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June 19, 2009

GRACE Celebrates 35 Years

By Leslie Perales Observer Staff Writer

The Greater Reston Arts Center will celebrate 35 years of providing art to the community with its juried exhibit "Faraway Nearby," opening Thursday. The exhibit features oil and acrylic paintings, sculpture, photography, collage and drawings.

The exhibit brings artists from GRACE's past together with artists who are exhibiting at the gallery for the first time, said Joanne Bauer, exhibitions director. Dale Lanzone, president of International Public Art Marlborogh's Chelsea Gallery in New York, juried the exhibit. Bauer said it is fitting that he chose artists who are important to GRACE's history as well as new artists to take part in the exhibit.

"We don't choose it, it comes to us," Bauer said, of the pieces chosen by Lanzone. "He chose just individual artists who he felt were working town their own particular vein." She said Lanzone chose work that related well to GRACE's history even though he juried the show blindly. The exhibit includes artwork by 16 artists from both faraway and nearby.

Reston resident Brenda Belfield was one of the original founders of GRACE, and her collage on panel called "China Revisited" is featured in the exhibit. Monica B. Stroik, whose pieces "Intrepid Indulgence" and "Symbiosis" are included in the exhibit, had work on display in the very first exhibit that opened in GRACE's current gallery.

Melanie Newlon is a new artist to GRACE and has exhibited throughout the Washington, D.C. region. She refers to her work as digital paintings where the sacred and mundane overlap on canvas and two pieces will be featured in "Faraway Nearby." Artist John Harris, from Connecticut, has participated in the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival and also has two pieces in the exhibit.

Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, whose "Sleeping Tree" exhibit took up GRACE's entire gallery earlier this fall, will have three pieces of artwork included in "Faraway Nearby." The pieces, titled "Rainbow" and "Light" were created with ash, Indian yellow gamboges, pigment, wool, tree resin, paper, silver leaf and other materials. Turner-Yamamoto's work focuses on the relationship and connections between man and nature while utilizing natural materials.

Vienna resident Michael J. Ohgren is also exhibiting at GRACE for the first time. His sculpture, "Choices," is an 8-foot long wooden drawer filled with plaid shirts, also made of wood. The sculpture depicts the everyday dilemma of choosing what to wear. Bauer said it is also a "meditation on visual logic" because it mixes the comfortable visual of a flannel shirt with the texture of the wooden sculpture.

Bauer said GRACE has been able to provide art experiences to the community during the past 35 years by partnering with other community groups, having great volunteers and board members and supportive local residents. "It's fantastic that here we can showcase these artists and we live in a community that supports the arts in all ways," she said. She said the diverse spirit of Reston helps GRACE continue to support local artists even during difficult economic times.

"Faraway Nearby" opens Thursday and runs through July 31. An opening reception and awards presentation will be held Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. with many of the contributing artists in attendance. Additionally an artists' gallery talk will be held on June 25 and artists will discuss issues in contemporary art, as well as the importance of nonprofit arts centers. "It's going to be an opportunity to take a look at what we've done over the last 35 years," Bauer said. The exhibit is sponsored by Virginia Commerce Bank. Visit RestonArts.org.