Visitors and artists mill around the studio for the opening of the Greater Reston Arts Center’s member exhibit. Photo by Reena Singh.
Local talent is on display in Reston for the next month.
Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) restarted its Artist Member Exhibition on July 17 to thank their members for supporting local art.
“We moved into this space in 2006,” said GRACE associate curator Erica Harrison. “I don’t think there was a member show after 2006.”
The exhibit will be in the studio until Aug. 23.
That evening, GRACE announced that the show would take place every other year.
“We wanted to reintroduce it as a continued commitment of the community,” said GRACE Board of Directors chairman Robert Gouldie. “It’s a part of who we are.”
He told the artists that the art community is the roots of GRACE.
“You’re part of our soul,” he said.
About 50 works of art were submitted. Juror Helen Frederick chose works that represented a range of mediums - including rust and graphite powder, as well as works that have not been seen at GRACE’s studio.
“I was pleased with the range of art,” said Harrison. “Some of those are breaking some boundaries. It’s really nice.”
Reston abstract artist Connie Slack has been involved with GRACE since the 1970s.
“I’ve been watching the organization grow, and I love being involved,” she said. “I think the show is wonderfully diverse and exciting. It’s really well, well done.”
Her painting “Smooth Jazz” was on display at the exhibit. Smudges of blue and purple and broad strokes of black and white melted bright red background. Slack said she liked color. Her outfit, also heavily red with other colors splashed all over, told that story before she did.
“I paint from my experiences and I paint intuitively,” she said. “I also listen to music while I paint. I was listening to smooth jazz, light jazz, when I painted it. It has elements of landscape.”
McLean artist Catherine Day had her prints featured on the cover of the exhibition pamphlet. Her work, a double piece featuring hands and crumpled sheets, told of a very personal story.
“My work always seems to be about memory and loss,” she said.
In 2012, her father died. She wanted to find a way to capture his presence with her love of photography.
“It struck me that the marks on the bed, the lines, were the visual traces of his absence,” she said. “I photographed his hand and my hand. I photographed his absence.
The photographs were printed on silk organza and hung so they fluttered away from the wall rather than in a frame.
“The people here are so wonderful,” said Day. “This area is just filled with people making art. It’s a very vibrant area.”
GRACE is located at 12001 Market Street in Reston and is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, visit www.restonarts.org.