By Vanessa Maranon (Manga Character Creation with Dana Yang)
By Gesa Noeske (Drawing and Painting with Karen Day, ages 9–12)
By Fiona Hendrickson (Art Fun-damentals with Ali Wunder, ages 5–8)
By Eric Wei (Art Fun-damentals with Jennifer Yamane, ages 5–8)
By Caroline Gant (Creative Drawing and Painting for Teens with Karen Day)
By Maeve Barbour (Creative Drawing and Painting for Teens with Karen Day)
Along with the annual Student/Faculty Show open now in the Gallery, we’re showing off work by our young, budding artists (ages 5 and up) on the second floor of the Torpedo Factory.
By the way, registration is open for Spring classes and Summer Art Camp! There’s more information and a full catalog of youth and teen classes and Summer Art Camp on our website.
Spring Workshop season is upon us! With the close of the Winter Term around the corner, signing up for a Spring Workshop is the perfect opportunity to dive into a new medium, style, or sharpen up your skills. Here are all of our upcoming March workshops:
“Orange on Green Box,” oil on canvas by John Murray.
Oil painter and Art League instructor John Murray will have an exhibit of his paintings at Marin-Price Galleries in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The exhibit of still lifes, figures, landscapes, and other scenes opens Saturday, March 2 with an opening reception 5:30–7:30 pm.
John Francis Murray at Marin-Price Galleries
7022 Wisconsin Ave., Chevy Chase, MD
March 2–March 21, 2013
John teaches Still Life in Oil for The Art League. Last year we stopped by his class to capture some of this jelly doughnut demo:
“Environmental State of Emergency” by Sabyna Sterrett.
Opening next Thursday, March 7 in The Art League Gallery, mixed media artist Sabyna Sterrett’s “State of Emergency” will exhibit textural installations woven from plastic bags, trash bags, and plastic tape.
In this video, Sabyna tells us about how she started working with plastic, what the pieces mean to her, and how she creates the large rug-hooked pieces:
Sabyna has been an artist since the early 1980s, when she first moved to the DC area. She created woven contemporary forms with a Washington fiber artist, where she says she was drawn to the meditative, repetitive aspects of weaving. She also took classes and substitute taught at The Art League, and was accepted to her first show here 18 years ago.
Starting with the plastic sleeves from the morning newspaper, Sabyna began experimenting with ways to work with plastic — specifically, polyethylene, which is non-biodegradable, is mostly made from petroleum or natural gas, and the vast majority of which goes to landfills instead of being recycled. After a lot of trial-and-error with different slippery, static-y materials, Sabyna found ways to use plastic in knitting, weaving, hooking, and collage. For this exhibit, she scaled up her work for more threatening, oppressive creations in white, black, and red — such as Environmental State of Emergency, above, and Pristine Environment, below.
During the exhibit, representatives from the Alice Ferguson Foundation will discuss their Trash Free Potomac Watershed initiative, a five-pronged approach to solving regional pollution issues. Join us for their presentation on Thursday, March 21 at 6:30 pm.
Come see “State of Emergency,” March 7 through April 1, and join us for an opening reception Thursday, March 14 at 6:30 pm. More photos are below!
See below for details on exhibits, craft shows, and studio space. You can click the banner above to see past opportunities posts. Good luck!
Ceramic art
Deadline: March 4, 2013. “Beyond Function” at the Target Gallery is a media-specific exhibition with a focus on non-functional ceramic artwork. These works go beyond utility, seeking to be valued for their aesthetic quality over their usefulness. It is open to all artists nationally and internationally. To apply to this exhibit and “Food: Friend or Foe” (deadline April 8), also at the Target Gallery, click here.
Studio space Shared studio space is available in Crystal City. Owners are looking for working artists in their studios during regular office hours a combined total of at least 20 hours per week (not 20/week for each artist, but at least 20 total hours combined for the artists who occupy the space). Two spaces are currently available — both are 90 square feet and rent for $85/month. Studios have glass front wall so potential patrons can see you working (and can stop in to talk with you – read, “potential sales”). Shop sink in room and access to public restroom. All utilities included in studio rental fee. Street parking metered – $1/hour; metro accessible. Interested artists should email Bryan Jernigan at [email protected].
Stained glass, ceramics, paintings, drawings, photographs, fiber art, jewelry, sculpture, prints, and more from the past year’s students are in the Gallery through March 3.
Visit the Gallery through March 3 to see what students at The Art League have been up to in the past year — and what you could do this year!
The 2013 Student/Faculty Show showcases artwork from students and faculty members in every medium taught at The Art League. It’s a great chance to see if there’s an instructor whose work strikes your fancy, or find student work that makes you say, “Hey, I want to do that!” Here’s some of what’s in store:
Ceramics students at The Art League throw clay on the potter’s wheel, hand-build forms, and create tiles, mosaics, and anything else they imagine. This year, we filmed students doing a raku firing and put it on YouTube.
Interested? Check out the catalog by clicking “Ceramics” above, and scroll down to check out the sculpture classes, too.
Work by Art League ceramics students.
An untitled piece by instructor Susan Cohen.
A teapot by Vincent Delagarde, who took a class with ceramics instructor Jack Heimerman.
“Dream” by Majid Nazari, who took a class with Carlos Beltran-Baldiviezo.
Students created the work below in Lisa Semerad’s and Priscilla Treacy’s colored pencil classes, Jin Chung’s portrait drawing class, and Robert Liberace’s classical drawing classes. If you’re interested in drawing, click the link above to view the catalog, and check out a video demo from instructor Jin Chung on YouTube.
Knitting, weaving and tapestry, spinning, tapestry, dyeing, felting, surface design, silk painting, shibori, fiber sculpture, rug hooking and hat-making are all taught at The Art League. You can find more info about fiber arts classes by clicking the link above. And don’t miss our instructor demo on Youtube, How to Felt a Flower.
Our fiber arts students put together this exhibit of woolen lingerie.
See below for details on upcoming exhibits and a financial planning workshop for artists. You can click the banner above to see past opportunities posts. Good luck!
Painting Awards
Deadline: February 22, 2013 (Friday). The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the seventh annual Bethesda Painting Awards. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. For more information and to apply, click here.
Sunday evening’s Patrons’ Show at The Art League was a big success, with our fantastic patrons taking home 663 works of art and lots of door prizes. As you can see from the photos, this year’s event was both a great chance to unwind and party with neighbors — and serious business.
In the days leading up to the drawing, patrons pored over the gallery walls and our Flickr site to pick out their favorites. The drawing started at 4:00 pm Sunday and continued into the evening, with every ticket-holder hoping to hear their name called early. Regardless, every ticket guaranteed a piece of artwork to take home.
Lucky ticket-holders who were called at the end of each round received door prizes from our event sponsors, including cruises with the Potomac Riverboat Company, tickets to Metro Stage and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and packages to an Art League drawing class and Summer Art Camp. The very last name drawn won a Lucky Last Draw Package — two tickets to next year’s drawing, free parking, and a night at Morrison House! Uber also sent every ticket-holder home with a gift certificate.
Thank you to all of our artists, volunteers, staff, and ticket-holders for making this year’s show a huge success!
Some Patrons’ Show Tickets Available!
Our artists have been SO generous in donating artwork to the Patrons’ Show this year that we now have some TICKETS AVAILABLE!! Call the gallery if you’re interested (703-683-1780) or purchase tickets online. These won’t last long!
Patrons’ Show App Up & Running! “The Art League Patrons’ Show” App is up and running! Apple finally approved our images, so now the App is ready to use! If you previously downloaded the App, you’ll need to uninstall/reinstall. Happy sorting!
With over 660 pieces now hung in the gallery and up on Flickr, ticket-holders to the 2013 Patrons’ Show are picking out their favorites — and back-up choices — for when their name is called at Sunday’s drawing. Are you wondering if there is a way to increase your chances of getting your very top pick? Or if you can join in the fun without purchasing a $200 ticket?
Yes, there is!!
A First Choice raffle ticket — $15 for one, $25 for two — gives you a chance at having your favorite piece with no anxious waiting involved. Just visit the gallery to get a ticket, or tickets, and designate the piece you want. The First Choice raffle winner is drawn before the official Patrons’ Show drawing starts. If your ticket is the lucky one, you get to go home with your top choice!
The $250 Geri Gordon Award, established by one of our longtime patrons, goes to the artist whose work is selected by the First Choice raffle winner. You don’t need to have a Patrons’ Show ticket to enter, nor do you need to be present to claim your artwork.
This is a great way to get in on the Patrons’ Show fun and support The Art League if buying a Patrons’ Show ticket wasn’t in your budget. So get down to the gallery and pick your First Choice!
The 46th annual Patrons’ Show drawing is this Sunday! Are you ready?
With 600 pieces and counting donated by our generous artists, it’s been no small feat for our staff and volunteers to frame, hang, and number this year’s show. Check out some of their work in our video above (set to the Hang ’Em High theme performed by Hugo Montenegro and His Orchestra). You can browse all the artwork on Flickr here.
See below for details on upcoming exhibits. You can click the banner above to see past opportunities posts. Good luck!
Outdoor sculpture
Deadline: March 1, 2013. The 2013 Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island, DISCOVER, seeks proposals for sculpture engaged in a contemporary conversation about art within a natural environment. Up to twenty large-scale outdoor sculptures will be selected by an esteemed jury based upon artistic excellence, innovation, interactivity, originality, and the work’s ability to enhance the natural and cultural environment as well as reflect the values and diversity of Hilton Head Island. For more information and to apply, click here.
Our latest video demo (below) comes to us courtesy of Jin Chung’s Monday evening class at The Art League, Portrait Drawing. Jin showed us the steps to drawing a complete portrait in vine charcoal and white chalk. You can find all of Jin’s classes here — registration is open for Spring classes.
It’s here! Most of the Patrons’ Show artwork is now on view in the Gallery, and images are going up on Flickr here! With over 500 pieces in the show so far, there are a lot of decisions to make ahead of the drawing, Sunday, February 17.
As promised, here is part 2 of this Artful Links post, with videos 7 through 13. (Find part 1 here.) Any videos, photos, or websites you’ve seen recently that sparked your imagination? What new projects will you work on this year? Share in the comments!
7. Toronto-based artist Amy Shackleton demonstrates a different kind of drip painting, creating urban landscapes using squeeze bottles of acrylic paint:
8. In another time-lapse video, architect Jeanne Gang discusses architecture as a bottom-up process:
With Winter term classes underway, our camera crew is once again making the rounds of Art League classrooms to record instructor demos. Today we’re pleased to add the first pastel demo to our library, courtesy of Nancy Freeman!
In the video, Nancy shows her Wednesday morning Exploring Pastel class how to do a quick pastel sketch, working from a reference photo she took near Monterey, California. It starts with showing the paper who’s boss — watch the video after the jump: Continue reading A Quick Pastel Sketch Demo with Nancy Freeman
See below for details on upcoming exhibits and craft shows. You can click the banner above to see past opportunities posts. Good luck!
Art of the Found Object
Deadline: March 20, 2013. Artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada are invited to enter “Eye of the Beholder: The Art of the Found Object” at Maryland Federation of Art’s Circle Gallery. Any 2D or 3D works incorporating one or more found objects and following the MFA’s exhibition guidelines will be considered. For more information and to enter, click here.
