Contemporary contraptions at McLean's Project for the Arts

Melissa Burley, Geared Up/Patricia Leslie

 

How can anyone visit a modern art show and not come away astonished by what artists can create and make?

The newest exhibition at the McLean Community Center will leave viewers' eyes open wide.  It's called Contraptions:  Reflections on the Almost Functional, and they are.

Stephanie Williams, Alex, is priced at $2,500/Patricia Leslie

 

The brochure says the artists draw, make, sculpt, and assemble works which deal with "real, imagined, or implied" functionality.  I'll say.   Not all the pieces conjured up "functionality" for me.  Take Stephanie Williams' Alex, for example. Alex struck me as a gynecological model of a one-legged being, maybe a harnessed man? A harassed man ensnared by a wheelbarrow's bars? He begins to reach for assistance, for help with his (he is a "his," of that I am quite certain) long, skinny appendages. Perhaps, that is the message:  Men determine body decisions for women, so let's capture man, and we'll make body decisions for him.  I'll vote for that.

The "thing" is headless so thinking equipment, if it exists, may reside elsewhere on the structure. And what is that end product, please, the pink blob?

The artist, Rima Schulkind with her Say Cheese, priced at $2,500, and perfect for a camera shop/Patricia Leslie

 

 

A few steps away in the Ramp Gallery are Eric Celarier's Wasteland Series, old and new computer parts strung out on leather quilts, stitched together with leather ties.  I can just see them hanging on entrance walls at Apple, HP, and ASUS.  They are a visual history of a computer's parts, a tech landscape and available in various sizes. 

Eric Celarier with one of his Wasteland Series/Patricia Leslie

Mr. Celarier said some parts are quite old, going back several decades. Computers are not as new as one might think.  I can recall about 1985 when a colleague brought his new computer to work, after Christmas.  It was the size of a refrigerator.  (He always had to be the first kid on the block to have the newest of everything. I am certain a robot is driving him to work by now if he is not luxuriating on a sea on Mars.)

Eric Celarier, Wasteland Series XIV/Patricia Leslie

Meanwhile, in the Atrium Gallery are sculptures by Melissa Burley who has used recycled equipment, including bicycle chains, to show off her creations encased in lighted boxes. (I wonder how old Melissa is.  Anyone remember light boxes?)  Round and round they go, circles and wheels suggesting motion like our brain waves which never stop (are you sure?), trapped by our own limitations and constant repetitions.

For those dinner guests who insist on staying beyond the midnight hour, you can pull out Melissa Burley's Hot Seat/Patricia Leslie

 

You see what art can do!  Go and find out what the pieces say to you and please, write soon.

Nancy Sausser curated Contraptions, and other artists represented are Blake Hurt, Adam Hager, and Dymphna de Wild.  All Contraptions are for sale.

Scheduled talks and workshops at the McLean Community Center are:

Friday, Feb. 21, 7 - 9 p.m. "Waste in Contemporary Art" with Eric Celarier.  Free.

Saturday, Feb. 22, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Family Art Workshop:  "Multi-Media Mobiles" for ages 4 - 8. $10/family

Saturday, Feb. 22, 1 - 4 p.m. Workshop with Eric Celarier:  "Anatsui and Reuse Art" for ages 9 - 14. $10

What: Contraptions:  Reflections on the Almost Functional with more art in the galleries

When: Now through March 1, 2014, Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. - 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. - 12 a.m., and Sunday: 12 - 6 p.m. 

Where: McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101. For directions and a map, click here.

Admission: No charge

Parking:  Plentiful and free

For more information: 703-790-1953 or 703-790-0123

patricialesli@gmail.com

McLean art show is a holiday treat

 

Betty Ganley's Spring Diva captured first place at the McLean Art Society's December 2013 show.

For art lovers there are few things more enjoyable than visiting a new show and viewing paintings, accompanied by vino and hors d'oeuvres and talk with the artists.

And so it went last week at the McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean Community Center where a crowd showed up to see the McLean Art Society's new competition, 40 works selected by juror and artist Kurt Schwarz.

The grand prize winner was Betty Ganley's Spring Diva, which was not the first time Ms. Ganley has won a blue ribbon.  Indeed, her works have won several first, second, and honorable mentions in national and area competitions.

Her story is one which gives hope to new and/or struggling artists. 

Years ago when she was a part-time nurse who rose at 4 a.m. to get to work, Ms. Ganley began painting, a diversion from work and family responsibilities.  Fearful that the oils and materials stationed in her bedroom where she painted were too tempting for her young children, she turned to watercolor and worked in her kitchen. 

Watercolor is much easier to set up and take down, she explained. And she still paints in her kitchen.  In watercolor.

"I can't imagine retiring without something to do," she said at the McLean opening.  At Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring where she worked, she directed an employee art show where one surgeon was a glass blower and another, a deep sea photographer. 

For a contemporary show, few abstracts are found in the McLean display, but plentiful scenics and pleasant landscapes fill the gallery. The only unsettling piece is a self-portrait watercolor whose female frown stops you on the ramp walk, not only because of the unhappy stare directed at the viewer, but because of the vast difference from the other subjects. 

Carmen Uribe's Les Champs Elysees won second prize at the McLean Art Society's December 2013 show.

 

Judge Schwarz, whose oils hang in collections around the world and who teaches at the Art League in Alexandria and the Loudoun Academy of the Arts, said both Spring Diva and Les Champs Elysees by Carmen Uribe, which won second, "grabbed my attention immediately."  Diva has "beautiful use of rhythmic shapes, lost and found edges, and masterful control of the medium," while the contrasting colors in Les Champs help make it "a striking composition," according to program notes.

He said it was difficult to narrow choices to 40 for the show:  "I get rejected a lot myself and know what it feels like."

 

Two Goats by William Dunn won third place which Schwarz said he would "love to see hanging in my home."

Honorable mentions went to Hill Town by Carol Higgs, Harbor Colors by Virginia Luster, and Spirited Journey by Betty MacDonald.

Norma Anderson, Queen's Lace, did not win a prize but its beauty and detail drew attention.

Most of the paintings are for sale and provide a lovely change from the malls for holiday shoppers, and who would not welcome finding a new piece of art under the tree?

What: McLean Art Society's Members' Juried Show

When: Now through January 6, 2014, Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. - 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. - 12 a.m., and Sunday: 12 - 6 p.m.  (Closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.)

Where: McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101. For directions and a map, click here.

Admission: No charge

Parking:  Plentiful and free

For more information: 703-790-1953 or 703-790-0123

patricialesli@gmail.com