Arlington Arts Center - Past Exhibitions

Our 2008 installment of SPRING SOLOS once again surveys the best in contemporary art from across the Mid-Atlantic region--providing six separate solo exhibitions together under one roof.

Featuring pieces by six of Arlington Arts Center’s resident artists, working in a variety of styles and media:

Shinji Turner-Yamamoto shows the fruits—literally—of his collaboration with Barrett Elementary School science students, who were asked to sprout seeds derived from the food they eat every day. Installation includes live plants and drawings of what the students imagined those plants would eventually look like.

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HOPE AND FEAR and WINTER SOLOS 2007
December 4 – January 19
Reception FRIDAY, December 7, 6 – 9 pm
Gallery hours Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm

Please join us for a reception on Friday, December 7 from 6 to 9 pm at the Arlington Arts Center to celebrate the openings of HOPE AND FEAR and WINTER SOLOS 2007. The reception will include a performance at 6 pm of a new work by Lucy Bowen McCauley of Bowen McCauley Dance.

HOPE AND FEAR

“Fear is not something to be conquered or eliminated. . . Instead, we may need to pay close attention to its message.” Harriett Lerner, Fear and Other Uninvited Guests.

Curated by artist and former AAC curator Carol Lukitsch, HOPE AND FEAR features eight area artists whose paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings explore their hopes and fears. A dream-like quality unifies the predominately figurative works in this exhibition, as does a deep concern for the environment and the quality of human life. Although the artists in this exhibit address war, race, identity and the complexities of the human psyche, they are extraordinary in their ability to maintain a positive attitude in a negative situation. These artists demonstrate a willingness to face their own fearfulness as they strive toward hopefulness in dealing with both personal and universal scenarios.

Shahla Arbabi addresses the history of flight and her early years in Iran when she learned to fly an airplane. Her repeated use of dreamlike bird imagery evokes both freedom and entrapment, filtering contemporary reality (war and the fears of war). Themes of freedom and containment reappear in the sculpture of M. V. Langston, while a metaphorical bird also appears in the unsettling imagery of Laurel Hausler, whose characters from history and literature/self portraits appear to be simultaneously forming and dissolving. Michael Platt’s powerful and complex prints transport us to a parallel reality, where survivors of Katrina in New Orleans find themselves in deep water where ancestors from Ghana are caught up in the same ongoing dilemma. Janice Goodman’s paintings document dynamic visual patterns in water evolving from close observation of waves, swirls, ripples and eddies, prompting one to ponder how a breeze grows into a hurricane. Sandra Parra brings us creation scenarios inspired by rainforests in her native Columbia, yet the characters she portrays question how this creation story will develop or end. Like Arbabi and Platt, Parra grapples with a dual cultural perspective. Both Rachel Waldron and Steven Williams use surrealistic imagery—humorous at first glance, but chilling on the second look, to explore issues of power and powerlessness. Both artists have been inspired by 1950s comic books. Waldron depicts a 1950’s “supermom” and a pigtailed protagonist plagued by both inner and outer messages of danger and courage. Though Williams’ imagery comes from Fifties films and comics and conjures paranoia involving communism and mushroom clouds, his work speaks to contemporary issues as well.

WINTER SOLOS

Jennifer Levonian
Levonian is working on short animations which address her continued interest in examining narrative clichés about love, romance, and the transience of life. She received her MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006 and now lives in Philadelphia.

Joe Mannino
Mannino’s large ceramic hand sculpture graced the grounds of AAC for several years. In his Winter Solos installation, the hand theme reappears in more large sculptures; he will be showing large photographs as well. Mannino is the Associate Head of the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Young Kim
His installation at the Arlington Arts Center consists of 10 life-size portraits made of granular salt and red clay powder composed on the gallery floor. These ephemeral works, swept away at the end of the exhibit, serve as meditations on time, memory and the human condition. Young Kim received his MFA in Photography/Mixed Media at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, in 1997. He is an assistant professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

FALL SOLOS 2007
October 2 - November 17, 2007

Reception: FRIDAY, October 5, 2007: 6 - 9 p.m.
Location: The Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA (conveniently located one block from the Virginia Square Metro Station on the Orange Line)

Please join us for a reception on Friday, October 5, 2007, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Arlington Arts Center on Wilson Boulevard to celebrate the opening of FALL SOLOS 2007.

This collection of seven solo exhibitions-each distinct, and occupying its own gallery at the AAC-encompasses everything from traditional representational painting, to wall mounted sculptural installation, to hybridized projects using video in combination with other media.

FALL SOLOS maps the boundaries of contemporary art practice, and introduces gallery-goers to some of the finest artists-emerging or established-currently at work across the Mid-Atlantic region:

The Arlington Arts Center is a private, nonprofit visual arts organization dedicated to presenting and supporting new work from contemporary Mid-Atlantic artists. Founded in 1976 and housed in the historic Maury School in Arlington, Virginia, the AAC bridges the gap between the public and contemporary arts discourse-through exhibitions, educational programming, and subsidized studio spaces.

and: a preview of ARLINGTON TO AACHEN: IMAGING THE DISTANCE
Resident Studio Artist, Taek Lee, recent oil paintings
Sculpture on the Grounds: Clarendon Central Park
Joseph Mannino: Who Are these Guys and What Are They Doing in My Dream?
Stoneware installation on view through November 28, 2007

Reception: Friday, September 7, 6 - 9 p.m.
Wednesday, September 12, 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Bridges to Contemporary Arts Program:
Lebenszeichen/Sign of Life: Forum Discussion (advance reservations suggested)

The long awaited Arlington Sister Cities Association Exchange Exhibitions are about to begin, with two exhibitions of German and American artists beginning this month. Aachen to Arlington: IMAGING THE DISTANCE will take place at the Arlington Arts Center from July 31 to September 22, 2007. Please save the date on your calendar for a reception on Friday, September 7, 6 - 9 p.m. We hope you'll stop by to meet curator Harald Kunde, Director of the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen as he presents works by the six exhibiting German artists: Tobias Danke, Irmel Kamp-Bandau, Andreas Magdanz, Stephan Mörsch and Hans Niehus. These artists, all represented by Stephen Adamski's Adamski Gallery for Contemporary Art in Aachen, Germany provide historical insights as well as a contemporary outlook on artistic life in Arlington's Sister City.

Stephan Mörsch, Hochsitz: Hurt-gen-forest, 2007, Amy Glengary Yang, Phosphorflock, 2007
wood, mixed media cyanotypes, lightboxes, sea urchin skeleton, mixed media

Running concurrently in the AAC's Truland Gallery will be a preview of selected works from Arlington to Aachen: IMAGING THE DISTANCE, featuring works by American artists Caroline Danforth, Chawky Frenn, Maria Karametou, Evan Reed, Mona Sfeir and Amy Glengary Yang. Co-curated by Claire Huschle, AAC Executive Director and Carol Lukitsch, AAC Director of Exhibitions, these artists' works approach global social issues and promote cross-cultural understanding and dialogue. The exhibition in its entirety will take place in Aachen, Germany November 9, 2007 - January 13, 2008.

For more than 40 years, Sister Cities has been one of the most celebrated international community-building and cultural exchange programs. In every region of the world, sister cities, counties and states play a significant role in supporting long-term community partnerships through reciprocal exchange programs and citizen diplomacy. This will be the second exchange exhibition between Arlington and Aachen. The first one took place in 1999. The AAC has worked in cooperation with Arlington County's Division of Cultural Affairs on this project. Arlington to Aachen: IMAGING THE DISTANCE was produced by the Arlington Arts Center and the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, with local support provided by the Arlington Sister City Association and Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division.

Artists: Milana Braslavsky, Kelly Egan, Ellen Ann Gallup, Steven
Michael Hadley II, Ronald J. Longsdorf, Richard Sawka,
Nanda Soderberg, Chad States, David Waddell, Elizabeth
Wade

Arlington Arts Center's third annual overview of new talent selected from submissions by recent Master of Fine Arts graduates from universities in Virginia,
Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware presents the work of ten new artists. If the past repeats itself, some of the artists in this exhibition will become familiar names.

Milana Braslavsky's photographic images of friends and family caught up
in eccentric poses in a Baltimore home trick the eye and find humor in the human condition - with a nod to the drama queens among us, whereas Chad States' large scale digital archival prints investigate definitions of the term "masculine". Using portraiture, he attempts to democratize notions of masculinity by inviting anyone who identifies with being masculine to pose for a portrait. Through listings

on internet sites and flyers posted in public places, he began by simply asking the question "Are you masculine?"

Kelly Egan's photographs examine the acceleration of culture and information. Showing a rapidly shifting landscape, the images create fleeting glimpses of form as the artist uses speed to reconfigure the image.

The quirky installation of Ellen Ann Gallup incorporates everyday objects and materials as diverse as plants (Pink Love Plants), crayons, painted wooden hearts,
garden hose, balloons, plastic and clay pots and dishes.

Ronald J. Longdorf's sculptural installation We Could Have Been Happy takes
a serious look at human communication and interaction and features an altered,
oversized table and chairs, unfired clay, surveillance camera, speakers, wire and audio.

David Waddell's iPod stop-motion animation, iPleasure for Commuters,
Bird Games and Who's My Daddy? examines his personal history and that of his
parents and grandparents with an emphasis on the issue of adoption.

The serigraphs and videos of Steven Michael Hadley II continue the focus on failures of communication. His video, My Postmodern Breakdown, chronicles the professional as an anti-hero and a contradiction and addresses violence as a symbol for immediate, and in correlation to death, a drastic change. Although the artist handles his material in what at first seems to be a humorous manner, the viewer is soon chilled as similarities to recent tragic shootings start to surface.
This piece will be difficult for some viewers to watch and parents should exercise discretion here.

Richard Sawka's oversize fabric constructions, Nanda Soderberg's fresh found and altered glassworks, and Elizabeth Wade's bold acrylic on canvas painting round out NEW ART EXAMINED III.

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA
(AAC is located one block from the Virginia Square Metro
Station on the Orange Line)
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FIREWAVE: A COLLABORATIVE INSTALLATION
June 5 - July 21, 2007
Reception: Friday, June 8, 6 - 9 pm

David Carlson from this area, and PiT Brussel from Germany have teamed up again, this time with the musician Ashraf Fouad from Egypt to create an installation based on the elements of fire and water. They address the daily
bombardment of news of clashing global phenomena. Brussel uses very thin wires, invisible from a distance of three meters, and brings them to life by passing

electrical current through them. The wires not only glow with a yellow red light, they also produce heat which activates the space. Carlson's work is the other side of the equation, his video addressing the cause and effect of a basic element on another. The audience is watched by a camera and this view is given back on a monitor.

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA
(AAC is located one block from the Virginia Square Metro
Station on the Orange Line)
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SPRING SOLOS 2007
April 10 – May 26, 2007

Reception: Friday, April 13, 2007, 6 – 9 pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA
(AAC is located one block from the Virginia Square Metro Station on the Orange Line)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm

Arlington Arts Center presents works by six artists who were selected out of a large number of competitive submissions for solo exhibitions. These one-person shows, each in its own gallery, are varied in media and approach, yet each deals with a state of awareness that hovers between consciousness and unconsciousness. The exhibitions are also unified by excellence of craftsmanship, attention to detail and a sensitive marriage of materials to ideas. The exhibiting SPRING SOLOS 2007 artists are Katherine Kavanaugh, Ephraim Russell, Keith Sharp, Gail Gorlitzz, Soomin Ham and Dominie Nash.

Click to download Spring Solos (pdf)

Katherine Kavanaugh, Cry, video installation with screen prints on wool felt. Cry evokes the artist’s memory of being the oldest girl in a family of many, a newborn each year, the womblike intimacy of a home surrounded by acres of snow-covered woods and fields with the sound of bleating sheep in the distant hills and long dark northern nights. Cry is about human need, desperation and longing.

Ephraim Russell, Planned Obsolescence, installation. Juxtaposed to Cry in the adjacent gallery, Planned Obsolescence is a body of work that focuses on manipulating the aesthetics of consumer appliances and goods to create a sense of usefulness without having to provide the use. Russell uses sleek materials including aluminum, plastic and assorted industrial coatings, as well as various forms of technology (micro-controllers, LCD screens, LED’s, digital data players and integrated power supplies) to provoke the desire to acquire and collect.

Keith Sharp, Grounded, silver gelatin prints of constructed images. The Grounded Series consists of images made by physically constructing scenes in real spaces as opposed to being made digitally. In this series, Sharp has photographed the landscape, but with a twist. He visually brings trees, grass, or clouds indoors and transplants curtains, wallpaper and floors outside. By blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior spaces, the artist creates mysterious images that cause the viewer to do a double take. Within these real and fictional spaces, nothing is grounded.

Gail Gorlitzz, Between, an installation/sculpture of mixed media with glass, metal, beetle wings. Gorlitzz offers a realm of multiplicity and growth, where forms proliferate, mutate, and connect – an undefined moment in an undefined place. Like the dream world or the subconscious, this installation hints of many things occurring at once in an interval between time and space.

Soomin Ham, Lightscape Series, photocollage, is based on ideas of memories and experiences that are a congregation of the conscious and unconscious absorbed in daily life. In the Lightscape Series, the artist works with photo collage, black and white silver print, rice paper and rice paste, continuing her focus on rice as both a theme and element since it is not only a fundamental substance for life, but also a symbol of nourishment and an expression of love in her culture.

Dominie Nash, Stills From A Life, fabric collage. Dominie Nash invites the viewer to look at the objects of everyday life from a fresh vantage point. Her colorful quilted fabric compositions and composites surprise the eye as they travel from figuration to abstraction and back again.

Associated Exhibitions

EYE ON ARLINGTON: John M. Adams, Here and There, oil and acrylic paintings on birch

RESIDENT STUDIO ARTIST’S SHOW: Ann Marie Coolick, Seasons in Impasto, oil paintings.

JENKINS COMMUNITY GALLERY (May 1 – May 26)

Arlington High Schools Juried Painting and Drawing Exhibition

EQUINOX: A JURIED ALL-MEDIA EXHIBITION represents the work of 22 Mid-Atlantic artists who were selected by guest juror Lori Mertes, Independent Curator, Phildelphia, PA, formerly of the Fabric Workshop and Museum and the Miami Art Museum. Mertes selected works in three categories: manipulated materials, abstraction and the figure.

Selections for EQUINOX were based on the paramount criteria of quality and innovation, as well as demonstration of a unique sensitivity or coherency of ideas within a body of work and include painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and mixed media.

CHARLOTTE ANDREW, LUIS CORCHON, RUTH CORNING,
ARDYTH DAVIS, MICHELE DE LA MENARDIER, MARY DE MARIS, ELSABE DIXON, LEN HARRIS, CHARLES HUCKINS, JODY ISAACSON, GALE JAMIESON, AIMEE HELEN KOCH, CAMILLE NIMS LAMOUREUX, PRESCOTT MOORE LASSMAN, DAVID MEYER, STEVE MILLER, PHIL NAPALA, RUTH PETTUS, JENNIFER L. SMITH, SABYNA STERRETT, DAVID VICKERS, MILLICENT YOUNG.

EYE ON ARLINGTON (Chairmen's Gallery)
Cynthia Connolly SEE ALL FIFFTEEN AT ONCE!
Don't bother travelling all over Alabama!! Cynthia already did it! Instead, come and lounge at your leisure and see the “real” Alabama through the examination of fifteen roadside arrow signs in photographs printed as 16" X 20" black and white silver gelatin prints with titles letterpressed clearly across the front! NO NEED TO EVEN STAND UP! JUST RELAX AND LOOK!

COMMUNITY EXHIBITION(Jenkins Gallery)
Anastasia Annenkova, Student from Moscow
Thresholds and Beginnings, acrylic paintings (through Feb 28)

Roundtable Discussion: Fresh Paint Up Close: Exhibiting Artists and Curator
Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 7 - 9 pm

Artists: Anthony Brock, Byron Clercx, Eric Finzi, Pat Goslee, Christopher Hoeting, Tati Kaupp,
Kevin Kepple, Isabel Manalo, Mike Matarese, Cara Ober, Susan Palmisano, Stefan Prosky, Lynda Ray,
Shinji Turner-Yamamoto

In FRESH PAINT: Process and Possibility, an invitational exhibition at Arlington Arts Center, fourteen Mid-Atlantic painters focus on process and materials as a means of questioning present-day reality. While they clearly take pleasure in the physicality of paint itself, the artists utilize a variety of alternative materials such as resin, glue, milk, henna, latex, clay and even robotics. At times they utilize unusual techniques which forego the use of a brush or canvas: paint skins are manipulated into sculptural forms, house paint is worked with power tools, needles and syringes are used to inject paint into resin.

SOLO EXHIBITION

Cycles, Elements and Space in Between, is an interactive multimedia installation and a series of digital images. By using images of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, that congeal and oscillate within a circular pool of light, this work
strives to suggest cycles of life, growth and decay. As viewers enter the space, laser and infrared sensors activate the piece.

RESIDENT STUDIO ARTIST'S EXHIBITION

October 10 - November 25, 2006
Reception: Friday, October 13, 2006, 6 - 9 pm

Arlington Arts Center is pleased to announce the presentation of works by six contemporary Mid-Atlantic artists. Working in a wide range of media, from traditional to alternative, each artist is exhibiting in a separate gallery. The AAC also introduces Sculpture on the Grounds, a temporary outdoor sculpture program. The current outdoor installation Insight Out includes three regional artists.

Daniel Burke, . . .of a feather, Assembled Paintings.
Daniel Burke of Erie, PA explores the patterns found in
nature associated with birds, including natural habitats
and man-made places

Suzi Fox, New and Recent Sculpture.
Suzi Fox of Arlington, VA works with a diverse
number of materials, including folded paper,
waterproof and paper, cast rice paper and wood,
and cast plastic and wood.

Akiko Kotani, Recent Drawings on Silk, Linen and Paper. Akiko Kotani of Slippery Rock, PA draws with non-traditional materials such as silk stitched on silk organza, wool stitched on hand woven wool canvas, and with more traditional materials such as graphite on paper, to produce works that are both ethereal and earthbound.

Mahasti YMudd, Gozasht. . . A Flight, Installation and Performance. Using mixed media including fabric, Plexiglass, chains and text, Mahasti YMudd of Takoma Park , MD becomes part of the installation during the opening reception performance. YMudd explores ideas of degeneration/death and regeneration/new life.

Trish Tillman, Prize Every Time, Video, Object Installation, Photography. Trish Tillman of Washington DC includes carnival toys in her exploration of the games and silent negotiations that occur beneath the surface of human communication.

Candice Welsh, Heat & Serve, Graphite and Pastel on Paper. Candice Welsh of Arlington, VA found herself in the position of caretaker when her husband was hit by a tractor-trailer. When he returned home from the hospital, Welsh, who neither cooks nor drives, discovered the amount of time required to make it home from the supermarket on the bus before her TV dinners melted. Doodling on napkins while waiting for dinner to come out of the microwave inspired these drawings.

RESIDENT STUDIO ARTIST'S SHOW: Sabyna Sterrett, Segments, Drawing, Painting and Mixed Media. In our Wyatt Gallery

SCULPTURE ON THE GROUNDS,
Contemporary Sculpture Curated by Twylene Moyer,
Managing Editor, Sculpture Magazine

KATRINA, Photographs by George Mason University students, October 10 - 28, 2006. In our Jenkins Gallery.

EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS INSTALLATION
Interactive Installation, October 31 - November 25. In our Jenkins Gallery.

DÉJÀ VU: A NEW VIEW is a robust exhibition of artworks created in the last three years by 81 artists who exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center before its expansion and renovation. This large and wide-ranging invitational show brings together works in sculpture, painting, drawing, collage, fine craft, photographs, prints, installation and video, offering a unique overview of the new works of many artists who are now familiar to the public. Some of the artists included are Foon Sham, Rebecca Kamen, Pat Goslee, Patrick Craig, Erik Sandberg, and Marc Robarge.

Thursday, February 2, 2006, 7 - 9 pm promises to be a spirited and informative event. No fee.

RESIDENT STUDIO ARTISTS EXHIBITION:

Edith Heins, "family moments", paintings

What makes a drawing a drawing? AAC looks for answers to that question in Drawing: Tradition & Innovation, a juried exhibition of works by 22 artists who approach drawing in diverse ways.

Featured artists are: Edward Brown, Ellen Burchenal, Shanthi Chandra-Sekar, Dragana Crnjak, Richard Dana, Emily Dean, Sarah Demas, Michael Farrell, Betty Hafner, Cynthia Harper, Scott Hutchison, Shirley Koller, Stephanie Lane, Joyce McCarten, Jeff Meyers, Paul Muick, Rachel Pierson, Erin Raedeke, Renee Van Der Stelt, Curtis Woody, Cynthia Young, Ann Zahn.

SOLO EXHIBITION: Brece Honeycutt, Works on Paper and Sculpture
COLLABORATION: Maria Anasazi and Zoe Leoudaki, Tell Me More Stories, an Installation
RESIDENT STUDIO ARTIST EXHIBITION: Monica Stroik, Layers, paintings

MORI - An Internet-based Earthwork by Ken Goldberg, Randall Packer, Gregory Kuhn and Wojciech Matusik.

MORI is an internet-based earthwork that engages the earth as a living medium. In this installation, minute movements of the Hayward Fault in California are detected by a seismograph, converted to digital signals, and transmitted continuously via the Internet to the installation.

Visitors follow a fiber-optic cable to the center of the resonating enclosure where a portal through the floor frames the installation's focal point. The live seismic data stream drives an embedded visual display (an "earth drawing"?) and immersive low-frequency sounds, which echo the unpredictable fluctuations of the earth's movement. The title links the Japanese term for "forest-sanctuary" with the Latin "reminder of mortality." In MORI, the immediacy of the telematic embrace between earth and visitor questions the authenticity of mediated experience in the context of chance, human fragility, and geological endurance.

Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Boulevard,
Arlington, VA 22201. (AAC is located at the corner of
Wilson and Monroe, one block from the Virginia
Square Metro station of the Orange line.)

Arlington Arts Center presents the Fall Solo Exhibitions series featuring six one-person shows, each in its own gallery. Working in diverse media, these artists share a passion for texture and devotion to craftsmanship. Several take a narrative approach in their works.

Participating artists are: Nancy Breslin, A Pinhole Diary of Eating Out, photographs; Bruce Gugliuzza, wood and metal sculpture; Adrienne Heinrich, Window into the Mystery, cast rubber and mirrors; Maria Karametou, Le Cut La Curl, mixed media; Allegra Marquart, Glass Stories and Their Prints , glass and prints; Maria Ponkka-Carpenter, Spikes, fabric wall sculpture

Allegra Marquart's low relief fused glass and large scale relief prints feature visual interpretations of fables and fairy tales.
Adrienne Heinrich embeds objects into translucent molded rubber forms and etches words onto mirrors.Nancy Breslin, a psychiatrist turned photographer, does pin-hole camera studies of people dining out, letting the images suggest their stories. Bruce Gugliuzza's ominous/playful wood and metal sculptures and Marja Ponkka-Carpenter's "spikes" made of fabric from her native Finland, form an unusual juxtaposition in adjacent galleries. Maria Karametou's intriguing works made of mixed media including hair and bobby pins (one piece contains 14,518 bobby pins) round out the group.