Twenty five years ago Judy
Greenberg and Jack Rasmussen teamed up to bring the highest quality
contemporary art found in the Washington Metro region to galleries and resident
artist studios located behind a strip mall in Rockville, Maryland. Rockville Arts Place (RAP) was born. Visitors
encountered compelling exhibitions that reflected the vibrant community of
artists living and working in the area. Offering arts education, studio and
exhibition spaces, RAP became an important addition to the cultural climate of
the Rockville community.
Now
renamed VisArts and housed in a glass walled building on three floors in
Rockville Town Square, the tradition of excellence in the arts continues.
VisArts presents Review <-> Renew co-curated
by Judy A. Greenberg (Director of the Kreeger Museum) and Jack Rasmussen
(Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts
Center) in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of VisArts. This group
exhibition brings together the renowned artists who brought critical regional
success to the fledgling organization, Rockville Arts Place (RAP). The artists
selected for the exhibition all exhibited at RAP while Greenberg was President
of the Board and Rasmussen was Executive Director.
In the Kaplan Gallery, paintings by Lisa Brotman, Manon Cleary,
Sam Gilliam, Tom Green, Margarida Kendall Hull, and Joe Shannon are on display.
Early and more recent works by the artists are exhibited alongside Paul
Feinberg’s photographs of the artists early and late in their careers. The
paintings and photographs are accompanied by interviews with the artists
conducted by Feinberg.
In the
Common Ground Gallery, Review <-> Renew features more outstanding artists important to the
history of VisArts. Margaret Boozer, Robert Devers, Tim Tate, and Mindy Weisel,
working in glass and clay, have received wide acclaim for their exquisite sense
of material and rich, potent forms. They continue to push the boundaries of
ceramic and glass traditions with astonishing intelligence.
Review
<-> Renew offers
a brilliant sample of the artists who helped shape the history of VisArts and
the region’s artistic excellence. Their work has found its way into
important collections, museums and exhibitions around the world. Rasmussen’s
and Greenberg’s choice of artists and art, past and present, embodies the idea that the practice of
making art, particularly art of the highest quality, is a process of patient
accumulations and provocations over time. The resilience of VisArts as a non-profit art
center is due in large part to its long list of exhibiting and resident
artists. This celebratory exhibition acknowledges the past and looks forward
with renewed vigor and relevance.
Review
<-> Renew will be on view in the Kaplan Gallery and Common Ground Gallery at VisArts
from Sunday, October 28 – Saturday, December 29. The public is invited
to attend a free Opening Reception
on Friday, November 9 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
VisArts is located three blocks from
the Rockville Metro station at 155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD. Gallery Hours
are Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on Saturday and
Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please visit www.visartscenter.org,or
call 301-315-8200. Admission
is always free.
ABOUT
THE ARTISTS:
Manon Cleary (b. 1942 – d. 2012) Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Manon
Cleary earned her MFA from Temple University, spending her first year in Rome,
Italy. There, she studied the work of old masters, an experience to which she
credited her becoming a figurative artist. In 1970, she moved to Washington,
D.C., and began a teaching career at the University of the District of Columbia.
Her work has been displayed internationally and is in permanent collections at
the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New
York, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, and National Museum of Women in the
Arts, Washington, D.C. Manon’s work has been exhibited at the Osuna Gallery,
Washington, D.C., Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C., Maryland Art
Place, Baltimore, Maryland, Jackson-Iolas Gallery, New York, New York, J.
Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, and Grand Palais in Paris, France.
Sam Gilliam (b. 1933) Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Gilliam
earned his MA in painting at the University of Louisville before moving north
to Washington, D.C. Absorbing the innovations of the Washington Color School,
Gilliam quickly moved beyond it, following his own original and radical impulse
to take over the exhibition space and not confine his painting to the picture
plane. His work is in important collections across the United States, and he
has had major retrospectives at Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, and the Contemporary Art Museum,
Houston, Texas. Gilliam’s work is
included in public collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of
Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York,
Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary, and Tate, London, England.
Tom
Green
(b. 1942 – d. 2012) After receiving
a BA and MFA from the University of Maryland, Green moved to Washington and
became a hugely influential artist and teacher. He has exhibited in numerous
solo and group shows, including Whitney
Biennial, New York, New York, and 19 Americans
at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow,
Russia, and in the Washington, D.C. region, at the Kreeger Museum, the American
University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Smithsonian Museum of American
Art, and The Corcoran Gallery of Art. He received two National Endowment for
the Arts Fellowships, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award,
and residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the
Creative Arts. Green’s work is in public collections, including the Guggenheim
Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Smithsonian
American Art Museum.
Lisa
Montag Brotman (b.
1947) After graduating with a BFA
from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Brotman moved to Washington,
D. C. where she attended the Corcoran College of Art + Design and earned an MFA
from the George Washington University. Brotman has received two Individual
Artist Awards in the Visual Arts from the Maryland State Arts Council. Her work
has been exhibited in Europe and the United States, including the Washington,
D.C. area, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the American University Museum at
the Katzen Arts Center, Saint Mary’s College of Maryland, The George Washington
University, Longwood University, Washington Project for the Arts, Rockville
Arts Place, School 33 Art Center, Arlington Arts Center, and Gallery Neptune.
Brotman’s work has been exhibited in five solo shows at Gallery K, London,
England and in a mid-career retrospective at the Maryland Art Place, Baltimore,
Maryland.
Margarida Kendall Hull (b. 1935) Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Kendall Hull
attended the University of Lisbon/College of History and Philosophy. After
moving to Washington, D.C., she graduated from the Corcoran School of Art +
Design in 1973 and earned her MFA in 1982 from the Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C. Her paintings of alternative realities were shown
regularly in Washington, D.C., by the Osuna Gallery and Gallery K. For the past
ten years she has been represented by Galereia de Sao Mamede in Lisbon,
Portugal. Kendall Hull’s work has been in museum exhibitions at Gulbenkian
Museum, Lisbon, Portugal, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal, and the
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Her works are in numerous public and
private collections in the United States and Portugal.
Joe
Shannon (b.
1933) Born in Puerto Rico, raised in
Washington, D.C., Joe Shannon studied art at the Corcoran School of Art, but he
was largely self taught. Looking at masterworks, lots of practice and
self-criticism revealed his direction. Shannon worked for the Smithsonian for
26 years as an exhibition designer and curator. He has organized world class
exhibitions, and written articles in major art magazines and newspapers, and
juried many shows. Shannon teaches currently at the Maryland Institute College
of Art in Baltimore; he lectures, and has taught at other universities. His
work has been shown in galleries and museums around the world and is in many
important collections, private and public, including Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Hirshhorn, and Brooklyn Museums.
Paul Feinberg (b. 1942) Paul Feinberg’s stories and photo
essays of Washington life have been appearing in the Washingtonian Magazine, the Washington
Post Magazine, and numerous national publications for over 30 years.
Focusing on portraits of city life and personal relationships, his stories have
included everything from “Days and Nights by the Bus Station” to “Mothers and
Daughters.” “Best Friends,” his Washingtonian
piece on long term friendships, was expanded nationally into his book Friends. Feinberg has had solo shows at
the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, the Washington Arts
Museum, Washington Project for the Arts, the Picker Gallery at Colgate
University, and University of the District of Columbia. He has been a part of
group shows at Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington Project for the Arts, Studio
Gallery, Tartt Gallery, Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Osuna
Gallery, and Arlington Arts Center.
Margaret
Boozer (b. 1966) Born in
Anniston, Alabama, Margaret Boozer lives and works in the Washington, DC metro
area. She received a BFA in sculpture from Auburn University and an MFA in
ceramics from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her work
is included in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The
Museum of the City of New York, The US Department of State, The Wilson Building
Public Art collection and in many private collections. Boozer taught for ten
years at the Corcoran College of Art and Design before founding Red Dirt Studio
in Mt. Rainier, Maryland where she directs a ceramics and sculpture seminar.
Recent projects include a commissioned installation at the US Embassy in
Djibouti and writing a chapter for U. S. Geologic Survey’s Soil and
Culture. Recent exhibitions include Swept Away: Dust, Ashes and Dirt at the Museum
of Arts and Design in New York.
Robert Devers (b. 1960) Born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Devers
received a BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from
the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He maintains a studio
in Mt. Rainier, Maryland and has taught at the Corcoran College of Art + Design
in Washington, D.C. since 1988. Devers is also the Visual Arts Coordinator of
the Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival. His work has been exhibited in the
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at
Scripps College, Claremont, California, and the Smithsonian American Art
Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. Devers work is in the permanent
collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, the
International Monetary Fund, the Museo Artistico Industriale “Manuel
Cargaliero” in Vietri sul Mare, Italy and Museo Manuel Cargaliero, Castelo
Branco, Portugal, as well as numerous private collections.
Tim Tate (b. 1960) A Washington,
D.C. native, who has been working with glass as a sculptural medium for the
past 25 years, Tim Tate is Co-Founder of the Washington Glass School in Mt.
Rainier, Maryland. Tate’s work is in the permanent collections of a number of
museums, including the Smithsonian's American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery and
the Mint Museum. He was awarded the title of “Rising Star of the 21st Century”
from the Museum of American Glass and was also the recipient of the 2009
Virginia Groot Foundation award for sculpture. His work has been shown at the
Milwaukee Art Museum, the Fuller Museum, the Asheville Art Museum and the
Museum of Arts and Design in New York. He is a 2012 Fulbright Scholar recipient
and was Artist-In-Residence at the Institute for International Glass Research
(IIRG) in the UK.
Mindy Weisel (b. 1947) Born
in Bergen-Belsen, the only daughter of Auschwitz survivors, Weisel grew up in
New York and Los Angeles. She began painting at age 14, studied at California State University and received a BFA
from George Washington University in 1977. An acclaimed abstract artist,
working in paint and glass, Weisel has had numerous international commissions
and exhibitions. Her pieces are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian
Institution, Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of American Art, Baltimore
Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, and the United States House of
Representatives.
Included in “ Helter-Shelter “ are mural-size panoramic photographs that illustrate a variety of solutions to the challenge of temporary housing in sometimes raw and hostile rural environments. Whether on wheels, floats, or skids, these tiny dwellings live lightly on the Earth, taking the “Not-So-Big-House-Movement” to the extreme, at the lowest possible cost, with minimum impact on the environment. 
