Sally Kaufman Vanquished.
Reception Saturday, April 8 from 4–6pm
The Workhouse Arts Center announces the opening of the new exhibition, Irreplaceable: Paintings by Sally Kauffman. The exhibition is on view from March 25 through June 11, 2023, in the Workhouse’s McGuireWoods Gallery (W-16). There is a public exhibition reception Saturday, April 8, 2023, 4 – 6 PM.
Irreplaceable is an exhibit of abstract yet allusory paintings by DC area artist, Sally Kauffman. Kauffman works in series and is known for paintings depicting groups of people engaged in communal activities. In her most recent series, she turns her eye to the plight of endangered and extinct species. Her high contrast color palettes and adventurous brushwork are reminiscent of the abstract expressionistic movement of the 20th Century. Yet her goal to increase awareness of the species represented in her work calls to mind Romanticism, a late 18th century artistic and intellectual movement that promoted the power of the creativity and the arts to raise awareness and thus transform circumstance.
By memorializing the energy, diversity and beauty of birds and butterflies in flight, cats, turtles and fish, she honors their place in our ecosystem while drawing attention to their plight. She recognizes that some viewers may simply enjoy the beauty of the paintings and animals represented. There may be others that do not notice the plastic bags and ropes entangling the turtles that are painted to represent just one of the ways that humankind’s actions have impacted the endangered animals. Finally, others may enjoy the paintings and decide to dive deeper to discover that these extraordinary creatures are threatened or already extinct. Kauffman’s paintings remind us that art has the power to raise awareness and create change.
For more information about exhibits at the Workhouse Arts Center or artwork purchase inquiries, contact Audrey Miller audreymiller@workhousearts.org. Follow Workhouse Arts Center on Instagram at @workhousearts, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WorkhouseArts and Twitter at @Workhouse_Arts. The Workhouse Arts Center is open to the public Wednesdays – Saturdays from 11 am to 6 pm, and Sundays from noon to 5 pm. Free public parking is available. A map of campus can be found online here.
Sally Kaufman Carolina on my Mind.About Workhouse Arts Center
The Workhouse Arts Center, a project of the Workhouse Arts Foundation, helps to grow and support a vibrant arts center that offers engaging opportunities and inspiring experiences for all in visual and performing arts, education classes, historical perspective, community engagement and personal enrichment. The Workhouse is housed at a unique historical property—a 55-acre portion of the DC Correctional Complex’s former campus in Lorton, VA that dates back to 1910. After the complex’s closure in 2001, Fairfax County leadership and an adaptive reuse task force transformed the site into a community arts center where people could learn about, participate in, and be inspired by the region’s and nation’s best visual and performing arts talent, and come together for festivals and community building. Opened in 2008, the Workhouse Arts Center now curates and presents a dozen art exhibitions from local, regional, and national artists. It houses nearly 65 resident and associate artists who produce 70-plus annual shows, presents 300 performing arts events and offers over 300 education classes, engaging nearly 100,000 people annually.
