About Mary Higgins

Mary was born and raised in Washington DC and currently resides in Annandale, VA. She has a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC and an MA in Visual Information Technologies from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Her exploratory approach to art making lends itself to entrepreneurship. She pursues opportunities in technology to broaden the reach of her clients and to create innovative exhibitions on their behalf.

The Ostinato and Coda Series by Sarah J. Hull

2022-07-11T22:41:30+00:00July 11, 2022|

The Ostinato and Coda Series  by Fiber and Conceptual Artist Sarah J. Hull
Exhibition Dates: July 5, 2022 through August 15, 2022
Exhibit Reception and Artist Talk: Saturday July 30, 2022, 2-4PM

Distinct Studios Fine Art is pleased to present Sarah J. Hull’s  Ostinato and Coda series in the Small House Gallery of Goodwin House in Alexandria, Virginia in July and August of 2022. 

Sarah has a background in architecture, science and visual art. She received her BA in Architecture from Wesllesley College with pertinent course work at M.I.T. Her varied background informs her work including her explorations of music.

In her art, she explores the rhythmic variation in our daily lives. Using natural fibers and hand embroidery stitches, each work explores it’s “objectness” with the tension created between hand-stitched materials and the structure of the underlying grid. The resulting work creates a mediative presence.

In her process, she begins with a concept that has has inspired her. She then follows that idea in a series of works that create an iteration of the theme. The Ostinato series demonstrates this process elegantly.  In music, an Ostinato is a short melodic phrase repeated throughout a composition, sometimes slightly varied. A rhythmic Ostinato is a short, constantly repeated rhythmic pattern. In the Ostinato series by Sarah, she uses the concept of repetition with slight variation to create fiber based works that hold their own as single works but displayed together form a visual melody.

Sarah currently lives and works in Washington DC. She is active in the art community through the District of Columbia Art Center (DCAC),
nationally through the New York based National Association of Women Artists (NAWA), and internationally through the UK based Society for Embroidered Work (S.E.W.). Currently, she is enrolled in the Royal School of Needlework’s Certificate & Diploma program and was a member of the 2019 – 2020 DCAC Sparkplug cohort. Most recently, she successfully presented an independent solo exhibition of her most recent series The Topologicals at Studio 1469 in Washington DC and was one of the artists in Distinct Studios first group exhibition in 2022, Before, During, After at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virgina. 

Sarah J. Hull: In the Studio
In the Studio

Photo Credit: Oliva Weise

Sarah Hull Solo Exhibition at Studio 1469

2022-04-28T16:53:24+00:00April 27, 2022|

Location:
STUDIO 1469
1469 Harvard St (rear)
Washington, DC

GALLERY HOURS
Fridays 3:00pm – 7:00pm
Saturdays 12:00pm – 4:00pm
By appointment: email sarah@sarahjhull.com

Press Release for Taxonomy of Evanescence

April 29 – May 22, 2022

Opening Reception: April 29, 2022 6:00pm – 8:30pm

Artist talk: May 12, 2022 6:30pm (in person and live stream)

Closing Reception: May 22, 2022 10:30am – 12:30am (bagels and coffee)

Sarah J. Hull proudly presents her solo exhibition at Studio 1469, Taxonomy of Evanescence.  Featuring works primarily from two of her recent series, this exhibition considers the mechanics of awareness and memory and how they interact not only with each other, but also with time and space. These themes converge in the thoughtful meditations on the traces of existence that remain and those that fade. Fading, just as energy fields that extend towards a point where its amplitude decreases.

Memories overlap and merge over time. In these works, fabric, threads and paint are layered one upon another to not only create directional movement within the structure of the main geometric elements, but also create forms that gently emerge and recede from the surface and the viewer. Each piece takes on an organic quality creating a dialogue between the materials, “the hand,” and the underlying grid through the use of natural fibers and hand embroidery. The underlying grid provides the groundwork where basic forms are mirrored, disrupted, and subjected to rotational symmetries and inversions. In some works, only faint remnants of the grid remains.

Speaking about her work, she says: “Just as I watch a piece unfold as it is created, I hope that each piece manifests slowly to the viewer, increasingly revealing its hand-worked existence.  This temporal experience of introspection, inquiry, reflection, and pleasure connects me with the work and the viewer. I hope the intimacy of each piece sparks internal contemplation in the viewer as art of a more complex and responsive experience – just as with an individual’s interaction and connections within the fabric of community and society.”

The naturally occurring rhythmic repetition and variation present in nature, described by science and mathematics and echoed in daily personal existence provides the foundational inspiration for the work. Each piece is at once a meditation on personal exploration, the interconnectedness of individuals, and the greater forces of life itself.

You can learn more about Sarah and her work by visiting her Distinct Studios artist’s page.

It’s a Wrap – Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience

2022-04-04T16:11:13+00:00April 4, 2022|

I’ve learned that some times the best opportunities come when you least expect them. The opportunity to collaborate with Angie Newman Johnson Gallery on an exhibition as Distinct Studios LLC came after a year of unexpected personal twists and turns that made the experience of starting up an arts consultancy challenging. We could not have asked for a better experience right out of the gate. It was a rewarding experience to curate this exhibition for the community of EHS and also for the arts community at large. Thank you to Elizabeth Vorlicek and the team at the Ainslie Arts Center of Episcopal High School and all of the exhibiting artists. Thank you as well to everyone that came out on a rainy evening in February for the in-person opening. We appreciate you! Below is a link to the exhibition page and a gallery of photos from the opening reception and the exhibition. Stay tuned!

Visit exhibition page for Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience – February 14th – March 22nd, 2022 

Opening for Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience
Opening for Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience
Opening for Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience
Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience
Installation Photo for the exhibition, Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience

Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience

2022-02-16T20:42:21+00:00February 16, 2022|

Dates: February 14th – March 22, 2021

Angie Newman Johnson Gallery
Episcopal High School
3900 West Braddock Road
Alexandria, VA 22302

For appointments contact Michael Windsor at maw@episcopalhighschool. org

Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience showcases the work of nine contemporary visual artists who communicate through art their personal experience of a world that has been altered by concurrent global challenges.

A key objective of this exhibit is to explore how the art object can shape and strengthen resilience. These nine artists create work that communicate universally shared feelings of loss, fear, and illness but also of cultural identity, renewal, and hope. We contend that the creative act itself strengthens an artist’s ability to comeback from difficulties but also that their work can shape resilience in the viewer.

The artists exhibiting in Before, During, After are Adjoa J Burrowes, Gail Shaw-Clemons, Alonzo Davis, Joan Dreyer, Mary Welch Higgins, Sarah J Hull, Akemi Maegawa, Alexandra N Sherman, Elizabeth Vorlicek.

Curated by Mary Welch Higgins

 

Upcoming Exhibition

2022-02-14T19:41:01+00:00February 1, 2022|

Adjoa J. Burrowes
Alonzo DAvis
Joan Dreyer
Mary Welch Higgins
Elizabeth Vorlicek
Sarah J. Hull
Akemi Maegawa

Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience

Before, During, After: Art Shaping Resilience showcases the work of nine contemporary visual artists who communicate through art their personal experience of a world that has been altered by concurrent global challenges.

A key objective of this exhibit is to explore how the art object can shape and strengthen resilience. These nine artists create work that communicate universally shared feelings of loss, fear, and illness but also of cultural identity, renewal, and hope. We contend that the creative act itself strengthens an artist’s ability to comeback from difficulties but also that their work can shape resilience in the viewer.

The artists exhibiting in Before, During, After are Adjoa J Burrowes, Gail Shaw-Clemons, Alonzo Davis, Joan Dreyer, Mary Welch Higgins, Sarah J Hull, Akemi Maegawa, Alexandra N Sherman, Elizabeth Vorlicek.

Curated by Mary Welch Higgins

Dates: February 14th – March 22, 2021

Angie Newman Johnson Gallery
Episcopal High School
3900 West Braddock Road
Alexandria, VA 22302

For an appointment time and on campus directions: Contact gallery assistant, Michael Windsor at maw@episcopalhighschool. org

Phronesis by Sarah J. Hull

2022-02-02T13:10:16+00:00January 17, 2022|

….the moment before the initial thought begins is just as important as the thought itself….

“Phronesis (Ancient Greek: φρόνησῐς, romanized: phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom is an ancient Greek word for a type of wisdom or intelligence relevant to practical action. It implies both good judgment and excellence of character and habits, and was a common topic of discussion in ancient Greek philosophy, in ways which are still influential today.”

 Wikipedia 

Phronesis by Sarah J. HULL

Silk, Cotton, Linen

21 x 13 x 1.25 in

Large cool white embroidered square with a strong diagonal from the top left to the bottom right centered on the top half of a 21” high raw linen caves, above a collection of smaller warm white embroidered squares with a diagonal from the top right to bottom left. The middle square is left blank revealing the embroidery ground.

See additional available work by Sarah on her Artist’s Page.

Ancient Queen Series by Adjoa Burrowes

2022-01-03T20:26:37+00:00January 3, 2022|

Artist Statement

“This series references the honeybee and its endangered plight in the world. The textured layers recall the hexagon shape of the honey cells. Through my research I’ve learned that the honeybee has appeared as a symbol in cultures throughout the world and through all times. In this ongoing work I aim to draw attention to current environmental concerns and mans’ negative effect on the natural world. “

“Though I was born and raised in the city of Chicago, I have strong connections to the earth including the southern town of Warm Springs, Georgia where my parents were born. My summers as a child were spent in Michigan camping, swimming, picking berries, and playing in sprawling sand dunes. My strong memories in natural environments translate into themes in many of my abstract 2D works on paper.”

Visit Adjoa J. Burrowes page to see additional available work.

Monotype and the Art of Adjoa J. Burrowes

2021-12-02T15:23:11+00:00November 28, 2021|

Changing Current

Monotype, 15 x 22 in

A print is a work of art that can be created on a surface like wood, metal, stone or glass and then printed on a press, by using a roller or even pressed by hand.

The monotype is a printmaking technique that lends itself to invention. Unlike other techniques such as lithography or etching where an image is fixed into the surface or “matrix”, an artist works with inks on a surface likes glass or metal. Because the image is not fixed,  the artist can work with the materials by layering, incising into the ink, wiping and reapplying ink until the impression is pulled. When the artists runs the plate through a press or adds pressure to the plate by hand, the resulting print is a unique work of art.

The connecting thread through all of Adjoa J. Burrowes work is an intimacy with materials and invention through exploration and radical experimentation. The perfect creative process for a technique like monotype. Her use of materials is also intertwined with her themes of identity and the anxieties inherent in contemporary times. The reclaimed plastic used to create texture and layering in monotypes like “ Winds of Change”,  “Behind the Eight Ball”  and Run Down and Run Over” echo her concerns for the climate crisis and the damage wrought by overconsumption. Her hand cut stencils with spirals forms, and what appears to be scratching into the ink in her recent monotype “Changing Current” brings us back to a sense of wonder and admiration for the beauty of nature. It reminds us of the cycles of life and provide a glimmer of possibility and hope in the future.

Reference

Degas, A Strange New Beauty, Jodi Hauptman, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2016

To see other monotypes by Adjoa J. Burrowes visit her artist’s page.

Clay and the Work of Elizabeth Vorlicek

2021-11-02T15:26:43+00:00October 21, 2021|

Garden Nest by Elizabeth Vorlicek

Garden Nest

Stoneware, porcelain, cone 6 oxidation

The history of ceramics goes back millennia. When an artist chooses to work with clay, they are not just in dialogue with the history of art but also the earth. Clay appeals to artists for its flexibility and durability. You can pinch, pull, stretch, tear, etc.  So while it has a storied past in the decorative arts, the medium also appeals to the contemporary artists who explores ideas and create works that address the world in which they live in. Elizabeth Vorlicek references art history from Dutch Still Life painting to Duchamp’s ready-mades in her sculptural ceramics. What results is sculptural works that refer to objects and places in our everyday life but take us to a new and an unexpected world – A Poetry in Clay.

Visit Elizabeth’s artist page to see more of her work.

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