Reception: August 11, 6-9pm during Second Thursday Art Night
Location: Site 2 and Site 3 Galleries, Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA
Additional information: To learn more about the Visiting Artist Program visit http://www.torpedofactory.org/vap/
The Torpedo Factory Art Center presents this summer’s 2011 artists in the Visiting Artist Program in an exhibition entitled Synergy. The Visiting Artist Program, the Torpedo Factory Artist Association’s residency program, invites artists both emerging and experienced from around the nation to become a part of its art-making community for a summer. This year’s juror, F. Lennox Campello, international award-winning artist, author of leading art blog Daily Campello Art News, curator, art critic, and writer in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, PA, chose 11 artists for the 2011 summer program. This residency awarded these artists with the opportunity to create in a Torpedo Factory studio from June until August for one, two, or all three months.
This year’s selected artists are: Mark Thomas Anderson (Arlington, VA); M. Chava Evans (Baltimore, MD); Allison Long Hardy (Woodbridge, VA); Katie Latona (Champaign, IL); Heather McCaw (Washington, DC); Emily Moorhead (Cincinnati, OH); Linda Morrell (Castleton, NY); Liza Myers (Brandon, VT); Drew Parris (Stevensville, MD); Fierce Sonia (Alexandria, VA); Kazaan Viveiros (Alexandria, VA).
Synergy stems from the cohesive objective expressed by the visiting artists to fill their time at the Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) with new audience exposure, fresh inspiration from within the TFAC and abroad, and productive studio time that, in totality, amounts to an influential and wholesome experience. Conversely, their synergy translates into quite diverse works that ranges from detritus-based installations to graphite renderings. The exhibition Synergy is centered on this aspect and displays artwork created by each artist during residency and presents interviews conducted at the start of summer on each as well. The exhibited imagery portrays each artist’s perspective and the questionnaire conveys each artist’s anticipations and aspirations for the program in a literary art form. The visiting artists’ unique creativity and individuality permeates through while collectively they comprise this summer’s 2011 Visiting Artist Program.
Join us August 11th from 6-9pm for the opening reception to Synergy held in conjunction with the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s (TFAC) Second Thursday Art Night. Come visit Site 2 and 3 Galleries on the second and third floors of the art center and view synergized art, read insightful interviews, and talk to the visiting artists!
Gallery Information
The exhibition will be held in the Site 2 and Site 3 Galleries. These exhibition spaces, managed by Target Gallery, are the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s outreach exhibition sites. Target Gallery, national exhibition space of the Torpedo Factory, promotes high standards of art by continuously exploring new ideas through the visual media in a schedule of national and international exhibitions. We are located on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, VA. The gallery is open daily from 10-6pm and until 9pm on Thursdays. Visit our website to learn more about the Visiting Artist Program at www.torpedofactory.org/vap/.
Tory Cowles: Living LARGE!
The Target Gallery will present this year’s Friends of the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s (Friends) Artist of the Year, Tory Cowles, with a solo exhibition in the gallery. The exhibition, which runs from July 2 – August 14, will have a special reception and awards ceremony to celebrate the artist on July 14 from 6-8pm. At 7pm, the Friends will present the artist with a $1000 award for being selected as this year’s artist of the year. Juror, Harry Cooper will say a few words during the ceremony about his selection. All events are free and open to the public and light refreshments will be served.
An abstract painter, Ms. Cowles’ background was in three-dimensional work such as stonewall building, woodworking, interior design, architecture, and carpentry, and her paintings were representational landscapes and portraits. When she started painting abstracts, she was able to incorporate the challenges and appeal of her previous 3D work onto the 2D canvas.
For her exhibit, Ms. Cowles will present a series of abstract paintings as large as 60” by 72” and diptychs, which are 48” by 120”. These sizes excite her because they encourage looseness and make a huge impact. A recurring theme in Cowles’ work is strong bright colors, which give energy and joy tempered by serious darks and subdued grays. Complex movement draws the eye throughout and around the painting as tension is created between spontaneity and discipline. Tory incorporates boldness and subtlety within the painting while allowing each quality to hold its own.
Cowles’ paintings combine stream of consciousness, abstract expressionism, and disciplined critical analysis. She paints from the heart and hopes that viewers are moved to respond from the heart.
Her 2010 shows included: Longview Gallery, Washington, DC; plan b Gallery, Washington, DC; Blueberry Gallery, Alexandria, VA; Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC; and the Art Barn Gallery, Gaithersburg, MD.
Juror: Harry Cooper, Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art National Gallery of Art, Washington
Mr. Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, is the organizing curator of The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works.
Since joining the Gallery in February 2008, he has organized The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works and initiated a series of focus exhibitions in the Tower Gallery of the East Building on such artists as Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, and Nam June Paik.
Cooper received a PhD in 1997 from Harvard University, an MA in 1992 from Johns Hopkins University, and an AB in American history and literature in 1981 from Harvard University. Cooper also holds a certificate in drawing and painting from the Corcoran Museum School of Art, Washington, DC.
