Brittany Root’s paintings will be on exhibit at the Connection: Crystal City Pop-Up Library from September 7 – November 1, 2019.
Art Exhibits
Brittany Root: Paintings
On exhibit at the Connection: Crystal City Pop-Up Library September 7 - November 1, 2019.
Statement:
I incorporate my own observations of the natural world in an attempt to draw a parallel between ourselves and the larger environments we inhabit. In my abstract work I explore the relationship between imagery and memory through color, texture, and pattern. I am naturally drawn to bold and exuberant patterns and colors, which play a significant role in how I recall my own important memories. I work primarily in acrylic and oil paint on a variety of surfaces. Occasionally I will incorporate other materials or objects into my work to achieve a specific textural effect.
Biography:
Brittany Root is a visual artist who trained in oil painting but through her larger commissioned works retrained in acrylic painting techniques. She enjoys working in a variety of mediums including oil, pastel, acrylic, and pen and ink. Ms. Root creates artwork on commission for private homes and commercial enterprises.
She is currently the lead researcher on the Otto H. Bacher Catalog Raisonné Project and teaches cartooning at Art House 7 in Arlington, VA. She serves on the board of directors for McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) organizing exhibition auctions, and assisting with programming for adult art education. Ms. Root has a passion for arts education and working with children of all ages to realize their creative potential.
Ms. Root earned an MAM (Master of Arts Management) from Carnegie Mellon University; BA from Georgetown University with a double major in History and Studio Art. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, three kids, and cat.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Chica Brunsvold: Paintings
On exhibit at the Columbia Pike Branch Library, September 3, 2019 - October 29, 2019.
Artist Statement
Originally an Abstract Expressionist, I now delight in discovering and developing images within my paintings. Some remain abstract but many evolve into florals or into whimsical animalscapes, my trademarked Zooillogicals®. They are my attempt to inject light-hearted humor into the serious field of art. They are also my metaphor for the peace and harmony so often lacking in real life.
About the Artist
A native of Ann Arbor, MI, Chica Brunsvold graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Design and an MA in Art. She was an Illustrator General for the CIA and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces before becoming a full time award-winning artist. She has earned Signature Membership in both the American and National Watercolor Societies as well as Alabama, Baltimore, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Northwest Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Taos and Virginia Watercolor Societies. She’s been in over 200 national water-media exhibitions, won over 4 dozen awards and has had over 25 solo shows both locally and throughout the US in art museums, art centers, universities and hospitals.
Three times she was on the faculty of “Stretching the Boundaries of Creativity” in Ohio. She has given numerous watercolor programs, demonstrations and workshops. She has juried and judged many art shows in VA, and also in West Virginia and Delaware. Three of her Zooillogicals® were part of the US Arts in Embassies program in Rangoon. Her work is the permanent collections of The Art Station at Stone Mountain, GA, Fairfax INOVA Hospital in Fairfax, VA, Paine Art Center & Gardens in Oshkosh, WI and many more. She is represented by Gallery Underground in Crystal City.
Listed in Who’s Who of American Art, her work is published in 8 art books. She has 3 paintings and an article in: “Say it with Flowers” in the June, 2014 issue of Watercolor Artist. She has also been featured 7 other times in nationally published watercolor magazines.
Learn more at www.chicabrunsvold.com
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Nataliya Gurshman: Paintings
On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library, August 27 - October 14, 2019.
Artist Statement
I am a very intuitive and emotional being, and my art reflects that. I create my work in a single breath, without any pause, so that I do not lose any drop of that inspiration. I am so caught up in the moment of creation that I forget where I am—nothing can distract me from this euphoria. Whatever I am painting, I must be in love with my subject.
Lately, I have been attracted to nature even more and create my impression of the subject that reflect my background, my emotional state at the moment by utilizing new artistic techniques. I choose bold brush strokes of opaque lights to express my energy juxtaposed against transparent cooler shadows, and scraping some translucency into the mysterious darks with the palette knife.
Since I grew up in the northern part of the former Soviet Union, in the beautiful city of Leningrad, winter and snow were a big part of my life. I keep coming back to it more often than not. Some pieces are more realistic, when others are more abstract. However, I express my energy and love for snow and nature equally well in both. Many of these works are inspired either by a real place or my childhood memories and emotions.
Learn more at www.natikart.com
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Mac Cosgrove-Davies: Photographs
Pictorialist Arlington and Beyond
On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library, June 18 – August 20, 2019.
Artist statement:
Although there is no standard definition of ‘Pictorialism,’ it generally refers to a style in which the photographer has manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of "creating" an image rather than simply recording it. Here I have included photographic prints made with ‘pictorialist’ photo processes such as gum bichromate, cyanotype, oil printing, and carbon printing. All of these are ‘hands-on’ printing methods using readily available materials and equipment. They do not require a darkroom, and can be practiced almost anywhere. Subjects are largely but not exclusively Arlington, VA and the DC area.
Please also have a look at the antique and hand-made cameras in the front display cases. The photos shown here were taken with these cameras or other similar ones in my collection.
The frames for these photographs are made with repurposed floorboards from a neighborhood house recently torn down. Glass is from old storm windows.
About the artist:
Mac Cosgrove-Davies is a self-taught photographer who since 1978 has been practicing historic photographic processes including gum bichromate, cyanotype, VanDyke, palladium, oil printing, and carbon printing. Mac’s images are inspired by his extensive travel to developing countries as well as everyday life in Arlington, VA and elsewhere. Using antique and hand-made film cameras in various large & panoramic formats he seeks to match the image to the beauty and elegance of the selected photographic process.
In addition to building the occasional camera, printing frame, picture frame, or other photographic gadget, he also creates books, boxes, and presentation portfolios for his prints. He is represented in various collections such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Library of Congress, Maier Museum, and Lehigh University Art Galleries. Mac teaches these printing methods at PhotoWorks in Glen Echo Park.
Additional photographs may be seen by appointment. Contact gummist@gmail.com.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Rhys Conlon: Paintings
Impulse and Calculation
On exhibit at the Shirlington Branch Library, July 1 - September 1, 2019.
Artist statement:
Nature—in the broadest sense—is the driving force behind this body of work. Part impulse and part calculation, each painting slowly evolves. At inception, I typically have an image at hand, but this is merely a place to start. The canvas quickly fills with patches of color, shapes, and distinctly textured areas. Then, the contemplation and editing begins. Lines form; marks disappear; pigments mix and change. Layering is where I discover those compositions that my imagination could never conjure up on its own—that is, without paint. As I account for balance and strive to create an engaging rhythm, there is often a sense of struggle, but eventually I am faced with a finished surface.
About the artist:
Rhys Conlon majored in fine art and creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University and later earned an MA in art history at Hunter College, City University of New York. In addition to working as an artist, she has held positions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Today, she serves as head of publications at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Rhys is an active member of the Columbia Pike Artist Studios in Arlington, Virginia.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Wayne Wittig: Sculpture
On exhibit at the Connection: Crystal City Pop-up Library from May 1 - 31, 2019.
Artist statement:
Our mind has the ability to differentiate human and animal shapes from inanimate objects around them. This ability may have developed as a self-defense mechanism to ward off potential threats. However it arose, it permits us to see or create human form in abstraction. My sculptures attempt to stimulate insights into how we see human and animal forms in the abstract. I want to have fun with this attribute to see representations and movements through dynamic positioning.
Wayne A. Wittig retired some time ago after an international career that allowed him the time to add his own creations to an eclectic art collection.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Meryl Silver: Photographs
On exhibit at the Shirlington Branch Library, May 1 - 28, 2019.
This series of photographs was taken in the Ethiopian Highlands.
Artist statement:
Most of my early work, shooting in black and white film, was documentary, focusing on the people and street scenes in my hometown, New York City. For example, I completed a major project on the homeless who spent their nights in a church on Park Avenue, where, over a period of years, I came to know the nightly inhabitants. I also did a photo series on Coney Island, where locals ranged from old and grizzled chess players to young working-class parents with their kids. In these projects, I tried to capture the timelessness of the places and the warmth of its inhabitants.
After moving to DC, I switched to digital photography, and much of my focus shifted from documentary towards fine art. Fine art photography allows me to capture details of a subject from a more abstract perspective, and reveal a world that usually goes undetected as life rushes by.
Whereas my focus continues to be mostly on more abstract subjects, I recently had the opportunity to travel to several small villages in the Ethiopian Highlands and briefly return to my documentary photographic roots. Although the culture and environment were completely foreign to me, I was once again enthralled with the timelessness of the landscape and the warmth of the inhabitants. I connected with people living as they had for hundreds of years, working in villages that had changed little for generations. For me personally, the parallels between the quintessentially urban New York City environments and the open, rural villages of Ethiopia represent a striking reminder that, despite differences among people and cultures, we are all fundamentally the same.
In this photo essay of the Ethiopian Highlands, I hope the viewer feels the warmth, hope and humanity that I felt among the people, and within an environment, that were totally foreign to me yet unmistakably reminiscent of my New York City childhood home.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Backyard Critters: Photographs
On exhibit at the Cherrydale Branch Library from March 19 - June 17, 2019.
photo by Kim Abod
photo by Robin Kent
photo by Scott Springston
As the population of the Northern Virginia suburbs expands, many local fauna have adapted to the expanding human presence. Sightings of foxes, deer, hawks, owls, and other creatures have proliferated in Arlington and the outer suburbs in recent years. This exhibit comprises photographs illustrating this phenomenon.
These photographs were taken in Arlington by Scott Springston and in Great Falls by Kim Abod and Robin Kent.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
Christina Girardi: Paintings
En Plein Air
On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library, Tuesday April 16 - Monday June 10, 2019.
Christina Girardi is an artist who grew up in the Washington, DC area and works as an artist in Arlington, VA, continuing to draw inspiration from her hometown. With a focus on local landscapes and portraiture, her approach incorporates the freshness of observation from life, with a unique perspective that inspires new ways of looking.
“All my work is from life, as I feel that is the richest inspiration. My aim is simple: to capture the character of my subject through direct observation. I seek out unique perspectives to represent my subjects, although they may be iconic or familiar locales. My goal is to connect with the viewer by inspiring a memory or deeper connection to the landscape.
I paint “en plein air,” directly from the landscape, and I love the challenge of translating the emotional and physical presence of the scene into my paintings. With the limited time due to changing light and changing weather, these constraints force me to capture just the right amount of detail to impart a unique sense of place, through time of day or season it was painted in. I also infuse my portraiture with this direct approach of painting from life.
The sights around my neighborhood in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC inspire my work, and I aim to continue to document this exciting and evolving area through plein air. ”
You can learn more about Christina and her work at christinagirardi.com or Instagram @christina_girardi.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
