Arlington ceramic artist Larry Bowring displays his stoneware on the first floor of the Central Library, from October 1 – 31, 2011.

This month at Westover Branch Library, Bill Peirce, a woodworker and sculptor for over 30 years, displays his gorgeous wooden creations.

The beautiful, soft-to-the-touch bowls and baby rattles, made from various exotic woods, are only on display through early November.

His bowls are not turned on a lathe, but are made from a single board, with concentric rings cut within the board by bandsaw. The full body of his work can be viewed, and purchased, at Peirce‘s website.

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

Local artist Bryan Jernigan says he has “always been drawn to color and the effect it has on individuals.” During the month of September, at the Westover Branch Library, you can experience this glorious use of color and form for yourself!

“With this series of landscapes, I feel I’ve been successful at marrying my love of color with recognizable elements of representation. These are not landscapes you’ll see in nature, but the colors represent the feelings I was having while taking the photos from which I worked to create these pieces.”

Jernigan maintains a working studio at the Lee Arts Center in Arlington. More information about the artist and the sale of his works can be found at Westover Library.

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

Painter Margret Lindsey, whose portraits are on display at Central Library through the end of August, is inspired by the Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.

Lindsey says:

“As mother and a woman, I see the world differently. I have a love of children and relationships. I enjoy portraying the depth and hidden stories, which one can see in children and relationships. I enjoy using classical lighting and chiaroscuro, finding the light and shadow within a composition. My goal is to create truthful and insightful portraits of children, relationships and other sitters. I also enjoy creating still life paintings because I am able to create a world for the viewer to enter that is calm and beautiful. A peaceful place like a still life is a treat when the rest of the world seems to be moving at warp speed.”

The series on display is in oil, but Lindsey also uses charcoal, pastels, and watercolor in her work.

20% of all art sales go to the Friends of the Library. For pricing information, contact the artist at margret @ scott-tigers.com or 703-973-8866.

Visit our Art Exhibit page to find out more about Library art shows.

The work of painter Jeff Pabotoy in on display on the second floor at the Central Library for the month of August. The series, called “Bones and Instruments”, shows the study of light and object through space, and creates relationships between the two, which are otherwise non-existent.

About the process of creating, Jeff says:

I find comfort and warmth in my friends and family. When I am not with them, I find myself clinging to the objects they leave behind; a substitute for their absence. My paintings are often mistaken for still-life observations, but in reality, they are portraits of family and friends represented through objects.

One example of this is a painting of mine representing my father as an iron clamp. This could not be more symbolic of who he is as a man. The cast iron clamp is simple, strong, will not break, and it holds tight all things that may other wise fall apart; the exact qualities my father possesses.

About himself, Jeff writes: 

I was born in a farming/fishing village in Bohol, Philippines. My father a carpenter and my mother is an American Peace-Corp volunteer. My family moved to northern Virginia at age 13. This was a difficult time for my family and me as each of us struggled to blend and assimilate into a new culture. In school I was either invisible or served as a target of ridicule; both equally unpleasant.

Art started as a tool to attract attention in a positive light, and later became a language through which I used to identify and express myself. Wanting more and more from art, I continued to pursue it through college. Through scholarships I was able to attend and graduate from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s painting department in the year 2000.

20% of all art sales go to the Friends of the Library. For pricing information, contact the artist.


Visit out Art Exhibit page to find out more about Library art shows.

“The Secret Garden”

The art of painter and found object artist Patricia Hartnett is on display on the first floor at Central Library for the month of June.

We asked Patricia a few questions about her work:

How did you get the inspiration for this work?
I collect books and I’m a painter. So this was a way of combining my love of books and art. Very often the book is the inspiration for a piece of art. I love to create small intimate pieces of art that can been held in the hands and books lend themselves well. It’s also a way to recycle books and give them a second life as art. I have great respect for books and I only use discarded or damaged books for my art.

How long have you been working with books in your art?
I started altering books into art about 3 years ago. The first books that I altered were antique hymnals that I found at the thrift store. They were lovely, well worn books with navy blue and gold covers. They had a nice feel and smell. I thought about how many hands had held them books in song over the century, no doubt many of those worshipers were gone now. So I sealed them shut and embedded paintings inside niches that I carved through the covers. I’ve altered many books since then. I love how versatile they are.

What are you working on next?
I paint every day in my studio. I usually have a painting or two in progress. My art book projects are a nice diversion. Lately I’ve been working on art journaling and also building some art book shrines. The book shrines are assemblages that contain a small book with them. A couple shrines are one display currently at the library.

You can view more images of Patricia’s work on our flickr page, or come into Central Library and see it in person.

Entr’acte

On exhibit at the Shirlington Branch Library, June 2010.

DiBella describes this series on her website:

Nan B. Irick Small Self Portrait

Central Library’s June art exhibits include a retrospective of Nan B Irick work. 

Irick was a self taught artist, and a substitute teacher in art and history at Washington-Lee High School before her death in 2008 (read the Washington Post Obituary). There will be a reception in her honor on Sunday, June 6 at 1:30 p.m., in the 2nd Floor Meeting Room at Central.

Irick’s son Britt wrote this exhibit statement about his mother and her work:

Even as this show is filled to the brim with her art, it would take ten shows to even understand the scope of how prolific my mother was. At home there are still piles of sketchbooks and stacks of paintings, some of which even I, her son, have never seen. She was an amazingly genuine and talented painter, writer, poet, teacher and inspiration to everyone around her. Never formally trained as an artist, her skill came from the sheer volume of her work and her unrivaled passion for expression.

As any teacher and many students from Washington-Lee will tell you, if there was one thing she loved more than creating art, it was helping people around her to express themselves. For the last several years of her life she was a substitute teacher at the high school and became an integral part of the art community there. On any given day she could be found in her art room with a bag of pens, a new drawing and eager students all around her.

Everything was inspiration for her. Be it a fruit, a cell phone picture of a TV show, or even just a shirt on the floor, she could see the right shapes and colors and turn anything into a work of art. She went through many different styles in her long artistic career and this show is meant as a look at some of her best work through the years. She poured every bit of her heart and soul into everything she did, and though she can’t be with us now, those pieces of her are still here in her art work, her family who loves and misses her, and all of the students she loves and cared so much for. She was a truly wonderful artist, mother and teacher, and she is missed.

View a selection of Irick’s work on our flickr page.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be interviewing some of the artists in The Art of Food, our current exhibit at Central Library.

Our first conversation is with Soline Krug, a local painter transplanted from Europe, who’s fiery images of wine cellars are included in the show. DC Art reviewer Lenny Campello recently wrote that Krug’s painting With Wine as Accomplice was his favorite piece in the Herstory exhibit at the Art League gallery.

How long have you been painting? When/why did you start?

I have been painting since the summer 2008. Growing up in Paris, having a father who studied art and a mother who now is a professional copist, it was almost natural to go for visual art. I didn’t think I could seriously be an artist though. That’s why I studied business. As my husband got a job opportunity in the US, I quit my job and followed him. I started some art classes waiting for my work permit. As I got it, I realized how empty I would feel if I had to stop painting. That’s how I decided to become professional. I never felt so happy.

How did you come to paint the subject of your paintings?

I wanted to paint about wine to reconnect with my home country which felt so far away. As I visited wine cellars in Saint-Emilion (Bordeaux) I started loving wine. Since then, I have developed a fascination for the underground world of wine cellars. I love the carved stones, the artificial lights, the tunnels, the coolness, the smell. I wanted to transmit this very particular experience of the senses in my paintings.

What are you working on now?

Now I am working on a very different subject. I concentrate on the human figure and try to reveal some aspects of the life my brother’s struggle. He died very recently and had to fight two illnesses, leukemia and asperger’s syndrom. He was trapped physically by the cancer and mentally by asperger’s syndrom. My new series of work deals with how the environment or the body itself can turn out to be a jail of your mind.

Find more of Soline Krug’s marvelous paintings, and news of upcoming exhibits, on her website.