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Art News

CLOSED – "Art of Masks" Exhibit Submissions Due Sept. 20

Let Your Imagination Run Wild

Submission Deadline: September 20, 2016

Masks exhibit

The Arlington Public Library is seeking submissions of handmade masks for a group exhibit.

Masks can be made of any material, but using recycled materials is always encouraged. Entry is open to any local artist who, if selected, is able to hand deliver work to the Arlington Central Library.

All applications must include:

  • Completed Entry Form (if submitting electronicly, you may include submission information in body of email to ikauff@arlingtonva.us)
  • Photo or digital image (labeled “artistname.jpg”) of the work – 2 submissions per person

 

Mail or deliver hard-copy applications to:

Art Committee
Arlington Central Library
1015 N Quincy St
Arlington VA 22201

 

Trail Tales: A Rock is Lively

Installed April –  May 2016

 

Rock is livelyA Rock Is Lively
by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

From the award-winning creators of An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, and A Butterfly Is Patient comes a gorgeous and informative introduction to the fascinating world of rocks. From dazzling blue lapis lazuli to volcanic snowflake obsidian, an incredible variety of rocks are showcased in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this book introduces an array of facts, making it equally perfect for classroom sharing and family reading.

 

 

 

 

“A Rock is Lively” Text copyright ©  2012 by Dianna Hutts Aston. Illustrations copyright ©  2012 by Sylvia Long.

Permission arranged with Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.

 

trail tales logo

The Trail Tales’ squirrel logo was designed by Arlington student Annabella.

 

 

Explore World War II through Arlington's Memories

Artifacts from Life on the Homefront

On display at Central Library, April 2016.

26247377461_897c4ceef2

Just in time for Arlington Reads 2016, Central Library is hosting an artifact-rich exhibition on Arlington County in World War II.

It’s the story of a community undergoing rapid transition from fading farms to new homes to the Pentagon, all while sending its young men to fight in Europe and the Pacific.

The exhibition also highlights the often unheralded role of women who served essential roles in the war effort and maintained domestic life amid sacrifice.

“We’re stepping back to the 1940s with this exhibit and these visiting authors to show how quickly the world changed at home and overseas,” Library Director Diane Kresh said. “But ultimately the themes of human suffering and surprising courage appear timeless and seem to confront every generation.”

The displays at Central draw from the collection of the Library’s Center for Local History and items loaned by the Arlington Historical Society.

Scrapbooks from the Woman’s Club of Arlington document a number of local wartime enterprises, including the Arlington Recreation Center for Servicemen.

The displays range from poignant letters home, combat boots, banners, music albums and “Victory” cookbooks to sometimes-grisly Horrors of War trading cards meant as social commentary, folk art and propaganda. The exhibition also includes a listening station of Arlington-at-war recollections culled from the Center’s hundreds of recorded oral histories.

 

Arlington Read 2016

 

Arlington Reads is the Library’s one-theme, one-community reading initiative. It is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.

 

News release written by Peter Golkin, County Communications Office.

 

 

Yorktown High School Artist of the Month: Alaxira Huon-Dumentat

“Mad Hatter” – Digital Photography

On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library, March 2016.

Huon, Alaxira Mad Hatter copy

Artist Statement:

On Halloween, my friend wore this amazing Mad Hatter costume and I just had to take a picture. Mr. Fleischer allowed me to go into the studio, where I had her sit on a chair and added lighting so that one side was lit and the other was not. I didn’t like it when it was just plain so I found a book and a telescope type object to get that fantasy effect. Now it looks like she’s somewhere in Wonder looking through a telescope to read.

The Yorktown High School’s Artist of the Month competition is held throughout the school year. Student’s taking an art class at Yorktown are encouraged to enter, and their work is judged by a rotating committee of teachers, students, parents and guest judges. The winning artists then have their artwork displayed in the school library, the Westover Branch Library, and the Westover Wells Fargo Bank for a month in each location. They also receive a $15 gift certificate from Deli Italiano! 

 

2016 Scholastic Art Show

Photography, Painting and Sculpture by Arlington Students

Scholastic Art 2016

Each winter, the Library hosts the Regional Scholastic Art Award, a competition which encompasses all Middle School and High School students in Arlington County.

Almost 2000 works of art were submitted and judged by three jurors. Out of these, the judges awarded either a Gold or a Silver Certificate to approximately 300 pieces.. These works are on display on the first and second floors of the Arlington Central Library.

 

In addition, our Youth Services staff chose one piece each year to add to our own permanent collection:

Samantha Lewis, "Bringing Colors to Life"

Samantha Lewis, “Bringing Colors to Life”

 

In 1923, M.R. Robinson founded this prestigious art exhibition for students with artistic talent. Each year, Regional Art Competitions across the nation select over 12,000 Gold Keys out of 100,000 submissions. These 12,000 Gold Key individual and portfolio works of art are then juried on a National Level in New York City. On a National Level, over 1,000 works of art are awarded as Gold and Silver Keys. In the past seven years, Arlington County alone has received between 7-11 National awards for both individual and portfolios works of art.

 

Learn more about Art at the Library.

 

Yorktown Artist of the Month: Emily Villatoro

“Inner Life” – Acrylic Paint on Paper

On exhibit at the Westover Branch Library, November 2015.

Emily V

Emily’s Artist Statement:

My painting expresses the value of self-reflection and conveys what we might actually see when we look in the mirror. We are all so much more than just our appearance. Some people hate what they see, some love what they see and some just don’t see anything at all. My portrait shows that what we see on the outside is not what is within.

 

The Yorktown High School’s Artist of the Month competition is held throughout the school year. Student’s taking an art class at Yorktown are encouraged to enter, and their work is judged by a rotating committee of teachers, students, parents and guest judges. The winning artists then have their artwork displayed in the school library, the Westover Branch Library, and the Westover Wells Fargo Bank for a month in each location. They also receive a $15 gift certificate from Deli Italiano! 

 

Trail Tales: Water Rolls, Water Rises

Installed September 2015 – March 2016

 

book jacket: "water rolls, water rises"Water Rolls, Water Rises / El Agua Rueda, el Agua Sube
by Pat Mora, illustrations by Meilo So, translation by Adriana Domínguez & Pat Mora

In an expressive celebration of the world’s waterscapes, verse and mixed-media illustrations swing from placid to tempestuous, creating an effective and fitting ebb and flow. A description of a peaceful river scene inspired by the Yangtze (“Slow into rivers/ water slithers and snakes/ through silent canyons at twilight and dawn”) contrasts with an evocation of a violent Patagonia sea (“In storms, water plunges/ in thunder’s brash roar,/ races through branches from lightning’s white flash”).

The palette also shifts to suit the vista: children in Finland play by a brook framed by brilliant fall foliage, while smoky grays dominate a hushed scene featuring the human and feline residents of Venice, enshrouded in fog. Some of the images and allusions suggest water’s life-sustaining power: men fish in India, Kenyan women fetch water from a well, and in the canals of Holland, “water streams, water slides,/ gliding up roots of tulips and corn.”

 

“Water Rolls, Water Rises / El agua rueda, el agua sube” Text copyright © 2014 by Pat Mora. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Meilo So.

Spanish translation copyright © 2014 by Lee & Low Books Inc. Permission arranged with LEE & LOW BOOKS INC., New York, NY 10016

trail tales logo

 

The Trail Tales’ squirrel logo was designed by Arlington student Annabella.

 

 

 

Civil War Artifacts from the Arlington Historical Society

Our History on Display

On Exhibit at the Aurora Hills Branch Library, July – August 2015

Like most museums, the Arlington Historical Museum (located in the Hume School) has more artifacts than can be displayed at any one time.

So the Arlington Historical Society recently launched an effort to locate display areas in public spaces around the County in order to bring the history of Arlington to more people.

Arlington Historical Society exhibit at AH

The Aurora Hills Branch Library’s exhibit includes maps, photos and artifacts from the ring of Civil War forts – most of which would have been within firing distance of this library: 

 

The Historical Society currently has two other exhibits in the community:

  • The Center for Local History at Central Library – Artifacts from the Ball-Sellers House, the oldest building in the county, a farm house built around 1750.
  • Arlington Village Community Center – Toys and pictures reflecting the childhood memories of the early residents, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the apartments.

 

Trail Tales: Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?

Installed April – September 2015

 

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?
by Rita Gray, illustrated by Kenard Pak

As a boy and a girl walk in fields near their house, they see many birds and hear their distinctive calls. But a quiet bird captures the children’s attention. Sitting in her nest in a tree, the robin is alert but silent. The next morning, the duo hears sounds from the nest, beginning with “tapping cracking” and ending with “breaking shaking.” Three baby birds join the robin and her mate in the nest.

 

 

 

 

“Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?” is used with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Text copyright © 2014 by Rita Grey. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Kenard Pak. All rights reserved.

trail tales logoThe Trail Tales’ squirrel logo was designed by Arlington student Annabella.

 

 

 

Voices of Little Saigon in Clarendon: Public Art on View at Central Library

Public Art and Oral Histories Honor Clarendon’s Vietnamese Heritage

clarendon neighborhood history

On May 9, 2015, artist Khánh H. Lê’s temporary public installation will be on display in the fountain of Clarendon Central Park for “Echoes of Saigon,” a multimedia celebration honoring the journey of Clarendon’s Vietnamese community during the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

In addition to the public art installation, Echoes of Saigon will include hands on art activities, music, a walking tour led by former community members, a County Board proclamation, special guest speakers, other displays, and the Lemongrass Food Truck.

Following the May 9 event, the artwork will move to the Center for Local History at Central Library.

 

About the Artist and Installation

This artwork draws on primary sources to highlight the history of Little Saigon – the thriving hub of Vietnamese commerce and social activity that existed in Clarendon in the late 1970s and ‘80s. Similar to his work for the mobile gallery Art on the ART Bus, Lê has created a mixed media townscape, embedded with memories of an ethnic enclave that no longer exists.

Lê has reproduced photographs by Michael Horsley, who documented Little Saigon during its heyday, to create structures that resemble individual businesses that existed. The buildings further tell the stories of Little Saigon through the inclusion of audio components that play excerpts of recent oral history interviews with former Little Saigon community members. The interviews were conducted by graduate students from Urban Affairs & Planning in Virginia Tech’s School of Public & International Affairs.

Commissioned by Arlington Public Art, the installation also includes a sculptural apricot blossom tree and folded paper boats that come together to form flowers, symbolizing the journeys of Vietnamese immigrants who left their homeland to create a new community in Clarendon and a new life in America.

 

About “Echoes of Little Saigon”

In the fall of 2014, Arlington County’s Historic Preservation Program and the Center for Local History collaborated with graduate students from Virginia Tech’s Department of Urban Affairs & Planning to explore ways to document, preserve, and celebrate the cultural heritage and diversity of Arlington. One of the resulting projects focused on the enclave in Clarendon once known as Little Saigon. The students conducted oral histories with members of the Vietnamese community who immigrated to Arlington during the 1970s and ‘80s, and those who shopped at or owned the many Vietnamese restaurants and businesses that existed in Clarendon during that time. The students also provided recommendations for increasing awareness about Little Saigon and recognizing the contributions of the Vietnamese community to Arlington.

Inspired by the students’ work, County staff and volunteers have continued to collaborate with community members, Virginia Tech professor Dr. Elizabeth Morton, and her students Judd Ullom and Carlin Tacey to organize today’s event honoring Clarendon’s Vietnamese heritage and to launch a Little Saigon Smartphone tour created by Judd Ullom.

County staff, local artists, students, and members of the region’s Vietnamese American community are continuing to explore other ways to commemorate and raise awareness about the contributions of Little Saigon to Arlington’s cultural heritage. Future goals include creating a permanent historic marker to honor this history.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”360″]https://youtu.be/oIEYDaUYHdA[/youtube]

 

For additional information, and to access the Little Saigon Smartphone tour, visit www.littlesaigonclarendon.com.

 

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