Sami Miranda jamming with Pepe Gonzalez, William Knowles, and Mark Merella

Chino Bicicleta Explains His Actions to Spanish Joe

Creative collaboration is integral to Sami Miranda’s art. Please enjoy this video of Sami jamming with Pepe Gonzalez on bass, William Knowles on piano, and Mark Merella on percussion.  We also hope that you will visit his online visual art exhibition, We are Always in Conversation: Work by Samuel Miranda.

You can also learn more about Samuel by visiting his website at https://www.samimiranda.com/ and follow him on Instagram at @tres-raices_arts


Email the gallery director, Mary Higgins  for inquiries about work in the virtual exhibition.

March 16th, 2019 2-4PM: Artist Receptions for Alonzo Davis and Angela White

We are very pleased to announce our early spring exhibitions and invite you to the opening receptions.  We will have two new solo exhibitions opening on March 9th, 2019,  Saturday afternoon 2-4PM.

NOMAD: The Art of Alonzo Davis
Forum Gallery and the Margaret W. & Joseph L.  Fisher Art Gallery
We pleased to present work from two of Alonzo Davis’s recent series, the Navigation Series and the Migrant Series. The Navigation Series is inspired by Alonzo’s long-time fascination with Micronesian navigation stick charts. Once used by the Marshall Islanders of Micronesia, the charts, studies of Pacific swell patterns and island locations, helped mariners navigate the waters in and around the region by canoe. The “Migrant Series” is a body of works that express our need for national and world concern of peoples having to leave their homeland because of inhumane conditions.The work in the series are approximately 14″w x 16″h x 5″d; each containing encaustic boats made of bamboo on a mixed media collage painting, with encaustic wax on board with burned and painted bamboo.

To learn more about Alonzo’s work, visit his About the Artist page.

COMING TO LIGHT: The Encaustics of Angela White
Passage Gallery
Angela White is a fine artist inspired by physical, spiritual and emotional memories that create the visual depth and density of her work. Abstracts and seascapes compose the majority of her compositions. Natural and sensual materials such as oils and encaustic paint allow the blending of edges to create visual depth. By superimposing layers of media, the varied themes and processes of her work are exposed.

To learn more about Angela, please visit her About the Artist Page.

December 12th, 2018 6-8PM Artist Talks with Travis Childers and Lisa Noble

We are very pleased to invite you to an evening of artists talks with Lisa Noble and Travis Childers next Wednesday evening December 12th, 2018 6-8pm. Lisa and Travis have distinct visions where they explore memory and our experience of the day to moment.

You can learn more about Travis Childers and Lisa Noble by visiting their About the Artists Page.

The address for the Schlesinger Center is 4915 East Campus Drive, Alexandria, VA 22311. There will be parking available in the Visitor Parking Garage right across the Circle from the Schlesinger Center.

November 17th, 2018 2-4PM Art Reception for Childers, Noble and Pinney

We are very pleased to announce the exhibition receptions and final solo exhibtions for 2018. You are invited to join us this Saturday November 17th, 2018 2-4PM for Travis Childers, Lisa Noble and Matthew Pinney.

 

Accumulations: Mixed Media works by Travis Childers is in the Fisher Art Gallery. Travis begins with everyday objects – newspaper clippings, staplers, pen tips and tops and transforms them into provocative objects that evoke the readymades of Duchamp and the process of the Dada movement of the 20th century.

 

 

 

Memories of Home: Paintings by Lisa Noble is in the Passage Gallery.  The interior in Lisa’s paintings are places of her past and personal history. They represent her efforts to visually map out the context of her childhood and early history.

 

 

 

 

The Secret Garden: Paintings by Matt Pinney is in the Forum Gallery. Matt Pinney is an assistant professor of studio art at the Northern Virginia Community College at the Manassas Campus.  Matt’s paintings employ personal myths, reinterpretations of history, and investigation of cultural assigned roles to creative narratives that are unbound by time.

Questions and Answers with John D. Antone

John D. Antone’s solo exhibition, The Home Inside” runs through November 4th.

We pleased to announce that we are hosting a day time coffee and conversation next Monday, October 15th, 2018, 11am -12PM with John D. Antone. Please come out to meet him, view his works and join us in conversation.

Learn more about John tomorrow and plan to join us next Monday morning for a conversation with the Artists.

At what point during your life did you realize that you were an artist.?

Maybe artists are born….??

As I recall checking the “Art Major” box in my college application was the first commitment to being a “professional”  artist but much later and in reality rather recently, I realized my purpose in life is to be an artist.  Being an artist is related to curiosity in my opinion…..not a job.

How did your experiences at Virginia Commonwealth University and California Institute of the Arts impact your artistic development?

At VCU I decided to study “sculpture” because the Sculpture Department did not restrict sculpture to any working method.  Our critiques addressed:  concept, intent and effect.

At Cal Arts they talked about the audience….who is our audience?  This impressed me.  It did not mean commercial audience but who we imagined we wanted to present our work.

Times spent with other students was just as important as what happened in the classrooms. We were very lucky to be alive when there was such freedom.

  Was there a particular teacher that influenced you?

 Chuck Henry  -VCU

John Baldessari – California Institute of the Arts

Deborah Butterfeild – University of Wisconsin

Warren Moon – University of Wisconsin

Hardeu Keck – Rhode Island School of Design, Rome Campus, Italy

 How would you describe your creative process?

My creative process is something like play.

 What artistic movements inspire you? – They can be visual but also literary movements.

There is not a particular movement although I like art history a lot and literature is amazing. Art is an ancient language that repeats itself so I like to learn from the language of art.

One of my favorite authors is Samuel Beckett……

 

What is it about bronze that appeals to you creatively?

I like bronze because it is both a liquid and solid.

Describe the lost wax casting process?

  • The lost wax process is ancient.
  • Basically one makes a form in wax by direct or indirect means.
  • Then the wax model is placed in a mold.
  • It may be that the wax form need to be broken down into parts and reassembled later.
  • This mold with the wax model is heated and the wax evaporates.
  • Then melted bronze is heated and poured into the mold.
  • Then the mold is removed when bronze has cooled.
  • Parts are welded together.
  • Then the bronze is cleaned and made smooth to the touch.
  • Then color (patina) is applied to the finished bronze by heat and/or chemicals.

When are you working on an idea for a sculpture – how do you begin?

I begin with meditation.

What advice would you give to a young artist starting today?

I would say beware that art is dangerous and ask yourself: If you looked back on your life would you regret not doing what you love?