Nam Le, Evanescence

Nam Le, Fibonacci Wannabe II

Nam Le, Same, Same but Different, 2011

Nam Le, Fibonacci Wannabe I

Nam Le, Torqued, 2011

Nam Le, Stumped, 2011

December 2011

Cycles of Life

Nam Le reflects on the fragility of life and how short our time is on earth. Many things in nature adhere to a particular rhythm or cycle. If a cycle is considered to be an occurrence or a series of occurrences, one in which certain events or phenomena repeat themselves in the same order or at the same intervals, then cycles exist in many forms – be it chronological as with seasonal changes or something more tangible like the spiral of a nautilus shell, rings of a tree or the formation of honeycombs.

Nam Le received his B.A. in studio art at the University of Maryland in 2011. He sculpts objects that focus on the repetitive, rotational or angular in order to explore the mysticism of cycles. The goal is to create forms as beautiful as what surrounds us—naturally occurring wonders.

December 2011

Head Wound

In titling this exhibition Head Wound, Edward Purcell reveals a number of sources and influences. The format of the drawings recalls conventions of Neoclassical portraiture as well as illustration techniques developed in early medical texts. The title itself, deliberately encourages the viewer to think about the relationship between the words wound (an injury) and wound (from the verb to wind). In developing the images he worked from a contoured shape of the human head and played with the idea of wounding and winding bandages with each profile showing a different wound with a bandage wound around the head to cover it.

Purcell studied studio art and art history at Virginia Commonwealth University and completed his M.A. in art history in 2005 at the University of Virginia, focusing on medieval sculpture. His work in a variety of two and three-dimensional media has been exhibited at the Virginia Museum in Richmond as well as in galleries in Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Santa Fe. Currently, he serves on the art history faculty of both the College of Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia Community College. He is a long-time member of the Arts Club of Washington, where he chairs the Marfield Prize Competition, the national award for arts writing.

December 2011

All Idols Fall 

Amy’s work is a tribute to craft and the long human tradition of making. She is interested in exploring the cultural lines between functional items and decoration while revisiting these themes in the context of contemporary art. Found objects, second-hand fabrics, celebratory ephemera, repetition and the amassing of materials and mark-making are her primary vehicles for expression. Referencing the visual vocabulary within her 3D works have acted as a way to inform and ground the abstract compositions of her 2D work. Amy’s primary goal is to evoke imagery of rituals, tradition and ceremony while maintaining a contemporary aesthetic.

Amy Boone-McCreesh received her B.F.A. from the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in 2007 and her MFA in Painting from Towson University in 2010. She has had exhibitions across the Mid-Atlantic in Baltimore, Wilmington DE, Fairfax VA, Lancaster PA, and Brooklyn, NY.

Visit her website at www.amyboonemccreesh.com.

November 2011

The First Supper

A collaboration between Michelle Gomez and Jonathan Wille, The First Supper is both an installation and three performances that deals with cultural and identity issues by looking at the idea of a non-traditional family. During the performances, viewers witness the artists enacting dysfunction at a family dinner, exploring the notion of roles and performance particular to each family member. The father figure, transformed into a character through generalized stereotypes acts as the main character of the narrative. As three hour performances, viewers are invited to come and go as they please, offering an alternative to a more common audience-performer dynamic. Like a theater set, between performances the vibrant and chaotic dining room installation echoes of the absence of the performers, emphasizing the physical presence of the viewer and their own performative roles as they enter the space.

Min Enghauser, Fish Creek Wash, Number Two

Min Enghauser, Smoke tree, Cloud; Fish Creek Wash

Min Enghauser, Rock, Mine Wash, Number Eleven

Min Enghauser, Creosote at Dawn, Little Blair Valley

Min Enghauser, Wash Bottom, Number One

Min Enghauser, Untitled

November 2011

Desert Dwell

Min Enghauser began making photographs as a child; exploring, learning, and becoming aware through photography. For Enghauser, photographs, and the act of making them, are glimpses of timeless spirits, of pure and unbiased realities of nature and time. Enghauser’s exhbit Desert Dwell are all images from the Anza-Borrego Desert where she found that there is a coming together of the essence of the inhabitants and the spirit of place. Plant with rock, rock with sky, sky with mountain. These inhabitants speak to each other without words and at their core is the spirit of the other. Enghauser’s photographs are the instruments through which she discovers and uncovers the truth of this slowly changing landscape of unity, cohesion, beauty, mystery and fate.

Enghauser graduated with a B.F.A. in 1992 from Shepherd College in West Virginia. She has since exhibited in multiple group shows and solo shows in the DC Metro area. Enghauser has been an artist at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria since 2006.

Visit Enghauser’s website at www.minenghauser.com.

Watch the artist interview here.