Kenya’s Website

“A D.C. area native, I’ve always had a passion for the arts and try to branch out and experiment with different forms of art and media as much as I possibly can, be it digital or traditional. A lot of my work is influenced from obscure pop culture references, and street culture, however I’d like to think it has evolved to a point where it is a style which I can call all my own. More than anything I think it’s important to have fun when one creates, and to use an old and tired cliche, “Make Art, for Art’s Sake”.

Ivan’s Website

In Appreciation of Nature

pastels*etchings*oils

We would like to invite everyone to the Opening Reception

Saturday February 20th, 2010

4-6pm

Image: Maine Sunset, pastel on paper, 16″x20″

My passion is in exploring the User Experience within the Art domain and expanding my craft. I don’t differentiate life, from work, from art, because everything is connected and one affects the other. Rather, I use my life experiences to inform my Art and vice versa.

I am mainly active in the mediums of photography, and writing, and I like to knit. At age two, while finger painting, I would explain to people what the most delicious colors were, blue being the most delicious of all. There is debate about whether I was talking about using the paints or eating them.

I am recovering from a long and severe bout of Lyme disease, and learning to live around people again– the more you see me around, the more obvious this will be. I can often be found in the cafe area looking like I am choking on something that is not there, or engaging in general gawping behavior. I will not remember what I have told about this to whom, so I prefer people to just ask me about it– I am usually happy to talk about it and feel positively about the new appreciation for life and the world around me my experience has given me, but not always. Lyme disease can mimic the symptoms of any illness. It is much more prevalent than previously thought, and gaining wider recognition as a potentially chronic condition. Be safe.

Since finding the Soundry, he has found some way to extract time from his life to revive a childhood interest in art – in drawing and painting.  He has always had an interest in Sci-fi/fantasy/horror art and movies to help inspire him in his work battling real-world evil both internal and external, and now with the Soundry, he has found a supportive art community in his efforts to explore creating such artwork himself.

Over the past few years, I have taken several art classes, including watercolor and drawing classes from Lassie Corbett, several semesters of printmaking, drawing, and painting at NOVA Community College, and several media-specific workshops, most recently an oil-painting plein air workshop with Kevin Fitzgerald.

My favorite subjects are from nature:  landscapes, seascapes, children, birds, animals, plants and trees.  I am particularly drawn to the work of Tonalist landscape artists such as Kevin Fitzgerald, George Inness, Brandon Cook, Andrew Wyeth, and others.

After a couple of years of producing several fine art prints, mostly etchings, I am now moving on to two other series:  Oceanscapes…long horizontal canvases depicting the ever-changing ocean at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in oil….and a series of semi-rural farmscapes in the challenging medium of chalk pastel.

I love the Soundry!  Here I can lay my canvases around to observe and work on…a preferable alternative to my dining room table.  There is an excitement here–raw artistic energy, encouragement, and optimism.   And the coffee is great, too!

I was hatched on the magical island of Manhattan, grew up in New York and Massachusetts, came to the DC area for college and law school, and settled in Virginia. I’m a track and field geek. I’ve run four marathons, thrown in three weight pentathlons, and completed one triathlon. I collect gee gaws for mixed media pieces (usually acrylic with collage elements incorporated) while at meets and races and while training on the W&OD and on other local trails. (Who says you can’t have fun doing two things at once?) I started making jewelry when I was a teenager. I prefer to work with sterling silver, but also work with copper and some other metals. I enjoy wrapping semi-precious cabochons (e.g. jaspers, amethysts) for pendants and earrings, using various silver wrapping methods. Lately, I am into experimenting with metal clays (I’ve taken a few classes recently) and also with different methods of creating silver rings.