Tag Archives: exhibit

Generations: Space History in Art

It will soon be 47 years since humans first set foot on the moon. To commemorate, realist artists James Dean and Kara Hammond bring together their space related works to celebrate the early days of space travel and exploration, in a small, targeted retrospective.

As NASA art director, James Dean escorted the likes of Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Jamie Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and Paul Calle to witness history in the making as they created original works for the NASA Art collection. As the former Curator of Art at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, Dean shows his own considerable prowess at capturing the early heady times of space exploration through original on-site sketches and photographs of Cape Canaveral in the early 1970’s.

Established artist Kara Hammond will show several paintings and drawings of early space technology from the 1990’s, including many Soviet era craft that were virtually unknown to the American public until decades later.

Show Opens July 1 and runs through July 31, 2016
Studio 306, third floor
Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St.
Alexandria, VA, 22314

Special Open House during the July 14 Second Thursday from 6 to 8pm, in Studios 306 and 307.

The Splashdown Reception will be Sun. July 24 from 1pm to 4pm, to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the return of the Apollo 11 astronauts.

HighResPosterGenerations

Alex Tolstoy: “Watermarks”

Exhibit dates: Wednesday, June 8–Sunday, July 3
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 9, 6:30–8:00 pm

About the artist: Alex Tolstoy is interested in water, whether it is the calm water of the reflecting pool or the vast and agitated sea, “in the center of a city or by a beach.” Her style and approach to using watercolor reflects her subject: Tolstoy’s works often look as if they were splashed upon the page, with blooms of pigment and edge that often look like tidemarks. Tolstoy’s subjects range from the readily identifiable, like the Lincoln Monument reflected in the Potomac, to the nearly abstract, open to interpretation.

Tabletop

Tabletop is an international, juried exhibit of ceramics and other functional art forms designed for food, drink and the table.

  • Exhibit dates: June 8–July 3, 2016
  • Opening reception: Thursday, June 9, 6:30–8:00 pm

Nancy McIntyre: “Rhythms of Time”

Nancy McIntyre’s silkscreens and paintings “treasure the local, the small-scale, the eccentric, the ordinary.” Her solo show, “Rhythms of Time,” focuses on different scenes over varying periods of time—over the course of a day, or across decades. Some of the places have hardly changed; others are almost unrecognizable. The silkscreening process is particularly suited to McIntyre’s focus on the passage of time: some of her more complicated pieces can comprise a hundred layers and take up to a year.

Gallery hours:
Monday–Saturday: 10:00 am–6:00 pm
Thursday: 10:00 am–9:00 pm
Sunday: 12:00 noon-6:00 pm

Teresa Oaxaca: “Misfits”

Exhibit dates: Wednesday, April 6–Sunday, May 1
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 7, 6:30–8:00 pm

Teresa Oaxaca’s recent paintings explore themes of clowns, dolls, human effigies, and painted faces. She explains that the work for this exhibit “integrates the human passions and emotions with allegorical storytelling.” Oaxaca used traditional techniques and time-honored media such as oil paint or charcoal to represent somewhat less conventional subjects. All paintings in this exhibit will also be displayed in unique artist designed and painted frames.

Orbit

We are constantly in motion. Either because we’re consumed with work, family, the day-to-day, physical and emotional demands, or simply because of the fact we are on this journey called life. Artworks exhibited in “Orbit” will focus on the cycles we each endure because of the different pulls in our lives.

Exhibit dates: April 5–May 1, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 7, 6:30–8:00 pm

Fritz Desroches: “The Caribbean – How Beautiful”

Exhibit dates: Wednesday, March 9–Sunday, April 3, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 10, 6:30–8:00 pm

Fritz Desroches’s airbrushed works highlight Caribbean culture, particularly Haiti. His style is unique, and his work is full of color, movement, and happiness. According to Desroches, “although Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, its people are resilient and very friendly.” With his work, Desroches shows off both vibrant examples of daily activities and traditional elements of Haitian art.

Student/Faculty Show 2016

Exhibit dates: Wednesday, February 17–Sunday, February 28
Closing reception: Sunday, February 28, 2:00-4:00 pm

The Art League’s annual Student/Faculty exhibit showcases the diversity and talent of our prestigious visual arts school in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Our gallery will feature works by our accomplished and acclaimed faculty of artists. Faculty works will be showcased alongside hundreds of paintings, drawings, prints, stained glass works, jewelry, ceramics, pottery, fiber pieces, mosaics, and sculptures created by our student body.

Artistic Vision: Redefining the Picture Frame

A frame conservator, frame historian, and master gilder, exhibit curator William Adair began his career in frame conservation at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. His special exhibit at The Art League Gallery features a collection of frames created by 19th and early 20th century artists and examines their increasing interest in how their art would be framed and displayed. Discover how artists looked to each other and to a number of art movements to develop designs that would become extensions of the artwork. This exhibit is a gift to our community. It is free and all are encouraged to attend.

Wijati Soemantoro: “The Ring of Fire”

“This is a very personal expression of my empathy and sympathy towards the victims of Mother Nature, especially earthquakes and volcano eruption, which are quite familiar for me as an Indonesian who grew up near the Ring of Fire.”

Wijati Soemantoro’s abstract lithographs express her response to the energy, emotions, and aftermath of natural disasters. As an Indonesian who grew up near the Ring of Fire, this series is intensely personal.