Julie Hart

Paintings on display at the Central Library during the month of January, 2012. 

“I paint colorful, representational, oil paintings that capture a moment in mood, light, or composition. My subjects center around landscapes and other discovered items. Wherever I go I am open to possible subject matter for a painting. Oftentimes, this is close to home, in my suburban neighborhood.

I take photos and make mental notes about what I want to paint later. An idea usually starts with something that captures my eye like the interaction of angles and lines or an interesting texture or light quality. I’m not always captured by a beautiful scene, but by bits of that scene: reflections in the water, an interesting window, or an arrangement of rocks.

I usually compose images in my sketchbook after cropping images on the computer. After I decide what size suits the image I want to paint, I make my own custom-sized, wood panels to get the exact proportions I want. I like to apply a base color before painting. I choose this color based on what the painting is and what colors I want peeking through the top layers. Then I apply impasto paint in slightly exaggerated colors.

I like texture in my work and use a palette knife and brush, along with a scraper. The scraper allows me to draw into or remove some of the top layers of paint and expose the under-painting, incorporating sgraffito.My subjects focus on landscapes and still lifes.

I also started painting homeless animal portraits in correlation to my volunteering for an animal rescue group. Within this range of subjects, the same things attract me to an image. Usually the most important is great light, which I inherited from my background in photography. Another important element for me is good composition. The other element I concentrate on is conveying a mood or a personality.”

The Wired Photography of Ron Cogswell will be on display in the Cherrydale Library from Wednesday, Jan. 4 – April 2, 2012. 

Ron Cogswell is the Chief Operating Officer of the Civil War Trust, the nation’s largest nonprofit devoted exclusively to the preservation of Civil War battlefields endangered by sprawl.
With a lifelong interest in film photography but usually lacking a darkroom for photo processing, he learned digital photography in Smithsonian Associate courses taught by Eliot Cohen, starting in 2001. Mr. Cogswell now uses a Nikon D80 digital single-lens reflex camera with a wide-angle zoom lens (a Tamron 17-50 mm F/2.8), occasionally supplemented by a Pentax Optio A10 digital point-and-shoot compact camera.

Adobe Photoshop substitutes nowadays for a darkroom.The Photoshop effects he applied to the images in this exhibit are the program’s “glowing edges” and “photocopy” effects. Mr. Cogswell served in the US Navy from 1969 to 1972 and now resides in Arlington with his wife Beth.

David Amoroso: Paintings
December 2011- January 31, 2012
Central Library, 2nd floor

 

David Amoroso demonstrates his admiration for Latin culture through his artwork. His artistic passion is divided between painting, photography, and block and screen prints.

Although the majority of David’s work is dedicated to painting iconic portraits of everyday people, he also represents Mexican pop culture through his work.

A Tapestry of Paintings

On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library through February 2013.

Anne Lewis, an artist local to the Westover neighborhood, is trained as an art therapist and currently works with medically fragile children.  Anne’s paintings are based on her family’s favorite places in the DC area, where she often walks with her trusty pal Seamus-the-dog, while her 3 children are in school.

Anne’s current collection has been reproduced as a beautiful 2013 calendar. Visit her website for calendar purchase information, and to see a full array of her artwork.

 

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

 

Montana DeBor: illustrations from Annabelle the Angler Fish

December 1-31, 2011
Central Library, 2nd floor

Montana DeBor is an artist living in Arlington Virginia. She has studied watercolor painting privately for many years and completed many solo professional shows. This exhibit has illustrations from her new children’s book “Annabelle the Angler Fish.”

Ruth Krulfeld: New Work (Art: A Hedge Against Pain)
December 2011
Central Library, 2nd floor

About this work:

“Engagement in creative expression can transport the artist from a dark place to one of color, form, and joy. This happened to me. As I began to suffer severe spinal pain and sciatica which were not helped by medications, I started drawing with felt-tipped markers on paper at times when the pain was at its worst.

The involvement with my art was so engrossing that the pain, while present, was ignored. Art helped me greatly—so much so that I could call this exhibit “Art: A Hedge against Pain.””

 

Portals: An exhibit of kiln-fired and mixed media wearable art and altar pieces created by Worth Cooley-Prost, on display at the Central Library through the month of November.

“My work is about connections of time, space and heart, and the value of looking closely. I love working with glass – it’s like an intimate conversation with light itself.

All my glass is hand-cut, one at a time, from sheets of specialized art glass, then fired in a small kiln in my home studio in Arlington. Most of my work includes dichroic glass,combining ancient methods of glass fusing developed by the Phoenicians some 4,000 years ago with the space-age principles of thin film physics used to make dichroic glass.

Glass is a visible, tangible expression of the great dance between Earth and Light – the core component of any glass is silica, a kind of quartz. Some of this Portals glass was infused with the energies of a particular full moon or new moon, especially at times of a solstice, eclipse, or a powerful astronomical alignment. (The Druids saw solar eclipses as key to recreating the world: an eclipse above means things are also eclipsed here below, releasing obsolete patterns so new ones can come through.) “

Through the holidays Westover Branch Library is delighted to have the work of local artist, Cecily Corcoran, on display.

From cityscapes to seascapes this artist explores life and nature, looking for color, rhythm and balance. Her aim is to “record a glimpse of natural beauty before it folds into time.”

These stunning paintings are on display through December. Paintings are for sale and more of her work can be found at www.cecilycorcoran.com.

Find more information on current exhibits, permanent installations and how to apply to exhibit art at the Library on our Art Exhibits page.

An exciting relationship is in its beginning stages between Coyoacan, Mexico (one of Arlington’s sister cities), and Claremont Immersion School, a Spanish immersion elementary school here in Arlington. 

Last year, art from Claremont’s students was exhibited in Coyoacan alongside art by students from La Escuelita Emilano Zapata. Now, as a result of the collaboration between both schools, we are happy to introduce an exhibit of work by the students of both schools, about their respective communities.

The show will be on exhibit at the Central Library’s 2nd floor from November 1 – 30. A reception open to all will be held Monday, November 7 at 6:30 p.m., in the 2nd Floor Meeting Room of the Central Library.

Artist’s Statement – “I use simple materials to create complex images out of paper. Silhouette paper is black on the front and white on the back where I draw my original designs in the reverse. Each piece is hand cut from a single sheet of paper, using an X-Acto knife or scissors. I take pride in the exactitude required to work with this rather unforgiving medium—one wrong cut and the piece is ruined. I also frequently employ vintage backgrounds, such as antique sheet music or ledger sheets, seeds packets, magazine advertisements or game piece cards, to contrast with the silhouette. Occasionally, I incorporate old postage stamps to inject color into a design, creating a stained glass effect. My designs are eclectic and range from more traditional works echoing German scherenschnitte to humorous contemporary pieces featuring nonconformist penguins, the evolution of golfers, or visual puns.”