"Suddenly, She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer" Charcoal and Conte on Provided Clay Vessel 2014 by F. Lennox Campello |
Alchemical Vessels brings together 125 local artists and 20 invited curators for a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. Each artist will transform a simple ceramic bowl by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium, drawing inspiration from the bowl as a place of holding, open community, sacred space, and even the alchemical vessel. The show is an amazing grouping of Who's Who in the DMV art scene.
The ceramic bowl was selected as the fundamental element of the exhibition to symbolize creating a space where healing can take place—an idea at the heart of Smith Center's work and mission. Metaphorically speaking, Smith Center—the space and the work we do within our walls—resembles an alchemical vessel. People bring their everyday burdens, fears, and pains to us, and in this place of holding, we help transform those toxic elements into hope, light, wisdom and strength.
The Alchemical Vessels exhibition will open at the
Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery on April 4th and run through May 16th,
2014, with the opening reception on Friday, April 4th, 7-9pm. The Alchemical Vessels Benefit will take
place on Friday,
May 2nd, with doors opening at 7pm. With a $125 Benefit-Vessel Contribution, guests will be
admitted to the event and will select one of the 125 works on display to add to
their own collections.
For more
information about the Alchemical Vessels 2014 Benefit, please visit www.smithcenter.org/benefit.
Artists: Eames Armstrong, Sardar Aziz, Karen
Baer, Beth Baldwin, Michele Banks, Joseph Barbaccia, Carolyn Becker, Jessica
Beels, Joan Belmar, Lori Anne Boocks, Anne Bouie, Amy Braden, Julia Brown,
Karen O. Brown, Larry Brown, Amanda Burnham, Lenny Campello, Shanthi
Chandrasekar, Mei Mei Chang, Peter Charles, Asma Chaudhary, Travis Childers,
Eunmee Chung, Wesley Clark, Michael Corigliano, Sheila Crider, Candy Cummings,
Anna U. Davis, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Tamara De Silva, Elsabe Dixon, Joel
D'Orazio, David D'Orio, Chelsea S. Dobert-Kehn, Thomas Drymon, Nekisha Durrett,
Victor Ekpuk, Laura Elkins, Dana Ellyn, Erica Benay Fallin, Felisa Federman,
Jeremy Flick, Suzi Fox, Barbara Frank, Nancy Frankel, Shaunté Gates, Dawn
Gavin, Bita Ghavami, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Melissa Glasser, Janis
Goodman, Pat Goslee, Sherill Anne Gross, John Grunwell, Nelson Gutierrez,
Kristen Hayes, Eve Hennessa, Sean Hennessey, Linda Hesh, Matt Hollis, Leslie
Holt, Jessica Hopkins, Karen Hubacher, Monica Jahan Bose, Barbara Johnson,
Wayson R. Jones, J'Nell Jordan, Mila Kagan, Sumita Kim, Joan Konkel, Yar
Koporulin, Walter Kravitz, Kate Kretz, Randall Lear, Heather Levy, Yue Li,
Nathan Loda, Armando Lopez-Bircann, Laurel Lukaszewski, James Mahoney, J.J.
McCracken, Donald McCray, Jayme Mclellen, Tendani Mpulubusi El, Komelia Okim,
Amie Oliver, Luis Peralta, Michael Platt, Maryanne Pollock, Lynn Putney,
Maria-Lana Queen, Beverly Ress, Kim Reyes, Glenn Richardson, Marie Ringwald,
Amber Robles-Gordon, Pam Rogers, Lisa Rosenstein, Nicole Salimbene, Samantha
Sethi, Matt Sesow, Amy Sherald, Shahin Shikhaliyev, Ellen Sinel, Casey Snyder,
Susan Stacks, Dafna Steinberg, Jennifer Strunge, Lynn Sures, Lynn Sylvester,
Ira Tattelman, Christine Buckton Tilman, Erwin Timmers, Ben Tolman, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Laurie Tylec, Michael Verdon, Jodi Walsh, Jenny
Walton, Ellyn Weiss, Stephanie Williams, Audrey Wilson, Sharon Wolpoff, and
Carmen C. Wong.
Curators:
Peggy Cooper
Cafritz, Educator, Philanthropist and Founder of D.C.'s Duke Ellington School
for the Arts | Jarvis DuBois, Independent Curator and Principal at J. DuBois
Arts | Monica Jahan Bose, Artist and Activist | Anne L'Ecuyer, Arts Management
Faculty at American University | Camille Mosley-Pasley, Photographer and Principal
at Pasley Place Photography | B.G. Muhn, Professor of Art, Georgetown
University | Michael O'Sullivan, Art Critic for The Washington Post | Dr.
Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., NIH Physician, Fine Art Collector and; Past Board
Chair, Washington Project for the Arts | Michael Platt, Artist and Professor at
Howard University | Jennifer Riddell, Writer and Interpretive Projects Manager
at the National Gallery of Art | Adah Rose, Principal at Adah Rose Gallery |
Laura Roulet, Independent Curator and Writer | Molly Ruppert, Artist and
Gallery Director at the Warehouse Theater | Terry Scott, Cultural Organizer and
Independent Curator | Judy J. Sherman, Art Consultant and Principal at j. fine
art | Thomas Stanley, Professor at George Mason University | Nuzhat Sultan,
Independent Curator | Tim Tate, Artist and Co-Director of Washington GlassSchool | R.L. Tillman, Artist, Teacher and Curator | Dolly Vehlow, Fine Art
Collector and Principal at Gallery O on H
Planning
Committee: Helen
Frederick, Deborah Lesser, Wendy Miller, PhD, Kim Schelling, Timothy Schelling,
and Ellyn Weiss.