“Artists for Racial Justice” exhibit is the companion show to WGS Contemporary Gallery exhibit CLICK-IT! Online gallery!
WGS Contemporary wants to add our voices to support racial equality.
Using our community’s focus on love and support, we want to use art as a tool for healing and peace to help at this time. Featuring artworks by Joseph Ivacic, Jennifer Caldwell, Jason Chakravarty, Tim Tate, Teri Bailey, Erwin Timmers & Michael Janis – proceeds to the NAACP & Color of Change.
WGS Contemporary hosts CLICK-IT! and Artists for Racial Justice
With much of the physical art world closing because of Covid-19, artists, galleries and museums have turned to technology and social media to stay open (albeit virtually), allowing visitors from anywhere in the world to interact with and view art.
WGS Contemporary Gallery (located in the DMV’s Gateway Arts District) had to get creative with how to bring art to the world. With so much changing so quickly, artists and arts organizations are still in the process of finding their footing. “With everyone in isolation, art is needed now more than ever to help remind people that we are not alone. Art helps us to dream, escape our current realities, and engage our imaginations in building a better world for tomorrow,” said Gallery Director Teri Swinhart (Bailey). “With this show, we all stand united (six feet apart, of course) and ready to take on these challenges and the new opportunities they present.”
“Spilt Perfume Set”, Artist: Carmen Lozar
“Sea Through The Looking Glass”, Artists: Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty
Opening June 16th, WGS Contemporary presents “Click-It!” featuring works by some of the most exciting and inspiring artists, with a broad spectrum of works that showcase the current trends in art and the media specific works.
“Patterns of Containment”, Artist: Erwin Timmers
Artists in the show include:
Teri Swinhart (Bailey)
F. Lennox Campello
Jennifer Caldwell
Jason Chakravarty
Cheryl P. Derricotte
Sean Donlon
Sean Hennessey
Joseph Ivacic
Michael Janis
Carmen Lozar
Tim Tate
Erwin Timmers
Steve Wanna
Jeff Zimmer
“By placing artworks of different materials, mediums, and styles in direct conversation, there is opportunity for new dialogues and perspectives,” adds Swinhart. Click-It! will highlight the many parallel and interesting artistic directions these artists bring creating a dynamic environment of exchange online.
“We will be using our online platforms to introduce exciting new art programming that aims to enrich, entertain and inspire during this challenging time.”
A special fundraising event “Artists for Racial Justice” is also scheduled online as a companion show, with the-proceeds for these special works to be donated to the non-profit organizations “Color of Change ” and the “NAACP”.
“DejaVu”, Artist Sean Donlon
WGS Contemporary is a Washington, DC area art and special projects fine arts gallery. WGS Contemporary’s mission is to contribute to thinking about art, new media, technology, and social issues through an open access forum which we hope will facilitate contemporary and innovative projects worldwide. In that process, WGSC will expose the cutting edge work of artists pushing the new media frontiers of art. Projects using robotics, sensory perception, holographic imaging, self-contained video sculptures and others will offer an intelligent and fresh set of artwork that marries technology and art into a new creative dialogue in the visual arts.
Want more than just visual …stimulation? click on link below and get the official “Click It” themesong – music by Donovan Lessard.
Florida’s Imagine Museum has WGS’ Michael Janis’ glass artwork in its permanent collection, their “American Masters”, – and recently posted a video snippet of an interview with him on their Instagram page.
Click on image to jump to Imagine Museum Instagram
Imagine Museum is a new fine art institution in St. Petersburg, Florida. Its primary collection displays the explosive growth and diversification of the studio glass movement in America since the 1960’s, and extends to new directions in contemporary glass.
Want it? Click-it! Get It!
Click It Opens Online June 16th, 2020
The COVID-19 epidemic has been an unprecedented challenge to the art world. WGS Contemporary art gallery is working thru the issues that have stopped the gallery from being open bring artwork made by some of the hottest glass, mixed media sculptors, painters and ceramic artists to the world.
The WGS Contemporary gallery is excited to bring lots of fine art sculpture right to your living room! Be sure to check out CLICK IT! – a virtual gallery experience that will be made live – opening June 16th on our website!
Look for (very affordable!) by artists that include: Teri Bailey, J. Jordan Bruns, F. Lennox Campello, Jason Chakravarty & Jennifer Caldwell, Cheryl P. Derricotte, Sean Dolon, Sean Hennessey, Joesph Ivacic, Michael Janis, Carmen Lozar, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Jodi Walsh, Steve Wanna, and Jeff Zimmer!
WGS Contemporary’s mission is to contribute to thinking about art, new media, technology, and social issues through an open access forum which we hope will facilitate contemporary and innovative projects worldwide. In that process, WGSC will expose the cutting edge work of artists pushing the new media frontiers of art.
Want more than just visual …stimulation? click on link below and get the official “Click It” themesong – music by Donovan Lessard.
Recently it was announced that the next Artomatic will be completely virtual!
ARTOMATIC 2.0: A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE is a digital response! Since we can’t gather physically for now, the DMV artfair for all will move their 20th anniversary celebration online.
Artomatic debuted in 1999 as a non-juried, volunteer-run exhibition in the Manhattan Laundry building, which also lent the event its washer-inspired name. Over time, it has grown into a 501(c)(3) with a board of directors and tens of thousands of attendees at each iteration, but until now, the model has remained largely unchanged: Participants pay a modest entry fee and take volunteer shifts staffing the event, in exchange for ample space to exhibit or perform pretty much whatever they want for multiple weeks. Events have happened more sporadically in recent years, but organizers wanted to mark the 20th anniversary year in a meaningful way. However, 2019 came and went without finding a location to host a celebration, so anniversary plans were moved to 2020, only to be upended by the outbreak of COVID-19.
Here’s what’s happening:
*Visual artist profiles to display/sell art thru their pay channels
*Live opportunities for performing artists
*Enriching workshops
*By artists, for everyone
*July 20 – August 20, 2020
More information soon. Stay tuned.
On Memorial Day we remember and honor those who died while serving our country – wishing all a meaningful day. Artwork credits: Trish Kent – detail from her “Divided States of America” series; photo Pete Duvall.
Glass 48 opens Friday May 8 @ 1:00 pm ( Eastern time).
The pandemic has changed many planned arts events across the world. Habatat Galleries has adapted their planned Glass48 International event to an online presentation so the exhibition can be viewed from anywhere. This monumental experience will allow all visitors to view presentation from anywhere in the world. This experience includes personalized videos of each artists work and will also feature studio tours.
WGS Artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis are featured in the International exhibit – and they each have video presentations of their individual work and of their collaborative work.
Artist/sculptor Carol Cohen, 81, passed away at her home in Cambridge, MA, on April 12, of lung cancer. In 1970, she began her career as an artist, working first with paint, then clay, paper, vinyl, and steel before developing innovative techniques in painting stacked glass, which led to her work being placed in many prestigious collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; and Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.
Carol described her signature layered imagery process:
Ordinary window glass is the best surface to take paint and allow the most light to go through. When I first figured out the technique (1982) I tried acrylic sheet/Plexiglas; but it sagged in the middle, scratched easily, was a dust magnet, and the edges had to be sawed and sanded.Glass was a practical choice: it costs less than plexi, is harder so that cleaning it doesn’t create scratches, is more rigid so it doesn’t sag when supported by its corners, is less electrostatic, and is easier to cut by simple scoring-and-breaking. It is also beautifully green when assembled in layers — that was an unexpected plus.
She retired from making art in 2008.
“Though the mystery contained in these non-boxes is easily explained, it continues to intrigue the eye. You can view the work from any angle but one: if your eye parallels the edges of the glass sheets the internal image vanishes, and all you see is a stack of green-edged glass sheets. Now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t. Prestidigitation with glass.”
–Paul Hollister, “Exploration of Inner Space”, Neues Glas magazine, 4/88.
We are social creatures. Every relationship has been built and held together by complicated nonverbal language, beginning with parent and child. It’s part of our social fabric. Individual, family, and interpersonal relationships have all changed as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. What is the characteristic of a pandemic? Emptiness. The unusual quiet in what was normally noisy, bustling neighborhood. Silence – where the silence isn’t merely the absence of noise. It’s judgement, longing and paranoia.The fear the we may be ourselves a transmitter of the virus as we seek the comfort of others.
How people are psychologically affected by and coping with the COVID-19 emergency is the basis of the installation of kiln cast glass by WGS artist Michael Janis. Over 20 individual glass panels make up the large wall-mounted work.
Janis’ signature “sgraffito” imagery – where he manipulates fine crushed glass powder into highly detailed imagery and portraiture, fires the images into layers of colored glass is used to strong effect in this new work. Images of that convey the sense of how we are connected and yet are contained into separate worlds is the essence of the work. Working in the isolation of the lock downed studio, Janis says he will continue to add to the installation as the virus continues to work thru the world. “Working on artwork keeps me sane” says the artist.
Partial view of Michael Janis’ “How We Take Care Of Each Other” glass art installation. Kilnformed glass; glass powder imagery; varying dimensions; 2020.
Partial view of Michael Janis’ “How We Take Care Of Each Other” glass art installation. Larger panels approx. 18″ (45cm) dia.
Detail of one of the fused glass panels in Michael Janis’ installation. Imagery made from glass powder in Janis’ signature sgraffito technique.
Detail of Michael Janis’ glass art installation “How We Take Care Of Each Other”
Detail of works by Michael Janis. The translucent glass panels are mounted off the wall in varying dimensions, with light and shadow highlighting each panel edge.
Detail of one of Michael Janis’ kilnformed works. COVID-19 cases are heavily concentrated in the African American population.
The fabric of society is held together by even the smallest physical contact. Touch is as important a social condition as anything. It reduces stress. It makes people trust one another. It allows for cooperation. When you look at people in solitary confinement suffering from touch deprivation, you see that people lose a sense that someone’s got their back, that they’re part of a community and connected to others.
Washington DC’s University has been tasked with 3D printing personal protective equipment (PPE) for the city hospitals and UDC’s largest printer had gone down with a cracked print plate. UDC contacted Washington Glass School looking to replace it – stat!
Erwin Timmers works with Essential Glass!
WGS Director Erwin Timmers set about getting the UDC PPE up and running! As a good neighbor – WGS is there!
Go! Erwin – Go!