Courtesy of Schlesinger Arts Center..
Opening: Saturday, October 19 from 2pm to 4pm
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Forum Gallery
Chill Out: Paintings by Sally Kauffman
“My paintings exist in the space between abstraction and figuration where amorphous shapes and fluid color reflect my instinctive response to the world around me.”
Kauffman is best known for her abstract yet allusory large-scale paintings that celebrate and exude pleasure. Her gestural brushwork and sensual application of paint reference to the figure. Kauffman draws on personal experiences as a source for her images; Friday Jazz in the Garden concerts at the NGA and recent strolls through Porto provide the setting for the series Chill Out. Kauffman captures moments in snapshots and digitally manipulates the composition and intensity of color. The dense, saturated images become the source for the paintings. Almost human scale figures painted in saturated, flowing oil color on large format canvas entice the viewer to engage in their own narrative.
Courtesy of Schlesinger Arts Center.Passage Gallery
Winter Light: Pastels by Jean Hirons
Jean Hirons has spent 20 years specializing in the art of soft pastel. Jean’s passion is for the landscape, particularly buildings in the landscape. She began by painting New England houses and rural farms. Since 2015, she has focused on various areas of Washington, DC: Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Chinatown, and Dupont Circle. She finds this subject matter both challenging and satisfying. Composition is always the starting point in any of her paintings and she often looks for abstract shapes. For color, she may use what she sees but, more often, uses color from her imagination. She wants color to be real enough, but not necessarily what was there! Jean also loves complex, broken color and finds pastel to be a perfect medium for achieving this effect.
The Passage Gallery exhibit, Winter Light displays 6 pastels capturing the moments of one day in winter on the C&O Canal in Washington DC.
Courtesy of Schlesinger Arts Center.Margaret W. & Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery
Dreams of the Underground: Paintings by Cathy Abramson
Cathy Abramson’s oil paintings investigate the stories of the city. These representational paintings examine the emotional subtext of change; the connections or estrangement of people in transitional neighborhoods. She sees moments of poetry in the ordinary. Although she paints particular people and scenes, these paintings about daily life in Washington, DC resonate with everyone. Cathy spent two years investigating and painting the neighborhood and people around Kennedy Street, NW. She recorded scenes that are about recent history, change, nostalgia and social struggle; the joys and frustrations of contemporary urban life.
Courtesy of Schlesinger Arts Center.Atrium of Schlesinger Art Center
Conduit A Site Specific Installation by Veronica Szalus
“I produce site-specific installations that incorporate the influence of my study in industrial design and deep interest in creating environmental pieces that explore the phenomenon of physical and metaphysical transition.
By manipulating material that is often fragile, delicately balanced, and frequently ethereal and porous, I address nuanced shifts of elemental forms and the impact of the environment upon them, and invite the viewer to reflect upon the temporary conditions that frame our lives.”
Gallery Hours:
- Monday – Friday: 10am to 4pm
Schlesinger Arts Center is located is located at 4915 E. Campus Drive, Alexandria, VA. For additional information about art shows and concert hall events, call the Schlesinger Center at 703.845.6156.
