Published Friday, April 13, 2012 in The Washington Post print edition in the Style Section and online at www.washingtonpost.com

By: Mark Jenkins

VARIETY: The eight pieces in Tom Green's Curator's Office show follow the same essential form: A central axis, incorporating four dots within circles, serves as the spine for a series of ribs; these lead to various glyphs. Above left is Green's "Of This World 8" (2011). Rosemary Feit Covey's "Fish" above center, is a highlight of "DC Now" Luis Silva contemplates metamorphosis in his G Fine Art show. Above right is Silva's "Untitled" (2011-12).

Veteran D.C. artist Tom Green goes beyond black and white

In part because the paintings that originally defined his style were black and white, Tom Green has always seemed more concerned with form than color. The eight pieces in "Of This World" at the Curator's Office, show Green's continued interest in the hieroglyph-like forms that were originally inspired by his study of Mayan writing. But color plays a larger role here than in much of the veteran local artist's work.

All the paintings, which are acrylic on paper, follow the same essential form. A central axis, incorporating four dots within circles, serves as the spine for a series of ribs; these lead to various glyphs, whose exact forms are never repeated. The backgrounds are divided into two monochromatic blocks, which can be seen as purely geometric or as representing land and sky. (The darker shade is usually at the bottom, boosting the latter interpretation.) The backdrops range from pastel to bold and can be flat or textured.

These paintings are clearly linked to Green's earlier work yet have elements of color-field painting. The various hues play against one another, offering disparate effects in different combinations. The dots are all in black, the only constant color on all eight paintings, yet their shade appears to shift slightly, depending on the complementary tints. This expanded use of color contrast seems a fruitful development for Green, but he may not be able to pursue it. These paintings, from 2011, were the last he made before he received a diagnosis of ALS, the muscle weakening condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

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Published Wednesday, April 4, 2012 in The Gazette print edition and online at www.gazette.net

By: Claudia Rousseau

“The World” by Selin Balci is a video tracking the movement of microbes struggling for territory on a world map. A parallel to coming struggles because of global warming is intended.
PHOTO FROM SELIN BALCI

Nine artists explore environmental questions

An exhibition probing the crossover between environmental issues and art now is on view at the Gibbs Street and Kaplan Galleries of the VisArts Center in Rockville. “Field Work,” curated by artist Susan Main, brings the creative ideas of nine contemporary artists who are involved in work that questions ways that art can message important environmental concerns, and establish a “vital and dynamic relationship between art and issues that affect community.” Working metaphorically “in the field,” all of the artists are looking to provoke the viewer to contemplate questions involving place, space and time.

Dan Allende and Ian Cox both studied Interdisciplinary Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art, a major that presumably led them to become interested in performance as well as installation pieces. Their collaborative adventure featured in this exhibit is entitled “Up in Smoke,” conceived around the ancient problem of how to transmit messages across great distances with the smallest of means. Their answer was smoke signals sent from San Francisco to Rockville with a Shaker saying about finding what’s essential and necessary. Four “sky watching blankets” stitched with wind speed maps across the U.S. also are on display. The beauty of this project is its fragility. Of course the smoke signals didn’t arrive in Rockville — or, carried by wind and clouds perhaps they did, as something else.

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Published Monday, April 2, 2012

By: Bora Mici

VisArts hosts local sustainable art practices and a public fundraising dinner - F.E.A.S.T. - to support emerging ones.

Patterson Clark's limited edition poster for Croydon Creek Nature Center is made of weeds and embodies labor and raw materials. The print will go on sale at the nature center, supporting permanent exhibits or the future removal of invasive species. Courtesy Patterson Clark.

Artists are equipped to serve as effective messengers for environmental and social causes.

That was the consensus of a panel of farmers, scientists, policymakers and artists behind FIELD WORK, an exhibit on art and sustainability on display through April 14 at VisArts.

The artists gathered for a well-attended panel discussion in the Kaplan Gallery on March 24 moderated by local artist, curator and food activist Laura McGough. The discussion included the role of the artist as messenger and instigator, the effects of global capital on labor, the importance of food security and the effects of media on the dissemination of ideas.

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Published Wednesday, March 14, 2012

By: Bora Mici

A panel discussed local and global sustainability as part of an exhibit at VisArts.

Jackson Martin "Descent" - Martin uses cypress varieties commonly planted in suburban settings to create a suspended indoor forest.

F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) at VisArts is a grassroots effort to support sustainable art practices. In conjunction with FIELD WORK, an exhibit featuring the collaborative work of nine artists who engage the environment in their work, VisArts will be hosting F.E.A.S.T. - a public, community-driven, fundraising dinner - on Saturday, March 24 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Gibbs Street Gallery.

Patrons will engage in an evening of locally-grown food and community-based selection of a grant recepient. Participating artists of all disciplines are eligible to receive a grant of up to $1000 for a proposal focusing on sustainability and community. Patrons can purchase F.E.A.S.T. tickets online or in-person at VisArts until the day of the event.

"Projects can address any issues tied to sustainability including but not limited to: food, transportation, housing, impact, resources, planning, quality of life, recycling, work practices, art and cultural production, ethical consumption, environmental and resource management," states the artist entry guidelines published on the VisArts website.

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Published and Broadcasted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

By: Sean Rameswaram

'Art Beat' With Sean Rameswaram, Mar. 13

(March 13-April 14) Fields of green

For some green art there’s FIELD WORK at VisArts in Rockville through mid-April. The group exhibit features artwork that emphasizes the relationships between community, sustainability, and art. In some cases that means envisioning a picnic in the year 2032 and in others it means inviting visitors to climb a slope of dying grass to read a rainfall calendar.

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Published Friday, February 10, 2012 in The Washington Post print edition and online at www.washingtonpost.com

By: Michael O'Sullivan

OPENING OF THE WEEK: Hsin-Hsi Chen: Transition

Hsin-Hsi Chen is known for exquisite, small pencil drawings depicting rooms, buildings and the like. They often transcend the flat surface of the paper, bursting forth from the wall in boxlike, 3-D constructions that blur the boundary between illusionistic pictorial space and sculpture. Although her work evokes architecture, it is a space of the imagination that we are invited to visit.

On Friday from 7 to 9 p.m., the Gibbs Street Gallery of VisArts at Rockville will host a reception and artist's talk for Chen's latest exhibit, "Transition." The show includes manipulations of scale and surface that, according to the gallery, will even more fully "immerse" the viewer in the artist's invented world.

Through Feb. 29 at 155 Gibbs St., Rockville. 301-315-8200. www.visartscenter.org . Free.

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Lunar New Year Celebration and Parade

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North Potomac-Darnestown Patch - By: Bora Mici

Hiu Lai Chong, Gaithersburg resident, resident artist at VisArts in Rockville and featured in multiple museum shows across the country, paints marinas, train stations, baseline satellite arrays, inserting herself into the heart of her subject matter.

With multiple awards and gallery and museum shows already under her belt, oil painter Hiu Lai Chong only resigned from her full time career as a video game artist last year. She is a resident artist at VisArts in Rockville and paints there full time when she is not on a plein air outing. When she is able to set aside some time, she gives painting workshops for students and will be teaching in the Curacao Plein Air Festival in late August 2011 and a three-day painting workshop in November at VisArts.

"You have to work harder than anyone else and then you will get better," said the artist who has produced well over 100 paintings in the past year. Although her studio is covered in paintings from the last two years or so, most of her work is away on loan.

"I am always in competition with myself. If this painting is better than the last painting, what more could I ask for."

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Gazette - By: Cody Calamaio

Silver Spring artist Frank Kowing draws upon Native American Heritage for his work

Silver Spring artist Frank Kowing knows good art when he sees it. But sometimes he sees it in unlikely things, such as twigs, trashed cell phones or broken light blubs.

By incorporating found objects into his artwork, Kowing hopes to comment on culture by showing the things people discard, while making ties to his Native American heritage.

Kowing is one of three artists featured in the “Found in Rockville” exhibition opening today at the VisArts Center in Rockville and running through Sept. 13. The exhibit also features works by artists Olena Lar and Sandi Atkinson.

The artists featured in the “Found in Rockville” exhibit were “found” during the search for artists to take part in last month’s VisArts exhibit titled “Hidden Rockville,” which displayed the work of seven little-known local artists, says gallery director Brett Johnson. Because these three artists had special talents, VisArts offered them another opportunity to show.

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Sandi Atkinson “Street Corner in Puerto Vallarta” by Sandi Atkinson, acrylics on canvas; 11 by 14 inches

“Found in Rockville” features the work of three local artists “found” in last month’s “Hidden Rockville” exhibit, on view through Sept. 13 in the Community Gallery at VisArts, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville. Artists Olena Lar, Sandi Atkinson and Frank Kowing are showing their “found object” artwork in a fun and experimental way. A reception to meet the artists will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Call 240-314-8681 or visit www.visartscenter.org.

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Rockville Patch - By: Bora Mici

The Maryland Hispanic Business Conference is hosting a five-day Honduran art exhibit with works from the private collection of conference Chair Jerry Godwin.

To kick off the 10th Annual Maryland Hispanic Business Conference (MDHBC), which is a joint collaboration of the Hispanic Chambers of Commerce of Maryland, Baltimore and Montgomery County, in close cooperation with government agencies, the planning committee has organized a Honduran art exhibit open to the public for five days and a VIP reception to honor sponsors, speakers, media partners and planning committee members.

Open from Aug. 22 to Aug. 26, 2011 in the Kaplan Gallery at VisArts, the exhibit features over 20 paintings from the private collection of Jerry Godwin, this year's MDHBC Chair, private American art collector and entrepreneur. The exhibition, "Honduras Art Unveiled from the Godwin Collection - A Continuum of Artistic Expression," includes work from contemporary artists, including: Carlos Garay, Elias Diaz, Benigno Flores, Maury Flores, Ciseron Bautista, Ramon Garay, Maltez and Dino Fanconi.

Maryland Leiutenant Governor Anthony Brown will deliver remarks during the exhibition opening and reception on Thursday in the VisArts Kaplan Gallery.

“We are delighted to host our conference supporters in a creative environment that showcases Latin American art. This is an outstanding way to kick off our 10th Annual Conference activities and Hispanic Heritage Month,” Godwin said.

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Honduran artworks are on display at VisArts in Rockville this week. Courtesy of: VisArts

WAMU 88.5 - By: Sean Rameswaram

(Aug. 22-26) Honduran works take shelter in Rockville

VisArts in Rockville opens an exhibit of Honduran artworks today. A Continuum of Artistic Expression features traditional and contemporary paintings from a few of the nation’s most renowned active artists. The works are on display until Friday.

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Take a class and learn a new skill.

Looking to learn a new skill? Ready take up a new hobby? Rockville has several schools and a wide variety of shops that offer a range of classes. Here are a few:

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Gazette - By: Theater Review, Larry Bangs

A nice start for Unexpected Stage, a new Montgomery County theater company

by Theater Review, Larry Bangs

It is always heartening to see a new theater company coming to life. The Unexpected Stage Company, led by Chris Goodrich and Rachel Stroud-Goodrich, is a welcome addition to Montgomery County’s arts scene. “Candy and Dorothy” is their debut at the VisArts nonprofit arts center in Rockville.

“Candy and Dorothy,” written by David Johnston, has an interesting premise. What is the “afterlife” like? Johnston’s conception: It is a place where, after leaving our corporeal bodies behind, we are assigned a case worker and go to work on personal things from our lives that were left incomplete. He also has the two main characters from the afterlife interact extensively with someone still very much alive, which makes things even more interesting.

At first glance, this play seems more than a little absurd. Candy is Candy Darling, a transsexual actress who starred in Andy Warhol’s films “Flesh” (1968) and “Women in Revolt” (1971). Dorothy is Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement who many consider a candidate for sainthood. Johnston puts these two clearly dissonant historical figures together with Candy being Dorothy’s caseworker, assigned to help her sort through her life and resolve any unfinished business.

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Brett John Johnson (standing, left) leads a public discussion of the "D.C. Emerging" art show at VisArts gallery in Rockville, Md. Crane sculptures on the left are by Sean Lundgren. Paintings in the center are by Mike Dowley, and the painting on the right is by Mariah Ann Johnson. All five artists in the show live in the D.C. area. Courtesy of: Jessica Palombo

WAMU 88.5 - By: Jessica Palombo

July 24, 2011 - VisArts Gallery in Rockville, Md. is running a new art exhibit that showcases five local artists. The exhibition held by the non-profit is titled “D.C. Emerging.

One of the artists, Mariah Ann Johnson, has a display of paintings depicting memories of different kitchens.

"Sometimes exciting, good things happen," says Johnson. "Sometimes messes happen. Sometimes things catch on fire, you know. Interesting, cool things happen in the kitchen, kind of like the studio I guess."

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Rockville Patch - By: Gina Hagler

Each painting "is a record of the people who created it," said Lorena Baines, an educator at the National Gallery.

Baines's presentation on Thursday, to an audience of about 20 people, was the year's final installment of the Midday Art History Lecture at VisArts in Rockville Town Square.

She attributed the enduring popularity of such artists as Vermeer, van Huysum and Teniers the Younger to their brushwork and their use of vivid colors.

She also cited the humor in the peasant painting genre, the realism and poignancy evident in portraits, the cultural references incorporated into the work and the stillness of moments in time captured by the artists.

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Courtesy Mike Dowley Cutline: Expressionistic painter Mike Dowley is one of five artists featured in the VisArts Rockville show "DC Emerging: New Urban and Domestic Interpretations." Among his paintings that will be shown at the exhibit is "Fish Mount" (pictured).

Gazette - By: Topher Forhecz

Visual artists have been known to be dedicated to their models. Will Barnet regularly painted his family, and Anne Getty can’t seem to get past babies.

Artist Jessica van Brakle, who lives in Olney, favors cranes. What started out as an element of her thesis at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, D.C., turned into a fascination that led her to subscribe to crane magazines and even to go up in a few for an aerial view.

“I’m friends with crane operators now,” she says. “As much as I try to learn about them, they’re mysterious to me. They’re kind of majestic to me. They’re like the modern-day unicorn.”

Van Brakle’s latest work is part of “DC Emerging: New Urban and Domestic Interpretations” at VisArts in Rockville. Featuring five upcoming regional artists who work in an array of mediums, “Emerging” premiered last Sunday and will be on view through Aug. 11.

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Maggie Gourlay, "An Abundance of Cleanliness"

Washington City Paper - By: John Anderson

With the hubbub surrounding the forthcoming (e)merge Art Fair in September, it seems that VisArts in Rockville is trying to capitalize on the hype with their latest exhibition, "DC Emerging: New Urban and Domestic Interpretations." Nestled in a rather small space, the exhibition features five of the area’s emerging artists who supposedly create works inspired by the metropolitan area. But many of the show's pieces could just as easily be inspired by any metropolitan area—whether D.C. or Des Moines. None of the artists or art works gravitate to issues that are singularly related to the D.C. area. In other words, don’t expect anything political.

The show's strength is derived from the works' relationships and how well they play together. Entering the gallery, the most noticeable piece is a sculpture of four cranes suspending rods of various materials above the ground. Knowing that the show features Jessica van Brakle—an artist who has somewhat staked her artistic identity on illustrating industrial cranes—might lead one to think she's moved beyond two-dimensional work. But the sculptures belong to Sean Lundgren, who frequently works with tile, ceramics, and other earthy materials.

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Gazette - By: Topher Forhecz

The last 100 years have seen some radical changes two world wars, moon landings and the discovery of penicillin, to name a few. Through the century, New York City painter and printmaker Will Barnet has created a collection of work as diverse as the world he has seen transformed.

VisArts in Rockville is celebrating the world-renowned artist’s centennial birthday with “Will Barnet: 100 Years,” an exhibit of representative work from the 1960s through the ’90s. Barnett’s pieces have been displayed at such institutions as the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Vatican Museums.

Among his loyal collectors is Janet Laylor, who with partner Cookie Burkhalter lent 25 Barnet pieces to the exhibit. A technical liaison to the director at the National Library of Medicine, Laylor began buying Barnet’s works 10 years ago. Now they comprise about half of her art collection.

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Rockville Patch - By: Bora Mici

U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. and professional artists from Montgomery County stressed the importance of art to young people and to the community as VisArts at Rockville hosted a reception and awards ceremony for the 8th Congressional District Art Competition for High School Students on Monday evening.

Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington handed out certificates of participation and award letters to participating young artists.

"Having arts as part of the curriculum in our schools is essential. We can measure the dynamism of a community by the vibrancy of the arts in that community," Van Hollen said during the ceremony, in which he thanked teachers and parents for encouraging students to participate in the arts and students for taking the initiative to bring their creative talents to the table. 

"I plan to continue to support a national investment in the National Endowment for the Arts," he said.

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