VOLAR: The Art of Marta Gutierrez

2024-11-15T20:19:58+00:00July 17, 2024|

VOLAR: The Art of Marta Gutierrez

August 1, 2024 – September 10, 2024
Reception: Friday, August 9th, 2024
Small House Gallery, Goodwin House, Alexandria, Va

Curatorial Statement by Mary Welch Higgins

It is said that an artist notices moments, objects and small details in the world that others do not see. Marta draws on her interdisciplinary background in architecture, furniture design and her personal story to create sculptures and paintings that reveal worlds where the “ordinary is extraordinary”.

She reminds us to look to the world outside of our window and engage nature and the creatures living there – “to see and experience delight in the everyday”.

In her Volar collection of mixed media sculptures, Marta has created birds of different species that express unique personalities and emotions ranging from confident to shy; happy to nervous, curious to reserved.  All are formed through her unique vision and creative skill.

In her biography, Marta describes the experience of growing up in an “inspiring old house in a forest surrounded by friends, family and animals.

When I first read her biography, I pictured an early Miro painting that I saw as a young person in the permanent collection of the National Gallery in Washington DC. It is called “The Farm” and dates 1921-1922.  It shows a magical place populated by array of animals. The lone humans are a woman hard at work and a child sitting on the ground.  There is a even slight hint of a forest in the background. I was drawn to this painting – almost pulled into its world. Today, Marta’s art creates a similar feeling of being pulled into the world of her sculptures.

In the solo exhibition, “Volar”,  we can experience and delight in her birds and reflect on our memories of the winged creatures in our lives.

Enjoy the experience of taking flight.

Marta Gutierrez in her Studio

Robin by Marta Gutierrez

22" x 20", Mixed Media on Sintra

Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Arts Center

2023-07-06T20:13:22+00:00June 7, 2023|

Artist Talk: Saturday, July 15, 2023, 2-4PM

“Through travel, I seek influences, cultural centers, energies, new terrain and the power of both the spoken and unspoken.”  – Alonzo Davis

“The allure of creating is finding places that I do not already know.”     – Chee Keong Kung

Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts
Open Latitudes: Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung at Workhouse Center for the Arts

Vulcan Gallery, Workhouse Center for the Arts, 9518 Workhouse Way, Lorton, VA, 22079
–

Open Latitudes: Mixed Media Works by Alonzo Davis and Chee Keong Kung  presents the work of two contemporary artists who share a commonality rooted in exploration, discovery and improvisation. The use of geometric forms, gestural mark-making, the exploration of the tension between 2 and 3D, natural and man-made materials as well as working in series are integral to both artists’ studio practices.

An enticing aspect of travel is leaving the familiar behind and experiencing a new place. Upon returning home, what was once familiar is somehow transformed through new eyes. Through their travels—literal and metaphorical–Davis and Kung have absorbed deep multi-cultural influences that have informed and enriched their work and processes. In the details and precision of their work, there is an expansiveness that extends beyond geographical and cultural boundaries to encompass the broader world.

– Curated by Mary Welch Higgins

Irreplaceable by Sally Kauffman

2023-05-10T19:16:58+00:00April 4, 2023|

  • Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
  • Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
  • Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman - Installation photo credit: Greg Staley
  • Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
Workhouse Arts Center Announces New Art Exhibition Opening
Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
Curated by Mary Welch Higgins
March 25 – June 11, 2023
Second Saturday Exhibition Reception, April 8, 2023, 4 – 6 PM

Lorton, VA – ( March 2023) The Workhouse Arts Center announces the opening of the new exhibition, Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman. The exhibition is on view from March 25 through June 11, 2023, in the Workhouse’s McGuireWoods Gallery (W-16). There is a public exhibition reception Saturday, April 8, 2023, 4 – 6 PM.

Irreplaceable is an exhibit of abstract yet allusory paintings by DC area artist, Sally Kauffman. Kauffman works in series and is known for paintings depicting groups of people engaged in communal activities. In her most recent series, she turns her eye to the plight of endangered and extinct species. Her high contrast color palettes and adventurous brushwork are reminiscent of the abstract expressionistic movement of the 20th Century. Yet her goal to increase awareness of the species represented in her work calls to mind Romanticism, a late 18th century artistic and intellectual movement that promoted the power of the creativity and the arts to raise awareness and thus transform circumstance.

By memorializing the energy, diversity and beauty of birds and butterflies in flight, cats, turtles and fish, she honors their place in our ecosystem while drawing attention to their plight. She recognizes that some viewers may simply enjoy the beauty of the paintings and animals represented. There may be others that do not notice the plastic bags and ropes entangling the turtles that are painted to represent just one of the ways that humankind’s actions have impacted the endangered animals. Finally, others may enjoy the paintings and decide to dive deeper to discover that these extraordinary creatures are threatened or already extinct. Kauffman’s paintings remind us that art has the power to raise awareness and create change.

For more information about exhibits at the Workhouse Arts Center or artwork purchase inquiries, contact Audrey Miller audreymiller@workhousearts.org. Follow Workhouse Arts Center on Instagram at @workhousearts, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WorkhouseArts and Twitter at @Workhouse_Arts. The Workhouse Arts Center is open to the public Wednesdays – Saturdays from 11 am to 6 pm, and Sundays from noon to 5 pm. Free public parking is available. A map of campus can be found online here.

Photo Credit: Greg Staley 

Adjoa J. Burrowes at Virginia Moca

2023-03-16T20:32:16+00:00November 28, 2022|

Adjoa J. Burrowes’s work, “Run Down and Run Over” was selected for the  juried group exhibition “Made In Virginia 2022” at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art where she won second prize for Best in Show. She was also asked to contribute tools and process materials to the museum’s educational Art Lab. Congratulations to Adjoa and to all the participating artists from the state of Virginia!

  • Adjoa J. Burrowes, Run Down and Run Over at Virginia Moca
  • Adjoa J. Burrowes, Run Down and Run Over at Virginia Moca
  • Adjoa J. Burrowes, Run Down and Run Over at Virginia Moca

Installations shots by Echard Wheeler, Courtesy of Virginia Moca 

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

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