March 7th, 2020 1-3pm Artist Talk with Kirsty Little
October 19, 2019 2-4PM Art Opening – Sally Kauffman, Jean Hirons, Cathy Abramson and Veronica Szcalus
Please join us on Saturday afternoon October 19, 2019 from 2-4PM for the Final 2019 art openings at the Fisher and Schlesinger Center Art Galleries. We will be celebrating the work of four talented local artists. The artist are Sally Kauffman in the Forum Gallery, Jean Hirons in the Passage Gallery and Cathy Abramson in the Margaret W. & Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery.
Forum Gallery
Chill Out: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
October 12, 2019 – December 23, 2019
Kauffman is best known for her abstract yet allusory large-scale paintings that celebrate and exude pleasure. Her gestural brushwork and sensual application of paint reference the figure in landscape. Kauffman draws on personal experiences as a source for her images; Friday Jazz in the Garden concerts at the NGA and recent strolls through Porto provide the setting for the series “Chill Out”. Kauffman captures moments in snapshots and digitally manipulates the composition and intensity of color. The dense, saturated images become the source for the paintings. Almost human scale figures painted in saturated, flowing oil color on large format canvas entice the viewer to engage in their own narrative.
Passage Gallery
Winter Light: Pastels by Jean Hirons
October 12, 2019 – December 23, 2019
Jean Hirons has spent 20 years specializing in the art of soft pastel. Jean’s passion is for the landscape, particularly buildings in the landscape. She began by painting New England houses and rural farms. Since 2015, she has focused on various areas of Washington, DC: Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Chinatown, and Dupont Circle. She finds this subject matter both challenging and satisfying. Composition is always the starting point in any of her paintings and she often looks for abstract shapes. For color, she may use what she sees but, more often, uses color from her imagination. She wants color to be real enough, but not necessarily what was there! Jean also loves complex, broken color and finds pastel to be a perfect medium for achieving this effect.
The Passage Gallery exhibit, “Winter Light” displays 6 pastels capturing the moments of one day in winter on the C&O Canal in Washington DC.
Margaret W. & Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery
Dreams of the Underground: Oil Paintings by Cathy Abramson
Cathy Abramson’s oil paintings investigate the stories of the city. These representational paintings examine the emotional subtext of change; the connections or estrangement of people in transitional neighborhoods. She sees moments of poetry in the ordinary. Although she paints particular people and scenes, these paintings about daily life in Washington, DC resonate with everyone. Cathy spent two years investigating and painting the neighborhood and people around Kennedy Street, NW. She recorded scenes that are about recent history, change, nostalgia and social struggle; the joys and frustrations of contemporary urban life.
September 7th, 2019 2-4PM, Fall Solo Artist Reception
You are invite to attend a free public art exhibit reception Saturday afternoon, September 7th from 2-4PM.
Our early fall exhibitions are on display now and will run through October 7th, 2019.
Forum Gallery
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Paintings by Andrea Limauro
Passage Gallery
Occupational Hazards: Multi Media by Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter
Margaret W & Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery
Milagros in My Pocketbook: Work by Alexandra N Sherman
April 16th, 2019 6:30-8:30PM Confluence: Two Rivers, One City
During the last week of “Coming to Light, Encaustics by Angela White” and “NOMAD, The Art of Alonzo Davis“, the Schlesinger Art Galleries is hosting a special public presentation of Confluence 2019, the DC region’s annual publication of critical writing on the visual arts on Tuesday evening from 6:30pm The speaker is Phil Hutinet, the publisher of East City Art.
CONFLUENCE: Two Rivers One City Public Presentation
East City Art, DC’s visual arts publication of record, has released its second annual anthology of critical writing titled CONFLUENCE: Two Rivers One City. The 30 essays of the anthology present some of East City Art’s most compelling writing and document the DC region’s most prominent influences on regional visual arts culture.
The title of the anthology alludes to the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers which flow through the region affectionately known as the “DMV” (DC, Maryland and Virginia).
CONFLUENCE 2019 offers insight into DC’s art world with in-depth critical writing and full color photographs of work by local, national and international artists displayed at regional galleries, museums and art spaces.
“The dedication of the East City Art writing staff to publish serious art criticism has never been stronger. Articles with ample discussion make ECA an alternative to the condensed and often superficial reviews offered elsewhere of gallery exhibits,” explains Editor-at-Large and Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D.
Publisher Phil Hutinet will present an overview of the reviews in CONFLUENCE 2019 while highlighting examples of work by local artists published in the anthology. During and after the presentation, audience members will have the opportunity to participate in the discussion and ask questions.
Speaker Biography
Phil Hutinet, a third generation Capitol Hill resident, is the publisher of East City Art, DC’s Visual Arts publication of record, which he began in 2010. In 2012-2013, his consultancy work east of the river yielded the Anacostia Playhouse, Craig Kraft Studios, the Anacostia Arts Center and the 2012-2013 LUMEN8ANACOSTIA festivals. In 2015, 2018 and 2019 he acted as the Gateway Open Studio Tour coordinator. From 2013-2018, he produced EMULSION, East City Art’s regional juried show and has produced over 150 local exhibitions in his career as a gallery owner and director. Currently, he oversees the ECA Foundation’s Critical Arts Writing and Research Program which produces an annual anthology titled CONFLUENCE: Two Rivers One City. Hutinet has been interviewed by or has made appearances on the BBC, Capital Community News, Euronews, Washingtonian Magazine, Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, WJLA ABC News Channel 7/Channel 8, WTOP and other local, national and international media.”
The Language of Impressions: A Printmaking Exhibit
In partnership with the Alexandria Campus’ Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, the Richard J. Ernst Community Cultural Center at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale Campus will display a series of printmaking artworks created by 13 D.C. metro area artists. The show, The Language of Impressions, will be on display in the Ernst Community Center’s Verizon Gallery from June 1 to June 30 with an artists’ reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 3.
Artists participating in the show include Cheryl Edwards, Joan Belmar, Adjoa Burrowes, Helen Frederick, Amelia Hankin, Azia Gibson-Hunter, Maroulla Morcos, Lisa Rosenstein, Anne Smith, Hendrik Sundqvist, Alec Simpson, Michelle Talibah and Nikki Whipkey.
Cheryl Edwards and Exhibition Director Mary Welch Higgins organized and curated the show. The Ernst Community Cultural Center is located at NOVA’s Annandale Campus, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003.
The Reverence of Water by Cheryl Edwards
The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center will welcome regional artist Cheryl Edwards as she presents her latest art exhibit from March 3 to April 30. Edwards’ collection The Reverence of Water will be on display in the center’s Forum Gallery, and an artist’s reception is scheduled for 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 25.
For this collection, Edwards used ink stain on raw canvas in her exploration of the reverence of water and its relationship to identities. She explained that she chose this process because it is “a wet-on-wet water-based process and it’s conducted without the use of brushes.”
Terminal Flux: A Site-Specific Graphite Wall Drawing by John M. Adams
Artist John M. Adams is one of our first artists of the 2017 season for the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center art galleries. Adams has created the site-specific graphite drawing Terminal Flux on the wall of the atrium of the building. Terminal Flux is the Schlesinger Center’s very first wall drawing. The exhibit for the drawing opens Monday, Jan. 16 with an artist’s reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.
Adams’ site-specific drawings are created on location, for that specific location, and last for a predetermined amount of time before they are painted over or destroyed. He has completed more than 12 site-specific drawings in the Washington, D.C., area. At more than 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide, Terminal Flux is Adams’ largest site-specific drawing to date. This drawing will be the Schlesinger Center’s second site-specific art exhibit but the first exhibit where the artist draws directly on the walls of the building. Terminal Flux will be on display all year. See East City Art‘s review of Adams’ drawing here.
Q&A with Artist John M. Adams
***The galleries at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center has extended John M. Adams’ art exhibit “Current Interrupted.” His work will be on display in our first-level Forum Gallery through Dec. 18. In an effort to give more insight into Adams’ work, why he was compelled to create these dynamic pieces and what we can expect in 2017, the Schlesinger Center spoke with him about his artistic process.
Adams is also currently working on a site-specific wall drawing for the Schlesinger Center that will debut in January 2017. This wall drawing will be his largest to date, so check back on our blog soon for more details.***
Schlesinger: What was the inspiration for Current Interrupted?
JMA: I’ve always been interested in the perceptual connection between artist, object and viewer. In this new body of work, I am continuing my exploration of the art object as a catalyst for contemplation and meditation for the viewer as well as the artist. In terms of imagery, I’m an avid outdoors man and find myself equally inspired by the structures of the natural world and of those of the suburban/urban environment in which I work. The format of this work was also influenced by the birth of my son, who was born earlier this year. He is with me everyday, so he spends quite a bit of time with me in the studio.
Schlesinger: Compared to your previous work, how is Current Interrupted different?
JMA: The rhythm and atmosphere of my studio has been fundamentally altered because of my son. It’s no longer just me in the studio for hours thinking, looking, making marks. My time and attention are divided between him and the work. I quickly realized long painting sessions in which I got lost in my work were no longer a possibility. I had to find a way to be able to create continuity, flow and maintain focus in the paintings while working in five, 10 or 15 minute snippets of time.
As my son was becoming aware of his surroundings, I noticed he focused on patterns made of repetitive bars or rectangles (such as the sides of his crib). This led me to build off of some small studies I made 10 or so years ago but never explored; all of a sudden, they resonated with me in a new way.
I started making large paintings quickly, with scaled back color schemes (1-4 colors). The paintings were more saturated and intense than in much of my previous work – no doubt influenced by the colors that were grabbing his attention. I found myself paying particular attention to the micro-relationships of positive and negative space within the paintings. I then separated the paintings into strips 1.5-2 inches wide. Working one strip at a time, I reconstructed the painting, placing a portion of each strip on a new surface. Once the first strip is placed the next strip is chosen and edited based on the previous strip or strips.
To me it’s an intriguing process that allows me to keep the focused contemplative approach while being able to build the piece at an irregular pace in a number of sessions if needed. He was in the studio much of the summer when I made all of the work in this show. It’s completely changed the way I work and live.
Schlesinger: When people look at your work, what do you hope they get/learn from it? What kind of reaction were you going for when creating this body of work, and what kind of conversation do you hope it provokes?
JMA: In this new body of work, I’m continuing my exploration of the art object as a catalyst for contemplation and meditation, for the viewer as well as the artist. Fluid marks are juxtaposed with the regulated rhythm of sharp horizontal line breaks, which creates a fluttering vibration and tension in the paintings. These elements pull me into exploring those relationships and I can spend some time with them, just looking. I’m interested in what happens when snippets of perception are edited, reconfigured and compartmentalized to give them new meaning through their relationship to the whole.
Schlesinger: A lot of artists say that a piece is never really complete. If anything, what would you change or do differently about this body of work?
JMA: That’s part of what keeps artists going, the “what if” effect. I’ve got ideas about scale, color schemes and process that will lead to new work. I just have to see where it goes. I’ve continued to make new paintings using the same process, and I’ve got a big project coming up so…
Schlesinger: What should artists and admirers of your art expect next? Feel free to mention the upcoming wall drawing and any other projects, exhibitions, etc., that you have coming up in 2017.
JMA: January 9-20, 2017, I’m installing a site-specific drawing in the atrium of the Schlesinger Center. It will be the first site-specific drawing in the art center and it will be my largest to date, reaching over 20 feet high and extending 30 feet at its widest point. I’m extremely excited about it. I’ll be launching a crowdsourcing campaign very soon and I’m sure you will see more information on this blog when it is live.
John M. Adams specializes in painting, drawing and site-specific work. His art can be found in private, public and corporate collections including in the Wilson Building at D.C. City Hall and the D.C. Art Bank Collection.