 FREE Layout and Composition class at VisArts (for adults). Covers beginning design concepts applicable to print materials and the web.

Friday, Sept 12, 4:15-5:15 FREE Intro to Game Design class at VisArts (ages 11 to 15). Students create their first simple interactive computer game. Parents welcometo stay or drop off.

I know! It’s tempting!

Art Endings and Beginnings

If you haven’t yet, you need to go see the >Cow ($30,000) at the VisArts of Rockville exhibit From Farm to Market which closes this Sunday, August 17, 2008. Dave Moreland’s large purple cow made of corrugated barn roofing captures the look of a real cow with jutting bones and tilting gait. As a kid I spent summers working on my Uncle Woodrow’s dairy farm in the New York Catskills, so I know my way around a hayloft with a pitchfork.

The entire exhibit reminds me of those summers and also the farmers markets around Rockville. The pieces grow around you. Mary Kay Kinnish’s photographs, Mushroom and Tomato on Basil (both $125) would be perfect kitchen décor. The Van Gogh quality of Windy Day ($4,000) by Doug Moulden invites you to pick fruit from the thicket of life. Alan Sislen’s archival pigment prints, Palouse Red Barn ($425) & Palouse Quilt, catch attention where the roof slopes to meet the hills and the fields touch to frame the patchwork. For children, the Minkoff Discovery Gallery hollers for kids to interact with felt. Stop by for your own farm experience and visit the gift shop on the first floor and the artists in their studios. Mon.– Sat. 10 AM – 6 PM, Sun. Noon – 5 PM.

At the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, the August show is just beginning. Some of Donald Depuydt’s black and gold prints, made with etching plates and litho stones, remind one of the work of Gustav Klimt. Shelley Stevens iridescent teapots are actually made to fit the beautiful wood handles, which is no small feat with the changes produced by drying and firing. Her bowls, Buttercup, Cherry, and Peach Swirl (all $180) glow and play with light and she even has some gems and stones ($30 each). Nina Chung Dwyer has a studio in Rockville and she knows how to use curves. Her Rondel series uses the repetition of circles to “provide the viewer with a space for meditation”. These pieces especially, Circles ($2,700), create movement across the canvas in a lively juxtaposition. Exhibit through September 2, 2008. Gallery hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 9 AM – 4:30 PM. Tues. & Thurs. 9 AM – 9 PM.

Summertime Art at the Mansion

>Yesterday the Korean American Artist Alliance opened their exhibit at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery. As I usually sneak into the Gallery during the week for a quiet emersion, sharing my viewing space with the crowd was a new experience. The music of The Pendleton Trio wafted up the stairs creating a very sophisticated afternoon. Downstairs in the conservatory, where they were playing, it was standing room only.

A couple of dozen artists are selling their pieces this month. Even with so many different styles, consistency flows through the show. The use of strong contrasts and bold lines crosses the canvases. My favorite is Bokim Kim’s Fragrance of N.E.W.S ($900) on the stairs. This wonderful oriental brush painting technique brings white and purple to the black. A couple of the pieces manipulate thick paint, such as Myungsook Kim’s Upward ($2,200), an organic impression of bamboo. Taek Lee’s Bora ($7,000) is a large oil on canvas which caused my eyes to continually dart through the bold stripes, freeing my mind to contemplate my interactions. Wanjin Kim uses antique Korean rice cake stamps to create shadows over the painting of shadows on In The Cloud ($3,000). Don’t miss Barbara Han’s Terra Cotta Sculpture ($1,200) depicting an aging couple in their underwear, smiling and enjoying each other.

After visiting the exhibit, summer is the perfect time to wander the Civic Center Mansion grounds. I love sitting down by the fountain and enjoying the perfect landscaping of this historic property. A stroll through this beautiful jewel never fails to raise my spirits.

If you continue walking around the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, you can also view this summer’s Sculpture on the Grounds Exhibit until October 19, 2008. This year just three sculptures are scattered around. Last Dance by Hanna Jubran (next to the Theatre), Gray, Black & White by David Shivetts (on the main entrance driveway), and Prairie House by John Mors (at the Mansion parking lot entrance) provide additional discovery destinations for a walk. The surroundings influence the sculptures and change your viewpoint when circling the pieces.

If you have a few minutes or want a nice place for a walk, Civic Center Park beckons.

Glenview Mansion Gallery hours are M-W-F 9 AM- 4:30 PM, Tu & Th 9 AM – 9 PM.

POTD: Prey

>

This is ONE way to recycle extra metal!

The Allure of Artistic Collaboration

This month, both of our Rockville art galleries, VisArts and Glenview Mansion, feature collaborative exhibits. The creation of art is often viewed as a solo activity with an artist secluded in an isolated studio. My very limited artistic endeavors with painting and stained glass are often this way, as I become obsessed with each piece being exactly the way I want it to be. Don’t interrupt me, never mind try to work with me. With this in mind, I set out to experience collaboration.>

VisArts – Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts

At VisArts the four exhibit areas explore the concept of collaboration with tremendous results.

Kimonos and Woodcuts: Collaboration displays bright, exquisitely intricate kimonos made by weavers, embroiderers, painters, and designers. The design of each kimono has special meaning as to whether it is for formal or informal wear, or for a married or unmarried woman. How must it feel to wear the elaborate embroidery of birds or silken paintings of flowers?

Artists, carvers, printers, and publishers have worked together for centuries to produce woodcuts. The exhibit includes pieces from the most famous traditional Japanese woodcut artists. 100 Famous Views of Yedo Hiroshige from the later part of the 19th century, shows people in public places, on the street, at a window, or in the water. The blues with black outlines and grey shadows are expressive. The method, so simple and linear, creates a scene full of life with defined muscles and slight tilts of the head, so that closer inspection fascinates.

The Regional Gallery displays pieces done by artists working in different media. With my love of glass, the pieces combining fused glass with wood or wrought iron immediately beckoned. Both I can’t see the forest for the trees by Kathy Perry Lynch and Nick Vincent and Five Treasures by Eileen Martin and Janet Hines, produce a new edge for glass. (Both pictured here.)

The exhibit Quilting Bee to Fabric Art in the Gudelsky Portfolio Gallery does an excellent job of including pieces that allow us to see the separate part that each artist plays to complete the work. The inspiration for Georgetown on the Potomac was a photograph of the Key Bridge cut into nine strips. Each strip was given to a different artist and the nine different interpretations are mounted together. Amazingly, the result is consistent. What a wonderful way for all of us to learn to work together! I would especially love to try such a project with kids.

In the Minkoff Family Children’s Discovery Gallery, the artwork is still under construction. So if you bring children, they can collaborate by adding their own origami creatures to the tree.

In my heart, I know that VisArts will continue to inspire our community. Visit and experience the joy of these artists working together until May 26, 2008. Mon.- Sat. 10 AM-6 PM, Sun. Noon-5 PM. Find art to call your own in the gallery, the artist studios, or the new street-level gift shop.

Glenview Mansion Art Gallery at the Civic Center Park

Over at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, the exhibit, Interpretations: a collaborative exhibit, features the work of Robert Sibbison in collaboration with four different artists, Maria Barbaosa, Steven Dobbin, Doug Moulden, and Peter Whitting. He writes,

“Often when I view exhibits, I see work, or aspects of other artists’ work, which I find appealing, but what was appealing is not in my field of expertise. Almost two years ago, I encountered four other artists whose work I greatly admired…I decided to see if they would be interested in a collaborative project and all four agreed to try this experiment.”

The foyer to the left at the top of the stairs is a good starting point. Each artist has made a panel to display, providing an introduction to their work. The only thing the same is the dimensions. This understanding of their mediums and techniques allows the viewer to recognize their pieces and appreciate the combination of their talents in the rest of the show.

Doug Moulden creates thick layers of paint. Thin lines of color caress each other over a base, sometimes abstract and sometimes creating trees or fossils, encouraging the viewer to seek out his work and explore. Maria Barbosa’s use of cloth is illusive, almost invisible, with words not heard but there. Peter Whitting’s work is graphic with wood grain and the dark jolting out of color. Steven Dobbin is industrial and mechanical, metal looking without eyes.

Often when you visit a gallery with many different artists, the work feels disconnected. When viewing Interpretations, you encounter pieces created separately and together, so that the overall feeling is unity, a belonging. The friendships, exchanges, and familiarity create a cohesive energy that would be very special to possess and most are available for purchase. The exhibit is on display until April 29, 2008. Mon., Wed., Fri. 9 AM-4:30 PM; Tues. & Thurs. 9 AM-9 PM.

Perhaps someday, I’ll be lucky enough to know the pleasure of working with other artists, as collaborative efforts intertwine to create a special closeness.