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Category: Artist Interviews

Q&A interviews with the artists whose work is chosen by jurors as best in show in our monthly exhibits. Learn about the stories and the creative process behind these award-winning works of art from the artists who created them!

May 23, 2018

Beverly Ryan’s Drones Reappear

Artist Interviews, News

Artist and Art League instructor Beverly Ryan’s 'Drone Silhouette' seems to be suspended in air, blades whirling off the ground and ready to strike. We talked to Ryan about her process, her May 2018 Best in Show winning piece Drone Silhouette, and what makes her drone work tick.

May 18, 2018

Feeling the Way Around “Uncertainty”

Artist Interviews, News

We sat down with Jackie Saunders, winner of Best in Show for 2-D Figurative Work in the May Open Exhibit, to discuss her piece Uncertainty.

May 3, 2018

Q&A with Ikebana Arranger Tone Olsen

Artist Interviews

Tone Olsen, the Branch Director of the Washington, DC Sogetsu School, answered some questions about Ikebana, our show, and how she became involved in the art form.

April 12, 2018

Karen Schmitz, Resisting “The New Normal”

Artist Interviews

"It’s about resistance, a little bit of anarchy.”

March 22, 2018

Pay a Visit to this Abstract Villa

Artist Interviews

“I love to problem-solve which is fun in abstract art because it is easy to create unpredictable situations.”

February 1, 2018

Sardar Aziz’s Cityscape in Flux

Artist Interviews

“I wanted to capture how we as humans build a city and then rebuild it, right from the ground up, again and again.”

January 26, 2018

Kathleen Best Gillmann’s Winter Landscapes

Artist Interviews

“My goal in painting March Thaw was to capture the briskness, barrenness, and beauty of this location.”

December 28, 2017

How “Natura Morta” Came to Be

Artist Interviews

Many artists have a back burner where they hold onto ideas for years. This one just took a little longer than most to make it onto canvas.

October 23, 2017

Sarah Dax Solano: Blurring the Boundaries of Painting

Artist Interviews

Sarah Dax Solano is embarking on a new series that combines abstraction, realism, and a large format — and this painting is the first in the series.

October 18, 2017

Amy Sabrin, In the Moment

Artist Interviews

"One day, when the trees were that amazing golden greeny mustard color, I said, I just have to stop and paint it — so I did!"

September 29, 2017

Elaine Qiu: Painting as Calligraphy

Artist Interviews

"I believe every mark should have its own intention, and the way a mark is made is equally important as the final image."

September 29, 2017

Octavia Frazier Feels the “Force”

Artist Interviews

"I like when people tell me they can recognize my mark in my artwork."

September 18, 2017

BG Muhn on Contemporary North Korean Art

Artist Interviews, Events

BG Muhn, painter and art professor at Georgetown, spoke at The Art League September 9, sharing his research on contemporary art and artists in North Korea.

August 24, 2017

A Best-in-Show Painting That’s Wrapped Up in Red

Artist Interviews

“It was a challenge to create something that was monochromatic but interesting.”

July 13, 2017

Sally Davies, Playing With Water and Dots

Artist Interviews

Does “playing with water” refer only to the children in the picture? Or could it also be that Sally Davies is enjoying experimenting with watercolor again?

May 25, 2017

Wen LePore’s Unplanned, Unpredictable Paintings

Artist Interviews

This is a typical painting for me: It came from a mistake or unpredictability.

April 14, 2017

Photographer Bob Friedman’s “Simplicity”

Artist Interviews

"The arrangement of graphic elements is often more interesting then the reality of the scene. And, the abstracts just simply look good."

March 15, 2017

Taking a Second Look at Tess Olson’s Wild Landscapes

Artist Interviews

“It has to do with not knowing all the answers. I like not understanding a painting after one viewing.”

January 27, 2017

Andrea Cybyk: What’s On the Surface

Artist Interviews

“From a few feet away, you can barely see the words, much in the same way that we’re all ‘fine’ on the surface even if, underneath, we’re not.”

January 20, 2017

Paul Zapatka: Labor & Vision

Artist Interviews

“I wanted to prove that labor is as much a part of the artistic process as vision is.”

January 5, 2017

Jane Thomas’s “Raining Window”

Artist Interviews

There's no more quintessential wet-weather experience than staring out a rain-streaked window, and that familiar scene is the subject of December's award-winning watercolor by Jane Thomas.