MidCity Artists – Spring Open Studios | May 18th & 19th
The time has come again for the MidCity Artists Open Studios!
Tour the neighborhood and visit with local artists in their own studios. Here at Vastu, you can chat with and see works from Colin Winterbottom and Brian Petro.
Click the link below for a map of this weekends’ participants:
And if you have a smartphone, click here or the main image above for a mobile-friendly app.
New Art Exhibit: Greg Minah
Vastu designer favorite, and past exhibitor, Greg Minah is back in the showroom again! Through January 20th, 2013 you’ll have the chance to see and purchase great pieces of art from this Baltimore-based artist.
Greg Minah creates his abstract paintings by pouring thinned out acrylic paint onto the canvas and then tilting and turning the stretcher to precisely control the flow of the medium. Often, a layer is partially removed with pressurized water before it has a chance to completely cure, leaving only the outline of the poured paint and revealing the multi-layered construction of the work. This method of working might best be described as a collaboration between artist and material–a balancing act between the creative force of the artist and the natural forces acting on the flowing paint. The result is a lyrical moment suspended in time but the significance remains fluid as it relies entirely on the encounter with the viewer.
Of his painting method, Minah states that “inspiration comes directly from the working process itself. I am so physically engaged in this process that it really becomes a part of the final painting, a documentation of a sort of prolonged performance piece. And while I can exert a lot of my will on the behavior of the paint and I choose the colors, composition, etc, there’s always something unexpected that will happen when I work this way, something that I’ll have to react to in the moment which give a sincerity and freshness to the work that I find appealing in art.”
Mid City Artists “Fall Open Studios” This Weekend
It’s that time of the season again for the Fall Open Studios hosted by the Mid City Artists. This is a great opportunity to support local art and visit various artists in their own studios.
Photography by Colin Winterbottom
Here at Vastu we have artists Colin Winterbottom and Brian Petro. You can visit their studios (located in our lower showroom) from 12pm to 6:30pm on Saturday, October 13th and 12pm to 4:30pm on Sunday, October 14th.
Art by Brian Petro
Vastu will be open on Saturday, October 13th from 11am-7pm and Sunday, October 14th from 12pm-5pm.
Spring Open Studios from the Mid City Artists
A press release recently went out about this fun event held twice a year:
“Mark your calendars for the weekend of May 19 and 20 when twenty-one artists who are part of the “Mid City Artists” collaborative, will open their studio doors as part of The Mid City Artists Spring Open Studios Tour. This bi-annual event in DC’s “Mid-City” – in and around the Dupont Circle and Logan Circle neighborhoods – offers a special opportunity for art-lovers to take a peek into the artists’ creative process, connect personally with artists and learn more about how and where they make art, and purchase art as well. The participating artists represent a great diversity of work, including drawings, sculptures, paintings, prints, photographs and mixed media.”
Here at Vastu, we’re pleased to house studios for Mid City Artists Brian Petro and Colin Winterbottom, the former of which has a show currently hanging in our showroom.
So come out this weekend, explore the neighborhood and meet and support some local artists!
Vastu will be open on Saturday, May 19th from 11am-7pm and Sunday, May 20th from 12pm-5pm.
Download a walking map of the studios here.
Vastu Shoutout: Regina Miele & Arts@1830
(Image by Luis Gomez Photos)
A couple of nights ago, Vastu co-owners Eric Kole and Jason Claire attended a soft opening of Regina Miele’s new gallery, framing and studio space, Arts@1830. Regina (an artist herself and friend to Vastu) formerly occupied Raven Arts which was above Bar Pilar, a couple of doors down from our showroom.
Borderstan describes the new space as being “clean and spare, white from floor to ceiling. A moving wall at the back of the gallery space can push forward towards the front, to allow for more framing space, or backwards towards the studio, for a bigger gallery.”
We want to wish Regina the best of luck with this new gallery and hope you all will come out and support her.
You can see more pictures from Tuesday’s soft opening/media night here and while you’re at it, “Like” Regina’s new gallery and studio on Facebook!
Vastu ♥’s Art
Art is one of those design elements that can really take a space from nice to amazing! It’s also an element that our designers take into consideration when working on a client’s space. Check out how we’ve used art in past projects!
Brian Petro - Church Street Flat
New Art Exhibit Starting Sept 13: Rob Rogers
Our newest art exhibit, running from September 13th to November 13th, features artists Rob Rogers.
A native of Sydney, Australia, Rob Rogers has drawn and painted since he was old enough to hold a pencil. Attending Sydney College of the Arts in the 1970s, studying design, he has spent many years as an award winning creative director in advertising. In recent years he moved to New York where he has devoted greater amounts of time to painting, taking up encaustic (wax painting) as a medium in 2009.
Run to White II
After many years painting in oils, he considers his recent choice of medium plays a pivotal role in the creation of his newer abstract work.
“Rich and substantial, sudden and willful, obscuring or revealing, encaustic is a medium that is sympathetic to an instinctual approach. A combination of alchemy and art, it encourages the exploration of surface, the layering of motif and rewards the subconscious impulse. Process continues to play a dominant role as I seek the moments of harmony that occasionally occur when the wax, color and heat collide.”
Rogers’s work is found in private collections in Sydney, Melbourne, Milan, San Francisco and New York. Recently he has exhibited at galleries in Sydney, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
WHERE:
Vastu
1829 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.234.8344
WHEN:
September 13 – November 13, 2011
Kristina Bilonick: From Journal Entries to Screen Prints
Cecile Oreste, of DC neighborhood blog Borderstan, recently interviewed DC-based artist Kristina Bilonick. Some of Kristina’s pieces are currently showing at Vastu as part of our $500 or Less Art Exhibition. Click here to read more about Kristina and her work.
(photo credit: Luis Gomez)
New art exhibit!
Colin Winterbottom returns to Vastu to exhibit recent work and favorites. Featured among the dramatic, atmospheric photographs he shows are a series taken as he documented refurbishment of the pediments at the National Archives headquarters in Washington, DC. Other photographs feature New York, Washington DC, and recent studies of smaller towns in between.
Artist Statement: Shawna Cross
Four weeks remain in our current art show here at Vastu. If you haven’t been by, take a few moments to stop in. Both artists are presenting fresh artwork – all were completed within 2 months of the show installation. Here is a statement on Shawna Cross’ collection of work.
(Pray For Building (lover letter for ourselves))
These paintings are made of desire, wonder, wander lust, projected dreams, actual disappointments, broken hearts, and moments of pure bliss and hope. They juxtapose everyday realities with the corresponding daydreams that overlap ones physical eye with the eye of the imagination. Felt moments become physical realities as the psychology of color combines with the ability of form to stir the senses; each painting transforms to become the expression that verbal communication falls short of conveying. Each painting, therefore, is a journey in and outside of the soul, reflecting the balance of what has been, what is, and what is yet to be-a visual reminder of the beauty of human experience.
(Mute to Our Own Desires (hushed stories and sincere promises))
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