Foundry Gallery: "A Small Hope"

IN COOPERATION WITH
THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
AT THE KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OFFICE
THE FOUNDRY GALLERY PRESENTS:

A SMALL HOPE

EXHIBIT DATES: WED, AUG 01 - SUN, SEPT 02, 2012
OPENING RECEPTION: FRI, AUG 03, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
LOCATION: 1314 18TH STREET, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036
REGULAR HOURS: WED - FRI 1:00 - 7:00 PM, SAT - SUN, NOON - 6:00 PM

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

Lukeman Ahmad, a Kurdish, self-taught artist portrays in his works a strong sense of Kurdish spirit and identity despite his people are with "no country" and "no boarders". His vivid colors and moving shapes artistically express his profound, personal connection to the Kurdish land and its people, with a history layered with tragedy, perseverance and aspirations. Ahmad's imagination runs free as his style and paintings emphatically portray a swinging graceful dancer painted in colorful fluid shapes alongside a magical horse against a vast white background of nature. His works picture a proud cultural heritage that provides viewers a deeper understanding of the Kurdish people.

In contrast, Lukman paints the heaviness of a grief stricken woman recently widowed. She is cloaked in black and sits in front of a yellow backdrop - reflecting on the desert sands where her loved ones have said goodbye to their cherished land. Lukman's emotional range of work provides insight into the deeper meaning of Kurdish life.

Lukman Ahmad came to the United States in 2010 as a refugee. He has coped with the difficulties of adapting, learning a new language, earning a living and finding his place in the U.S. as an artist. He is a member of the Arlington Arts Gallery.

The Foundry Gallery in Washington, DC in cooperation with the Department of Culture and Community at the Kurdistan Regional Government Office in Washington, DC will present gues artists, Lukman Ahmad's solo show: "A Small Hope" during the month of August. The opening reception will be held Friday, August 3 from 6PM to 8PM and the exhibit is open to the public from August 1, 2012 through September 2, 2012.

Press is invited to attend the public opening and opportunities for private comment with Lukman Ahmad. To request a meeting opportunity, please contact: Najat Abdullah at 202-821-1852 or email najat.abdullah@krg.org.

AUGUST ALL MEMBER EXHIBIT

In addition to the exhibit in the main Gallery, Foundry's Gallery II features member artists exhibiting work that has not been shown before at the Foundry. For an exciting array of work that changes monthly and is exhibited by a unique group of talented artists, please be sure to regularly visit the Foundry Gallery. All work is for sale. For more information about the Foundry artists, please visit www.foundrygallery.org.

VISIT THE FOUNDRY VIA OR VIRTUAL GALLERY

The Foundry Gallery has an on-line Virtual Gallery featuring several of our member's artwork. The tour was developed to promote its new Art Lease/Purchase Program. The program is designed to reach out to organizations or individuals who are looking to complement their environment with artwork that expresses their personal style or image. Artwork shown on the Virtual Gallery is currently available to lease, lease to purchase, or purchase outright through the Foundry Gallery. Detail information about each piece is available by clicking on the camera icon next to the artwork. More information on the artists may be found by clicking on the "!" next to the artwork.

To lease and/or purchase artwork, please contact the Foundry Gallery directly. Consultation services are also available where one of our representatives will work directly with you or your committee to assist in the selection process (hourly fees apply). Our contact information can be found by clicking on the contact icon in the main menu bar at the bottom of the Virtual Gallery screen.

To visit the Virtual Gallery, click on the image below, or copy the following link to your browser: http://www.panoramastreet.com/live/Demos/foundry%20gallery%204-2012/. Feel free to share our Virtual Gallery with friends, family and colleagues.

We always welcome visitors to our physical location at 1314 18th Street, NW, WDC 20036. Our website has an ongoing schedule of monthly solo shows, group exhibits and opening receptions.

Look for us on Facebook and Twitter!

Share our Virtual Gallery on your mobile device!

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW MEMBERS!
(Visit our website for artist application and detail membership information.)

Studio Gallery Group Summer Show: Altered States

Devin Joyce, one of Studio Gallery's summer interns, is a currently pursuing a degree in photography at George Mason University.  "Altered States" runs until August 11th. The First Friday reception is August 3rd from 6:30pm-8:30pm
 

At first glance, it may feel like chaos. Different styles, mediums, and every color imaginable is displayed on the walls of the Studio Gallery this month...but that is the best part of a group show. Altered States does not serve as a superficial title, it is the essence of the show.

Each piece focuses on what “Altered States” mean to the individual artist, but you can't help but feel yourself transform as your eyes move from one piece to the next. Each piece expresses a different emotion or mood that the viewer must react to.

Markowski's “Spring Thaw” is built layer upon layer of metallic and colorful geometrical shapes. With space carved out, it allows you to view the delicacy in which they are placed upon each other. As you circle the piece, you feel as if it is constantly morphing, as you view something new with every turn.

As I moved to the next piece, I was enamored with Suzanne Yurdin's “Roses in the Rain”. I have much respect for painters as a whole, but a soft spot for those who do not try to hide the process, mistakes, and layers of paint the canvas has seen. I view it as a vulnerability, showing a little piece of the artist themselves. Yurdin's combination of light airy creams and whites with blood red blend beautifully together. The drip of paint here or the odd pencil mark there gives it life.

These two pieces have nothing in common, from medium to interpretation of altered states, but only one similarity: a strong representation of each artist. The show presents an opportunity to meet the artists of Studio Gallery. It may not be on a personal level, but their work speaks for them in a way words can not.

Foundry Gallery: "Call and Response"

CALL AND RESPONSE

PRESENTED BY:
THE ARTISTS OF THE ABSTRACT COLLECTIVE

EXHIBIT DATES: WED, JULY 04 - SUN, JULY 29, 2012
OPENING RECEPTION: FRI, JULY 06, 2012, 6:00 - 8:00PM
LOCATION: 1314 18TH STREET, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036
REGULAR HOURS: WED - FRI, 1:00 - 7:00 PM, SAT & SUN NOON - 6:00 PM

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

An eclectic group of artists, including Foundry Gallery members and guest artists, present a diverse collection of bold, graphic paintings that combine organic elements and urban sensibilities.

The distinctive use of color, pattern and light in each work comes together to create an interactive, visual fusion that mimics the energy of improvised jazz music. Like musical riffs, the paintings call and respond to each other, producing a rhythmic harmony that is both joyful and dark.

The Artists of the Abstract Collective are: Ana Elisa Benavent*, Lisa Bohrer, Maruka Carvaial*, Ann Crain, Marie Crow, Denise Dittmar, Octavia Frazier, M. Jane Johnson, Katie Joselow, Cecilia Kalish, Paula Lantz and Meg MacKenzie (*Foundry Gallery member).

JULY ALL MEMBER EXHIBIT

In addition to the Artists of the Abstract Collective exhibit in the main Gallery, Foundry Gallery II features member artists exhibiting work that has not been shown before at the Foundry. For an exciting array of work that changes monthly and is exhibited by a unique group of talented artists, please be sure to regularly visit the Foundry Gallery. All work is for sale. For more information about the Foundry artists, please visit www.foundrygallery.org.

VISIT THE FOUNDRY VIA OUR VIRTUAL GALLERY

The Foundry Gallery has an on-line Virtual Gallery featuring several of our member's artwork. The tour was developed to promote its new Art Lease/Purchase Program. The program is designed to reach out to organizations or individuals who are looking to complement their environment with artwork that expresses their personal style or image. Artwork shown on the Virtual Gallery is currently available to lease, lease to purchase, or purchase outright through the Foundry Gallery. Detail information about each piece is available by clicking on the camera icon next to the artwork. More information on the artist may be found by clicking on the "!" next to the artwork.

To lease and/or purchase artwork, please contact the Foundry Gallery directly, Consultation services are also available where one of our representatives will work directly with you or your committee to assist in the selection process (hourly fees apply). Our contact information can be found by clicking on the contact icon in the main menu bar at the bottom of the Virtual Gallery screen.

To visit the Virtual Gallery, click on the image below, or copy the following link to your browser: http://www.panoramastreet.com/live/Demos/foundry%20gallery%204-2012/. Feel free to share our Virtual Gallery with friends, family and colleagues.

We always welcome visitors to our physical location at 1314 18th Street, NW, WDC 20036. Our website has an ongoing schedule of monthly solo shows, group exhibits and opening receptions.

Look for us on Facebook and Twitter!
Share our Virtual Gallery on your mobile device!

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW MEMBERS!
(Visit out website for artists application and detail membership information.)

Rosana Azar: Twenty-Two Years Celebrating the Arts

A retrospective exhibition

Opening Reception:  Friday, June 22  6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Embassy of Argentina

Currently on exhibition at the Embassy of Argentina is a retrospective of Rosana Azar's 22 years as a painter in Washington, DC.  The retrospective emphasizes three stages of Azar's work. In the first stage, Azar begins her journey as a DC painter in her "Surrealist Dreams" phase.  Her painting process was dream-like; she scribbled until an image came alive through colors. The second phase is "New Dimensions."  These smaller-scale paintings often morph together into one larger work of art.  Azar connects many of these smaller paintings creating a large scale work of art.  The final and ongoing phase of Azar's work is her "Evolutions of Dreams" phase.  Azar fills canvases with texture, utilizing different mediums on white canvas, then places layers of translucent paint until an image appears.  Her images often appear spontaneously.  Azar creates images that cross cultural boundaries through her use of colors and textures, speaking to a place deep within viewer's souls.

The Embassy of Argentina was recently renovated.  It is a great time for everyone to see the new Embassy and experience the wonderful art of Rosana Azar.

Rosana Azar: Twenty-Two Years Celebrating the Arts is on exhibition through July 16 at the Embassy of Argentina located at 1600 New Hampshire Ave NW near Dupont Circle.  The retrospective is open from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for public viewing.  The Opening Reception will take place Friday, June 22 6:30-8:00 p.m. 

Linda Touby: New Paintings

presented by Alex Gallery

Linda Touby's newest paintings from the Pigeon Series is currently on display at the Alex Gallery.  Touby's paintings evoke a sense of calming tranquility in which she masters a looser brushstroke paired with a soothing color palatte.  The Pigeon Series is inspired by Picasso's images of pigeons from Cannes in the late 1950s.  Just as Picasso's  The Pigeons nods to his predecessors, Touby similarly acknowledges her inspirations, yet pushes forward with more active brushstrokes and texture.  Her unique mixture of beeswax and oil painting create a lush luminous canvas rousing emotions of the rich sun found in Cannes.  Linda Touby: New Paintings is on view just in time for the emerging summer season!

Pigeons #82, 2011

Linda Touby: New Paintings will only be on display until the end of July at Alex Gallery.  The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11a.m.-5p.m.

CAROL RUBIN: A Review by Devin Joyce

Carol Rubin's show "Scapes and Escapes" runs until June 16th. Her artist's reception is this Saturday June 9th, from 4 - 6 PM. The exhibition and the reception are open to the public.

Day dreaming of beaches and pining for a vacation are all too common as summer greets us with rising temperatures and busy schedules. It is a tempting thought to abandon responsibilities for a day or just close your eyes for a moment to yourself. Or in my case, to explore Carol Rubin's current show: Scapes and Escapes. As the title suggests, it truly is an escape from the cloudy day hovering above me or a stressful to do list.

The walls are covered in a variety of landscapes that include city, coast, and 'mind-scapes'.

Rubin builds layers upon deteriorating layer in Orange Crush and City on a Hill, as you can almost feel as the pieces fracture and break away off in the distance. Rubin plays with the colors in a way that creates confusion between fore and background. These harsh urban pieces oppose the fluid, calming movement in her Palms and Tide pieces. The repetitive stripes of color serve to simplify the ocean tides but still create a recognizable coastline. Her series of Palm trees are an abstract perception of the patterns in the sky created by the leaves. Rubin's tracts of color through the thick layers of white show how light dances through the leaves on a sunny day.


One piece that stands apart from the recognizable scapes is Angle of Repose. This piece is titled after the architectural phrase which means, “ the angle where everything relaxes”. As Rubin explained the piece to me, it was very clear that is was an internal experience. These pieces on the canvas fit within each other and made sense to her. As a viewer, it stands out from the rest of the show because I was not looking for familiar architecture or elements of nature, but trying to explore it from Rubin's perspective.

Rubin discusses the role of empathy through her work, she explained that her paintings are an emotional experience. This show is infused with the seen and the imagined, the cool breeze and noises of the city, and an escape on every wall. Whether that may be a far away place or Carol's mind, they are all beautifully done.

Micheline Klagsbrun's "TREE FEVER"

This review of Studio Gallery's current solo show was written by new Studio Gallery intern, Lily Sehn. "Tree Fever" is on view now through June 16th. The Artist's Reception is June 9th from 4 - 6.

The concept of transformation transcends all other aspects of human difference. Change, and various emotions that result from our experiences with it, is the only thing that is predictable. Micheline's new series of mixed media paintings explores transformation and metamorphosis through works that draw from the literary sources of Ovid's Metamorphoses and the poetry of Dylan Thomas.

Three large canvasses interpret narrative scenes from the original Greek tale, and it is these three works that introduce the conceptual framework of the entire show. Daphne exists simultaneously as nymph and tree; Micheline has captured her in the moment of transformation where human movement and floral growth are intertwined and ultimately inseparable. The large, fluid areas of color and carefully articulated line further emphasizes the transformation happening in front of our eyes.

Micheline's interest in trees, and in Daphne's flowing hair is apparent in many of the works on display. At the end of Ovid's poem, it is Daphne's hair (in the form of the transformed Laurel leaf) that Apollo claims for his crown and symbol of victory, but unlike the leaves plucked from the tree that eventually fade away and die, Daphne's existence is eternal. The drawings on vellum, titled with lines from Dylan Thomas' poetry, seem to be inspired by this sense of perseverance and continuous transformation that Micheline's Daphne possesses. (Unlike Ovid's Daphne, who merely fades into a silent existence). These works are not directly related to the narrative of Metamorphoses but draw on the imagery of arboreal growth and personal transformation. “The Elm and the Grapevine Celebrate Their Thousandth Wedding Anniversary” portrays figures that are both human and vine, and which express to the viewer a sense of emotional attachment that is not often paired with plant growth. The figure in “...under the green laid veil...” remains human while becoming inseparable from the blanket of leaves that engulfs her.

Tree Fever draws together the worlds of literature and art in an exquisite pairing of the senses, and serves as a reminder of our own states of metamorphosis.

To learn more about Studio Gallery, the current exhibitions, or Micheline Klagsbrun, please visit www.studiogallerydc.com