Tag Archives: Featured

Second Thursday Art Night

Enjoy a special after-hours event at the Torpedo Factory Art Center every month. Browse open studios and galleries, interact with artists, and enjoy special programming. Stop by on your way to dinner and make an evening of it!

Before the season wraps up, enjoy an Endless Summer evening during the August Second Thursday Art Night. With five exhibition openings, live music and outdoor painting, it will be quite a diverting evening.

  • 6:30, 7:30 pm: Learn about Alexandria’s Civil War hospitals, including the real Mansion House Hospital, made famous by  the PBS series Mercy Street,  in the Alexandria Archaeology Museum (Studio 327).
  • 6:30 pm: Public reception for Magic and Color in Sites 2 & 3 (located on the 2nd and 3rd floor hallway by the elevator) with treats provided by Tango Pastry.
  • 7 pm: Wade Kramm talks about his minimalist installations in Dotted Space in Target Gallery (Studio 2).
  • 7:30 pm: Opening reception for Landschap and Taking Shape in The Art League Gallery (Studio 21).

Attend receptions and meet the artists in Decathect: a verb in The Associates Gallery (Studio 311) and Materialized Magic: Mythical Creatures in a Yarn Artistry Habitat in the New Project Studio (Studio 8).

The Glimpses, an Alexandria folk rock/Americana duo, performs all evening in the main hall. The 8 pm set features video projections of visiting artist Monica Stroik‘s work.

At 7 pm, Hector Munoz play harp at Site 3 and Rowan Clarke plays covers and originals on her ukulele in Studio 7.

Outside, sit side-by-side with some of the Torpedo Factory’s artists to paint plein air by the waterfront.

Materialized Magic: Mythical Creatures in a Yarn Artistry Habitat

After months of free workshop in Target Gallery and other locations in the region, Materialized Magic will soon be on view at the Torpedo Factory in the New Project Studio.

Erika Cleveland and Stacy Cantrell launched their CRAVE-sponsored project in 2015. The duo worked together to provide free lessons in crocheting, knitting, and felting to create Materialized Magic: Mythical Creatures in a Yarn Artistry Habitat. 

The full installation was on view at the Arlington Art Center in July 2016. It featured woodland, water, and sky habitats for the large-scale mythical fiber creatures.

The public is encouraged help the installation continue to grow by participating in meet-ups in the New Project Studio.

Magic and Color

Reception: Thursday August 11, 2016, 6 – 8:30 pm

Target Gallery partners with Latin Expressions Group for Magic and Color, featuring 26 artists that represent: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, USA. The purpose of this show is to present individual visual expressions of the vast richness that characterizes the Latin-American Culture. 

This exhibition was curated by Gloria “Tarasca” Valdes and Liliana Dossola. The participating artists are: David Amoroso, Rosana Azar, Joan Belmar, Josefina Bonangelino, Gerardo Camargo, Olga Castaneda Martin, Gloria Chapa, Felisa Federman, Gustavo Forselledo, Francisco Loza, Marily Mojica, Claudia Olivos, Sergio Olivos, Sandra Perez-Ramos, Margarita Reyes, Karlisima Rodas-Israel, Gustavo Rodriguez, Roxana Rojas, Claudia Samper, Edith G. Sanabria, Michael Sastre, Sara Sittig, Carmen Torruella-Quander, Carmen Uribe.

Music provided by Hector Muñoz.

Pastries provided by Tango Pastry.

Visiting Artist Talks: Steve Prince & Regina Davis

Rescheduled from 7/21

The Visiting Artist Program is a professional development opportunity for emerging and experienced visual artists. Hear them speak about their work and inspirations before the end of their visits.

July’s presenters are Steve Prince and Regina Davis. Prince is a native of New Orleans now living in Pennsylvania who is creating linocuts and graphite drawings in 203. Davis is a native of Mexico City who now lives in New York City who creates her figurative paintings in 319.

Wade Kramm: Dotted Space

Public Reception: Thursday, August 11 • 6 – 8 pm • Artist Talk with Wade Kramm at 7 pm

Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibition space for the Torpedo Factory Art Center, presents Wade Kramm’s exploration of human perception in Dotted Space.

Dotted Space features site-specific installations and a series of artist pop-up books that use dotted lines to demarcate rectilinear spaces. When viewed from a particular angle, the dotted lines seem like three-dimensional shapes, some of which appear to penetrate and continue through the gallery walls. The viewer must physically move about in the gallery to perceive Kramm’s invisible planes, creating a subtle revelation with each new form.

His work combines minimalism with architecture and perception to reshape the space in which audiences engage. By materializing planes and spaces out of the void, he invites viewers to reassess the very confines of the built environment.

Named as the 2016 Open Exhibition solo artist, Pennsylvania-based Kramm was selected by jurors Phil Hutinet, publisher of East City Art, and photojournalist Victoria Milko. The annual Open Exhibition competition seeks to spotlight the work of one up-and-coming artist each year. Information about all of Target Gallery’s calls for artists can be found at torpedofactory.org/targetcalls.

A digital catalog will accompany the show.

About the Artist

Wade Kramm received his master’s of fine art in sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design. In his career, he has received several prestigious grants, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and Artist Resource Trust Grant. Kramm also held residencies at institutions such as Takt Berlin, Vermont Studio Center, and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. His work has been on view in the U.S. and abroad at venues such as the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Athens Contemporary Museum of Art, Georgia; Sammer Gallery, New York; Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto; Esther M. Klein Art Gallery, Philadephia; Mine Factory Gallery, Pittsburgh; Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Uraguay; Kent State University, Ohio; and Tapir Gallery, Delaware. He is represented by Piero Atchugarry Gallery.

About the Jurors

Phil Hutinet, a third generation Capitol Hill resident, is the publisher of East City Art which he began in 2010 to document and promote the growing contemporary art movement in the eastern communities of Washington, D.C. 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. He currently produces EMULSION, East City Art’s annual regional juried show. In 2015, he coordinated the Gateway Open Studio Tour and continues to consult on numerous regional art projects. Hutinet has been interviewed by or has made appearances on the BBC, Capital Community News, Washingtonian, Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, WOL Radio, WJLA, WTOP and other local and national media.

Victoria Milko is a freelance writer and multimedia journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Women Photojournalists of Washington and the National Press Photographers Association. Her sense of adventure and passion for storytelling has taken her from the back rooms of underground sex clubs in Washington, D.C., to illegal abortion sites in Myanmar. Between assignments, Victoria is earning her master’s degree in multiplatform journalism from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She also curates the work of local artists in her studio, Wild Hand Workspace.

New Project Studio: The Silent World

The Silent World: A CRAVE-funded initiative

2016-02-19Isabel Cureux developed The Silent World as a way to explore what happens to the creative human mind as we grow older. Inspired by Jacques Cousteau’s television series, The Silent World asks people to perform a simple task: Make something that’s never been seen before that you think lives in the deep ocean.

In the space, learn about CRAVE, a community micro-granting community dinner developed by the Torpedo Factory Art Center and the Convergence Arts Initiative.

About The New Project Studio

The New Project Studio offers a short-term space to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects will rotate on a regular basis and are considered based on the following goals:

  • Support new creative collaborations with neighboring organizations and partners
  • Strengthen the connection between our resident artists and the greater creative community
  • Provide opportunities for new audiences to engage with our building and artists
  • Inspire the next generation of artists, innovators, arts supporters, and diverse voices

Post-Graduate Resident Danielle Smith

Dani_Pic_1Danielle Smith’s work is fueled by her personal experiences as an African-American woman. Her figurative paintings tell stories surrounding pivotal life moments leading to identity fragmentation from childhood to adulthood. She probes feeling a sense of belonging, yet being displaced in terms of race, gender, and class. She layers her canvasses with paintings, drawings, and text to reflect the many layers of her content. Her current focus on young black girls examines their pressures to absorb or reject Eurocentric aesthetic ideals as they form and reconstruct their adult identities.

Danielle’s exploration of this theme extends down to her choice of medium. While she is in the Post-Graduate Studio (Studio 12), she plans to experiment with watercolor and oil to investigate how these two opposing media interact, yet remain separate on the same surface. “I plan to use the space as a transition from my MFA studio, which serves as a visual sociology lab. I would also love to use the residency as an opportunity for community engagement, especially with children. This is a chance to let exploration, growth, and play continue after I complete my degree, which is so valuable for as I transition into becoming a professional artist.”

Danielle Smith is a Washington, D.C.-based painter and writer, originally from Monterey, California. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and is expected to graduate from the MFA Studio Art Program at the George Washington University in May 2016. Dani has traveled to China and Australia to participate in artist residencies and her work has been featured in the Franklin Furnace artists’ book series.

Hear Danielle speak about her work and her time at the Torpedo Factory Art Center on Friday, September 30.

Children’s Workshops

Danielle is hosting a series of writing and painting workshops for girls, ages 8 – 16. They are free, but RSVPs are requested to ensure space.

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

Anne Smith: Post-Graduate Resident Talk

One of the 2016 Post-Graduate residents in Studio 12, Anne Smith has focused on the Potomac River as it flows beyond the building’s walls. She’s created a series of screen prints based on her observations and research and displayed them on the walls of her studio over the past three months. The result has become a full interpretation about this singular spot on the riverside.

Hear her speak about how the Potomac has inspired her work, her process, and what she’s learned over the course of her time at the Torpedo Factory.

Reception is at 6pm, with conversation at 7pm, moderated by Nikki Brugnoli, professor at George Mason University’s School of Art and Coordinator of the Art Lab at the Lorton Workhouse.

 

Anne Smith

Anne Smith - Color
Anne Smith is an artist and teacher based in Washington, D.C. Smith received her MFA from George Mason University, where she was honored with the 2015 School of Art Graduate Award for Academic and Artistic Excellence. She received a BA in Studio Art from Williams College, Williamstown, MA, in 2007. Smith has also studied woodworking at the Penland School of Crafts in Baskersville, NC. She is currently a teaching artist with the National Gallery of Art.

 

 

 

Nikki Brugnoli

Nikki Brugnoli
Nikki Brugnoli received her BFA from Seton Hill University (2004) and her MFA from The Ohio State University (2007). She serves on the faculty at George Mason University and is the Assistant Graduate Programs Coordinator and Graduate Advisor in the School of Art as well as the Coordinator of the Art Lab at the Lorton Workhouse, Lorton, VA, Assistant Coordinator for the DC Cultural/Flashpoint/GMU MFA Fellowship Program, Washington DC and a Hamiltonian Mentor. Nikki has also taught at The Ohio State University, the Northern Virginia Community Colleges, and The Renaissance School in Charlottesville, VA.

An Evening with Daniel Taye – Koyeta ke Ethiopianin Seali Daniel Taye gar

For the month of June, the Torpedo Factory Art Center partners with Alexandria’s St. George Art Gallery to host painter Daniel Taye, of Addis Abiba, Ethiopia, in the New Project Studio.

Once named by CNN as the “Van Gogh of Africa,” Taye traveled from Africa to participate in this month-long residency. His work has been shown at St. George Art Gallery for more than 15 years and some of his work is on permanent exhibition.

The public is invited to meet Taye and hear him speak about his work during an after-hours reception on Sunday, June 26; 6 – 9 pm. The evening will feature a sampling of Ethiopian foods and live music by Araya Woldemichael of the Ethiojazz group Feedel Band. A representative from St. George Gallery will talk about their history of working with Ethiopian artists. Also, a speaker from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art will share about the impact of contemporary Ethiopian art in the region and their extensive collection of Ethiopian artworks

In addition to St. George Art Gallery, the Torpedo Factory will also welcome the Ethiopian Community Development Council, the Ethiopian Community Center of Washington, D.C., the Ethiopian Community Center in Maryland, and the Young Ethiopian Professionals.

About the residency

Taye is known for his evocative landscape and figurative work as he experiments with different mediums, color composition and depth. He has been described as an artist who inspired more puzzled expressions than praise, but his uninhibited flow of thought and rare perspective are ultimately his forte. Taye’s paintings do not fit the usual categories of Ethiopian fine art, traditional religious art, or abstract impressionism, but the strokes and the enchanting color schemes over the canvas bring his work to life.

St. George Art Gallery, which has locations in both Alexandria and Ethiopia, was the first art gallery to open in Addis Abiba and is still considered the foremost gallery in the country. Through the years, it has catered to a number of dignitaries and heads of state over the years, including President Bill Clinton, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Natalie Portman, and Calvin Klein.

Taye grew up involved with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and eventually became a deacon. The church played an important role in his education and was the cornerstone of his formative years. He entered the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts in the late 1980s, and graduated with Distinction in 1990. He worked on the Gold Mine Documentation Project for the Ministry of Mining until 1993. His art has been exhibited in numerous venues throughout Ethiopia such as the National Museum, Goethe Institute, and Italian Cultural Institute. His work has also been showcased in the United States, Europe, and Africa.

He is spending June working in the New Projects Studio (Studio 8), which is a new endeavor for the Torpedo Factory Art Center that offers a short-term space to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Tenants rotate on a regular basis.

About St. George Art Gallery

St. George Art Gallery opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1991 and was the first art gallery in the city.  From the very beginning, the mission of St George was to promote Ethiopian art and culture and to support artists and crafts people throughout the country.  Although there are now many galleries in the city, St George remains the foremost gallery in Ethiopia and still offers the best in Ethiopian and African art and crafts. St. George Gallery of Alexandria opened for business in December 2010 and, like in Addis Ababa, features the best in Ethiopian furniture, art, jewelry, antiques, hand-woven textiles, books, and objet d’art.