Pat Goslee, Charisma, 2007

John Blee, Voix du verger

Tom Wolff, Horses, 2009

February 2011

Artists’ Advisory Committee Show

February’s exhibition featured work by Hillyer’s Advisory Committee members. The Committee is comprised of well-known artists from the Washington, DC area and is primarily responsible for selecting artists for Hillyer’s exhibitions. Committee members are also very involved in our membership community, often mediating Members’ Critiques and curating Members’ Shows. Several Committee members have agreed to show their own work this month, lending their already generous support to the membership program and to Hillyer Art Space as a whole. Thank you to Billy Colbert, John Blee, Tom Wolff, Manon Cleary, Pat Goslee, Barbara Liotta, Judy Southerland, and Foon Sham for making this Members’ Show possible. Sales from this show will help support Hillyer Art Space in 2011.

January 2011

Opposing Planes

Savannah, Georgia is built around a series of 21 squares—landscaped areas usually a city block in size, or even larger, with a statue, fountain or some other architectural element in the center. Each of the different squares is dedicated to a notable historical figure. Throughout her college years and thereafter Leah Appel has documented many of these unique areas, motivated by the sense that the Spanish moss, the palm trees and the ubiquitous yet unusual organic and architectural elements in these parks reflect what she feels is the real Savannah. The images are shot with a Holga camera, darkroom printed, then toned with an antique process called Berg printing to give them the earth colors that embody both the beauty and grittiness of the real South.

Visit Appel’s website at www.leahappelphotography.com.

January 2011

Critical Balalnce: Essential Small Quantities, Harmful in Excess

For her show at Hillyer Art Space, Bishop created a large-scale installation work complemented by a new series of sculptures that serve as a continued examination of form and space within her art practice. One of Bishop’s key interests with this exhibition was to create a psychological space that directly focuses on human response and feeling. In this case she focuses on the importance of balance by piling and dispersing several tons of salt throughout the gallery. A full-color catalog accompanies the exhibition in which Bishop shares ideas and concepts behind her work.

Visit Bishop’s website at www.kyanbishop.com.

Craig Kraft, detail of Unintentional Drawing #1, 2009

Ellyn Weiss, seascape encaustics

January 2011

Dispersed

January’s show featured the work of Craig Kraft, Lauren Kotkin, and Ellyn Weiss. Utilizing his “found” stream of consciousness sketches as inspiration, Kraft creates neon sculptures designed to remind his audience of the maze of thoughts and emotions that remain unnoticed and unappreciated in the human mind. Kotkin’s paper cut-out arrangements mime the patterns of Prague’s mosaic sidewalks, in the process exploring and reassembling her personal emotions, which she feels are analogues for broken, shifted, and reshaped mosaics. Weiss’ vision is to create art which bypasses the need for explanation and mediation and which speaks directly to the heart. The energy of her pieces bespeaks a furious creative process. Unifying the aesthetically dissimilar styles of these artists is an appreciation for the intensity and unpredictability of the human mind and for its rapidly shifting thoughts and emotions.

This show was curated by Barbara Liotta, a Hillyer Art Space Artists’ Advisory Committee member and a sculptor living in Washington, DC.