In BlackRock’s Main Gallery:
Above/Below runs January 4-28
WHO: BlackRock Center for the Arts
WHAT: Above/Below, an art exhibit featuring the work of three visual artists and one choreographer/dance company
WHERE: The Main Gallery at BlackRock, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD
WHEN: Wednesday, January 4-Saturday January 28, see below for gallery hours
PRICE: Admission is free
CONTACT: The Gallery’s phone is 301- 528-2260, website is www.blackrockcenter.org
BlackRock Center for the Arts presents the exhibit Above/Below in its Main Gallery, running Wednesday, January 4 through Saturday, January 28. This is a show with a twist: it features the collaboration of three visual artists—Beverly Ryan, Alison Sigethy and Marsha Staiger-- and one performing artist—Karen Reedy Dance. While the visual artworks will hang the entire month in the gallery, the site-specific, premiere dance performance occurs only at the opening reception on Saturday, January 7 from 5:30-7:30 and at the closing reception on Saturday, January 28 from 5:00-7:00.
About the Exhibit
Above/Below will be a multimedia experience incorporating paintings, hanging three-dimensional forms, projected text and dance and will communicate the varied interpretation of the theme Above/Below. The artists reference Maya Linn’s discussion of the “non-literal connection” in her work to describe how this collaborative project will come together—the unified whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts.
The exhibit promises a spirit of give and take, or call and response, exploring the theme of Above/Below from four distinct viewpoints. Two painters and one sculptor will create a series of large works based upon the theme. This body of work will serve as the set and inspiration for a live dance performance created by the fourth artist. These four artists previously created a group show at the Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory.
BlackRock’s Gallery Manager, Kimberly Marshall is “ecstatic about having a collaborative multimedia and dance exhibit. Not only is it the first time we are doing something like this in our gallery, but BlackRock is the perfect venue for it!” She believes the visual art of Above/Below “will inspire the movement. Hopefully the art will come alive, and the audience will really open themselves to react and respond. This is what art should do.”
About the Artists
Beverly Ryan is a painter whose works feature richly layered paint punctuated by painted line work and gestural drawing. She currently teachers at The Art League School in Alexandria, VA and is an adjunct professor in the art department of Montgomery College in Germantown.
Alison Sigethy creates forms out of salvaged materials. These forms are organic but abstract. For Above/Below she will construct giant pods out of glass and natural materials. The pods will be suspended from the ceiling, allowing them to move. She is on the faculty of the Washington Glass School, is a Torpedo Factory Resident Artist and was the Torpedo Factory Artist of the Year (2010) with Marsha Staiger.
Marsha Staiger creates abstract acrylics that retain the physicality of how and with what she applies paint. She works and reworks a piece until it “seems to stay on the canvas and still breathe.” She is Chair of The Target Gallery and teaches at The Art League School in Alexandria.
Karen Reedy will “respond kinesthetically” to the visual art in the exhibit. She is continually inspired by how to express the range of human emotion through dance. In Above/Below, she is pondering “concepts of heaven and hell, light and dark, seen and unseen and reality and fantasy.” Reedy’s dance company is also slated to dance in the BlackRock DanceFest this May.
Logistics
BlackRock’s Main Gallery is open Monday-Friday 10:00-5:00 and Saturday 10:00-2:00. The gallery is also open when BlackRock has performances or other events. Please see our website www.blackrockcenter.org. for a detailed weekly schedule. The Main Gallery is on the ground floor. BlackRock also has a Terrace Gallery, featuring encaustics by Jorge Bernal through January. For further information, call 301-528-2260.
BlackRock Center for the Arts is a cultural cornerstone of Germantown that engages the communities of Upper Montgomery County to explore, experience, and celebrate the arts. For further information about BlackRock, call the center at 301.528.2260 or visit www.blackrockcenter.org. BlackRock is located at 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, Maryland, near the intersection of Middlebrook Rd. and Route 118 (Germantown Rd.).
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