Current Art Exhibition
Art works on special exhibition in the ballroom and upstairs gallery are for sale. Kindly refer to the price lists in the main hall on the first floor.
Spring Art Exhibition
Exhibition on view from March 5– May 27, 2013
AERO GRADATIONS and FLY ZONE
by artist Shahla Arbabi
Aggie Wolf Ballroom Exhibition
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Born in Shiraz, Iran, Shahla Arbabi has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States - both in private galleries and prestigious venues as the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC and The Ludwig Forum Für Internationale Kunst, Germany. Her most recent exhibition 2012 was held at the Art Gallery, University of Maryland in College Park, MD. Her work has been the subject of numerous studies of contemporary painting and can be found in more than two dozen private and public collections including the permanent holding of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC and The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies – ‘a new US Mission to the United Nations’ in New York. She currently resides and works in Washington, DC.
The focus of the Aero Gradations Series is found objects. As Arbabi says, “in life every- thing around you affects you”. This is especially true here, where the collages incorporate objects found mostly in her studio environment. Early works in the series were painted in bright colors, giving them a cheerful and happy feeling but over time grew darker in the series of “Fly Zone”. In a sense, the collages are an extension of her world. The series began with stretcher keys to increase the tension of the canvas. For Arbabi the aerodynamic shape of the keys seemed like a reminder of her early days flying.
Lyndia Harambourg, from the Gazette Drouot Museum Galleries, explores the idea of childhood dreams presented in Arbabi’s pieces. “The masterful pictorial challenge in the Series Aero Gradations makes one think of the symphony comprised of found objects. Again, these images include a recurring theme from childhood flying in Iran. Dynamically reconstructed in collage, fragments of photographs wired to small supports on museum board combine elements of wood and Plexiglas to stimulate propellers, jet engines, metaphors for flying. We are in a conversation about the dream of air. She provokes our imagination. Here stretcher keys, drink covers and eyedropper tops trigger off the dream. Chance and intuition contribute playful dimensions to these aerodynamic compositions that evoke ancient dream of man: flying.” combination of the abstract and specific.”
Juried Spring Exhibition of Artists of the Washington Water Color Association
2nd Floor Exhibition
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| "Cotton Candy" by Dave Cook, WWCA member |
Originally called the Washington Water Color Club, the Washington Water Color Association is one of the oldest societies of professional artists and can trace its beginnings to the late 19th century.
Washington watercolorist and Corcoran Museum School teacher, Marietta W. Andrews, originated the idea for such a society.
By 1936, artists from the twenty-one states and the District of Columbia were displaying their works at the club’s exhibitions. The WWCA held exhibits at the U.S. National Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Howard University and the Arts Club of Washington.
In 1921, the name was changed to the Washington Water Color Association. The WWCA became a non-profit, educational organization. In later years Elliott O’Hara, Andrew Wyeth, Don Kingman, Henry Gasser and Alice Pike Barney were among the painters exhibiting in annual shows. Alma Thomas, Delilah Pierce, Lois Mailou Jones and James Wells were among African American artists who exhibited regularly. Internationally recognized artist Lily Spandorf was a member of WWCA until her death.
The Washington Water Color Association flourishes to this day with 75 active members who still paint, teach and exhibit their work.
Summer Art Exhibition
Exhibition on view from May 30 - September 3, 2013
Opening Reception on Wednesday June 12, 2013 at 6:00-8:00 p.m.
(Club closed in August)
IN THE EARLY BRIGHT by Sharon Wolpoff
Aggie Wolf Ballroom Exhibition
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| “Going Home” 2012, Oil on Canvas. 34” x 34”. Davis, CA |
IN THE EARLY BRIGHT by award-winning artist Sharon Wolpoff, is a selection of vibrant urban landscapes which capture her sunlit surroundings first thing in the morning. A lifelong traveler, she witnesses the world through the fresh eyes of a tourist, whether she’s immersed in the splendid serenity of Sonoma, poking around dusty railroad tracks in Tucson or traipsing through her own back yard in Kensington. The everyday may be one of the most difficult things to really see, yet Wolpoff effortlessly mines visual treasure while exploring the neighborhood as the sun comes up.
Working in oils, her beautifully resolved compositions are defined by the interplay of light and shadow. She paints the effect of the light rather than its source, taking us along as she discovers the inherent beauty revealed when ordinary settings become ignited by the play of light. In addition to painting her sunlit surroundings, Wolpoff skillfully responds to the presiding spirit of the place, inviting the light embodied in her work to function as both a compositional component and a metaphysical presence.
It can be said that Sharon Wolpoff, who began her art training at age five, has always been an artist. She completed her formal education at American University (B.A., M.F.A. and J.D.), with additional coursework in Italy and Mexico. Counted amongst her honors are three Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, an Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County Fellowship and a Kreeger Purchase Prize. Throughout her career, Wolpoff’s work has been exhibited extensively, most recently in California at the Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey and at the Natsoulas Gallery in Davis. A Washington, DC native, her studio is located in Kensington, MD.
Learn more at www.sharonwolpoff.com
Second Floor Exhibition: Latin Artists
Claudia Samper
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| Portrait of an Artist, Pichuco Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 29” x 37” |
Architect by education, Claudia Samper detached herself from the design field over the years diving into the world of fine arts. Twenty years ago, she moved from Argentina to the United States where she developed her expressionist figurative work. Samper’s fascination with the condition of being human was the natural response for choosing portraits as her major subject matter; colors, compositions, lines, and textures, work together to help her paint the definite as well as the uncertain. Samper has been exhibiting around the U.S. and her work can be found in private collections in Spain, Argentina, and the United States.
Felisa Federman
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| Vagon I y II Medium: Mixed media on canvas Size: 36” x 36” |
Graduated from the Argentinean Fine Arts Academy in Painting and Fiber Art Techniques, (Buenos Aires, 1988), her trademark mixed media paintings capture conceptual and symbolic subjects in an atmospheric space.
Felisa is a frequent exhibitor, nationally and internationally, with her works having been exhibited recently at the Philadelphia City Hall, The Art Gallery of Potomac (Maryland), Gallery 211 (Baltimore, MD), The Ratner Museum (Bethesda, MD), Gaithersburg City Hall (Maryland), Unitarian Universalis Congregation (Maryland), Arlington Art Center (Virginia), The Suffolk Center for the Arts (Suffolk, Virginia), La Luna Gallery, Gallery 10, Martin Luther King Library, Artomatic and Interamerican Development Bank (Washington, DC). Argentinean Consulate (New York, NY), Museo del Area Fundacional (Mendoza, Argentina), Expotrastienda (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 0+0 Art gallery (Valencia, Spain), Art School of Florence (Italy).
Her art is part of the Los Angeles Latin American Museum and the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires collections. Felisa lives in Potomac, Maryland, since 1991.
www.felisafederman.com
Under the auspices of the Arts Committee:
In addition to its permanent collection, the museum features special exhibits. Our first exhibit, The Kennedys: A Legacy of Style and Substance, was launched in the spring of 2002 in conjunction with Cultural Tourism DC’s promotion of Jacqueline Kennedy’s Washington.
Hyannis Port Compound
by Senator Ted Kennedy, 1987
Signed Serigraph Print Courtesy of Bill Wooby
Special offer at $500! Signed and numbered limited serigraph print of Senator Kennedy's painting, unframed, appraised in 1991 for $1000. Buy your print from Patricia Fitzgerald at the reception desk. A certificate of authenticity is included with each sale. All proceeds to benefit the WNDC Building Fund.