Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

I was at Strathmore yesterday to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor - amazing show. The review will be in the next issue (February) of the Crier Media Newspapers.

I first came across Jennifer Lynn Beaudet’s work at the Paint the Town event last year which was my honor to jury -- as I recall she was an honorable mention winner at that show.

Her work at Strathmore is amongst the best in a show where there is not a single bad painting.

This artist has that hard-to-describe ability to capture the human essence of her subjects in paint. 

Connections - 24x24 oil on canvas by Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

That sentence is so easy to write and so immensely difficult to deliver on canvas. Her human subjects in two dimensions of paint are able to transmit visual clues and nuances that help to decipher and understand something individual about them.  

This is an exceptional gift that few artists have in such abundance as this artist does, and she flexes this gift via her artistic muscles in nearly every work in this show!

Big Warrior Goddess at Strathmore

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this terrific print by Kimberly King caught my eye.

Kimberly King - Big Warrior Goddess

Seen at Strathmore Mansion

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this this wall of striking abstract work by Cianne Fragione caught my eye.

Cianne Fragione at Strathmore 

Go to this opening tonight

The Compass Atelier has what I consider the best artist schooling in the DMV -- better in fact that all the major Universities in our area.  That's a big statement to make, but it comes from me, and thus I am ready to back it up as needed.

Want proof? Then go tonight to the opening of the first of two thesis exhibitions at the beautiful Strathmore Mansion galleries on Rockville Pike.  

I plan to visit the show and write about it.  The Mansion's galleries are at 10701 Rockville Pike in North Bethesda/Rockville, MD 20852 within walking distance of the Metro stop by the same name and with plenty of free parking.

MASTER ARTIST PROGRAM - THESIS EXHIBITIONS (GROUP 1)

JANUARY 14-FEBRUARY 11, 2023

ARTISTS RECEPTION: THURS, JAN 19  7-10PM

SUZI BALAMACI

JENNIFER LYNN BEAUDET

ANNE BROONER

SHEILA HADLEY

KARA LIN

CHRISTINE MERRY

ROB PEARLMAN

DEBORAH POLLACK

SAMEER SHARMA

MICHAEL SCHOPPMAN

SOPHIE SPENCER

DIANNE STEWART

ANDREA VAN DEN HEEVER

Amanda Coelho

This March, as we return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind I wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best.

One of them is the superbly talented Amanda Coelho.

Coelho has only been painting since 2018, and thus in artistic developmental years, she's still a baby, but a baby with formidable crawling skills, and one who can already wield brush superpowers which emerge here and there in several of her works.

A Bear Necessity by Amanda Coelho

In "A Bear Necessity", she lets the color (green in this case) tell the entire narrative of the work. In doing so, with just the barest hint of white highlights, she not only illuminates the subject gummy bear, but creates the depth and illusion of depth in the painting.  She has accomplished what only a good painting can do: deliver a most common and trivial subject to the sublime status afforded by a good painting.

See it again on another trivial subject, a chocolate kiss, now forever immortalized as a spectacular triumph of painting skills over subject matter.

A Kiss is just a Kiss by Amanda Coelho

Coelho's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Call for artists

Click on the image for details!

Congrats to Meg Medina

The Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader will soon announce the appointment of Cubana author Meg Medina, who lives in Virginia, as the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2023-24. 

Medina, who is of Cuban ancestry  will be the first Latina to serve as the national ambassador!

Congrats Meg!!!!