Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy art in person or virtually.
This weekend: July shows at the League; an outdoor sculpture exhibit at Sandy Spring Museum; expressions of Earth at American Visionary Museum; and tumultuous 2020 reflected in artist books at Pyramid Atlantic.
July 2021 Open Exhibit
Our July Open Exhibit, juried by painter and printmaker Toni-Lee Sangastiano, is now on view! Open exhibits are a great way to view the breath of mediums and styles of our member artists. This month’s show features four works of printmaking: John Gosling’s pastoral linocut Shenandoah Mountain, Bath County, Virginia; David Mann’s victual spread etched in Milk and Honey; Bridget Murphy’s dessert landscape etching Pool View, Carefree, AZ; and Veronica Barker-Barzel’s whimsical print Merlion and Cub (the latter are among this months honorable mentions). Also on view are two particularly unique sculptural pieces: David Alfuth’s Cabinet of Curiosity No. 14 overflows with, well, curiosities—in interesting shapes and forms; and Brian Kirk’s welded steel Beetle, with bright red dots and requisite bug-eyed gaze, is an absolute charmer. See it in-person in the Gallery, through Sunday, August 8, or view it online.
Yasmin Bussiere: Eastern Light
Mixed media artist Yasmin Bussiere works with metallic paints, pens, acrylics and oil pastels to fuse grandiose landscapes with spiritual reflections. Eastern Light, her solo exhibit, celebrates the beauty of the Central Asian landscape and is inspired by her memories living and traveling across the continent. Her work is organic, instinctive and transportive. Listen to Bussiere speak about her show here. Read more about her and Eastern Light here.
ARTINA 2021: Balancing Acts
Can we ever achieve balance or is it an elusive chimera? Ten members of the Washington Sculptors Group respond to the concept of balance in Artina 2021: Balancing Acts, an sculpture exhibit on view throughout the grounds of Sandy Spring Museum until November 6. The museum is located at 17901 Bentley Road, Sandy Spring, MD.
The Secret Life of Earth: Alive! Awake! (and possibly really Angry!)
This is the final month for the American Visionary Art Museum‘s The Secret Life of Earth: Alive! Awake! (and possibly really Angry!). This timely, thematic mega-exhibition beckons all earthlings—from climate change skeptics to the world’s leading eco-scientists and green youth planet-activists—entry into an exhibition that’s one part visual earth love-fest, and two parts environmental crash course on the wonders and interdependent fragility of life on our one, blue, homegirl planet; on view through September 5, 800 Key Highway, Baltimore.
Nine Artists/Nine Months/Nine Perspectives: Birth of 2020 Visions
Responding to the events of 2020, a collective of mature Black women artists were compelled to create work that transcended and transformed the traumatic events of the past year. Together they began a collaborative artist book project, started in September of 2020 and finished in May of 2021. These powerful, intricate, and beautiful books are on view in Nine Artists/Nine Months/Nine Perspectives, alongside individual works by each artist, at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center through August 29; 4318 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, MD.
Stay safe and enjoy the weekend!