Art Exhibitions Open Next Week at McLean Community Center

McLEAN, VA -- McLean Project for the Arts announced Thursday it will unveil three new art exhibitions next Thursday, Jan. 12, in the Emerson, Atrium and Ramp Galleries, located at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave. These exhibitions will remain on display through March 4. An opening exhibition reception will be held Thursday in the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) galleries from 7 to 9 p.m.

Emerson Gallery: Construction Work: New Sculpture by Mary Walker
Baltimore artist Mary Walker will exhibit wall-hung constructions that combine imagery and concepts from natural science, mechanics and the landscape. Found objects such as cable, screws, nuts and bolts are combined with painting, referring to the process of building and constructing. An interest in the dualities of gesture and geometry, the man-made and the natural, and chance and intention is also a key concept.

Atrium Gallery: Alice Kresse: Some Assembly Desired: The Printmaker as Jeweler

Kresse will highlight the similar sensibilities inherent in her monoprints and handmade jewelery in an exhibition featuring both approaches. She also brings her long career in graphic design to bear on her work in printmaking, creating images that are poetic, carefully balanced and multilayered. The monoprint process allows her to construct a piece much as you would an object—building layer upon layer with images and atmosphere emerging from the space beyond.

Ramp Gallery: Power Poles: Sculpture by Alonzo Davis

Deeply influenced by his international travel experiences, Alonzo Davis makes freestanding, wall-oriented and suspended sculpture. The imagery and energies of the American Southwest, Brazil, Haiti, West Africa and the Pacific Rim are all present in these works, combining bamboo, wood, paper, paint and LED lights.

MPA, in residence at the McLean Community Center (MCC) for more than 25 years, must relocate temporarily while the MCC undergoes a major renovation in spring 2017. MPA’s existing galleries and DuVal Studio in the MCC (MPA@MCC) will remain open and active through the close of this final exhibition—March 4.

Once the renovation begins, MPA’s second location, MPA@ChainBridge, will serve as MPA’s primary gallery, classroom and office space for about two years. MPA@ChainBridge is located in the Chain Bridge Corner Shopping Center in the space between CVS and Kazan Restaurant.

PHOTO at top: Work by Alice Kresse; photo courtesy of McLean Project for the Arts