Alice Whealin

Wondrous Forms: Works by Alice Whealin
Passage Gallery
March 21, 2020 – May 24, 2020
Opening Reception: March 21, 2020 2-4PM

Due to the Covid-19 Outbreak, this exhibition has been postponed.

Artist Statement

My new artworks present ephemeral and meditative figurative forms and spaces. Their color is largely saturated and delicate. Each of these works was developed over days or weeks, but some much longer. I began this body of works in 2019. Both intimate and vast scales are suggested in these works.

Transfigure
Transfigure, Watercolor on Fabriano watercolor paper, 9″ x 12″ x 7/8″

The natural world, humanity and culture inspire my art. The human figure, biology, concepts of physical matter and ideas of growth in the universe are some of the sources of form in my work. Contemporary and world art, popular science articles, sacred art, and popular online culture are influences.

I begin each work on a sheet of paper pre-mounted on a birch panel. I paint each work freehand. I contemplate what I will make each work about beforehand, what I will draw, and what technique I will try out to complete that initial plan. I think about the forms and the colors and choose my tools. I look at the world, the trees in my neighborhood and by my studio, I photograph the sky almost everyday, and I photograph my work in each stage of development. Before I begin, I also want to center my thoughts and myself.

Scenic Byway
Scenic Byway, Watercolor and ink on Fabriano watercolor paper

Each work is painted freehand with brushes or other implements. I may pour or disperse the pigments with water droppers or sprays and can employ diversity of techniques within a single work. In many of my works, a number of successive thin layers of ink are built up. As the layers accumulate, the work develops. Lines, patterns and forms are revealed through the layering.

Biography

Alice Whealin is based in Arlington, VA. She currently works with water based-media upon paper, wood and transparent materials.

Photo Credit: Dawn Whitmore

Whealin’s artworks have been curated for numerous exhibitions, including at the Museo Della Carta, Italy, The Painting Center, NY, the Charles Krause/ Reporting Fine Art gallery, DC, the Robert Brown Gallery, DC, the Howard County Fine and Performing Arts Center, MD, the Kathleen Ewing Gallery, DC, the Washington Project for the Arts, DC and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, DC.

The Philadelphia Science Center’s Esther M. Klein Art Gallery and GrizzlyGrizzly art gallery in Philadelphia, PA included her art in exhibitions. She has held solo exhibitions in Northern Virginia at the Arlington Arts Center, George Mason University, the Mezz Gallery@Artisphere and the McLean Project for the Arts.

Whealin’s awards include a studio artist residency fellowship at the Arlington Arts Center, VA from 2011 through 2016 and a Juror’s Award in 2018 for her artwork at the McLean Project for the Arts, VA. Museum collections that own her artwork include the Museo Della Carta in Fabriano, Italy. The Washington Post, NBC news, art journals and other sources have covered her exhibitions and her artworks in videos, articles and reviews.

You can learn more about Alice and her work by visiting her website at https://www.alicewhealin.com/

Follow her on Instagram at @alicewhealin

Please check the Northern Virginia Community College Covid-19  page for updates. – https://www.nvcc.edu/coronavirus/index.html