One of America's biggest beer events landed in Washington, D.C. this past weekend. At the National Building Museum, Savor 2015 featured 74 craft breweries from all over the nation. Each beer was paired with an hors d'oeuvre like duck, rabbit, or chocolate German cake. If you would like an inside look at the event or if you would like to relive the experience, check out the photo gallery below.
Posted by: Michelle GoldchainPosted date: Wednesday, January 28, 2015/comment : 0art,
gallery,
localbiz,
Virginia
The location of Olly Olly is ellusive, but worth looking for.
Once upon a time, Fairfax, Virginia’s art scene was centered around the Adam Lister Gallery on University Drive. Artists from all over Northern Virginia would flock to the gallery, searching for a community to call home. Together, they were able to rediscover art as a communal action, working together, inspiring each other and even educating one another.
In 2013, though, the Adam Lister Gallery closed after four years of business, causing the group that collected there to fall apart, each artist scurrying back to their own personal studio or home.
Just recently, a cultural hub rose from the ashes, named Olly Olly. Founder of Olly Olly Jessica Kallista chose the name to imply that the space serves as a playful beck and call to local artists, suggesting that it’s time to come out from hiding and create together once again.
Olly Olly is a small, intimate art space that is part gallery and part work space. As a collaborative space, the public is able to view artworks on the walls and make their own artworks within the walls as well. With a $25 fee for Art Gym, the gallery provides art materials that include sketchbooks, canvases, paint, markers and more. It’s not uncommon for artists to let others borrow their own materials as well.
Artists like Jason Davis are able to come to Olly Olly and work on paintings or other projects together.
As one of the members of the Adam Lister Gallery’s arts community, Kallista toyed with the idea of opening up a new collaborative art space since its closing. She said that there are a great number of artists in Fairfax and Northern Virginia, but that they’re hidden, and by being hidden, they’re not able to reach their full creative potential.
Kallista said, “I think that there’s art that can only happen when the artists are all together ... There’s a certain kind of playfulness in collaboration and creativity than if you’re just sitting in your studio or in your house, making art.”
She added, “Even if you’re not giving each other ideas explicitly and you’re just sharing the same space ... somehow everything’s going to start clicking.”
Beside artworks in the Olly Olly gallery, Tariq Omar works in his sketchbook.
One local artist named Tariq Omar described what it was like to lose the Adam Lister Gallery, saying, “I was devastated. I stopped drawing.”
He described the process of returning to art without the community as slow and difficult. In a group of artists, he said, “There’s motivation. There’s creativity.”
Now a part of Olly Olly’s arts community, Omar said, “It’s the reincarnation of the Adam Lister Gallery.”
To be a part of this growing community, go online to Olly Olly’s websiteor connect with them on Facebookand Twitter.
Flip through the slideshow below to see photos from Olly Olly's latest art gallery exhibition opening, "Bodylore".
Posted by: Michelle GoldchainPosted date: Sunday, October 12, 2014/comment : 0art,
gallery,
Virginia
Fall is here, and according to The Bunnyman Bridge Collective, that means more than just falling leaves and pumpkin-flavored lattes. It means it's time to disrupt the norm. With eight artists ranging from collages to found object pieces to abstract paintings, this exhibition is about decay and the dark spaces of our imagination. While it may sound a little gloomy, it's about reinvigoration and reinterpretation — breaking down to build back up.
"Sometimes, you have to break away everything that is decaying, and totally deconstruct it and totally break it down to find what is really at the heart and what is really at the soul of creativity," said Jessica Kallista, one of the founding members of The Bunnyman Bridge Collective.
The emphasis on change within the exhibition is meant to juxtapose the change within the season. It's meant to match one's mental states, according to Javier Padilla, one of the artists within the exhibition as well as one of the founding members of The Bunnyman Bridge Collective.
The Collective is a Fairfax-based group of artists and art movement. In the About section of their Facebook page, it says, "We seek to disrupt the surrender to homogeneity of manicured lawns and living rooms decorated with art that does nothing more than match the sofa."
In other words, they're looking to do something different and get noticed while doing it. Forget art that looks like a copy of a copy of a copy. And forget the stereotype that all of art is in the city and only the city.
With exhibitions like, "Fallen," The Bunnyman Bridge Collective is challenging the communities they're in and promoting artists that are as weird, or wild or unique as possible. They're proving that there is art in suburbia, and that art movements are not solely located in New York or California — but can also be found in Fairfax, Virginia.
The eight artists in the exhibition include Lina Alattar, David Barr, Alex Beck, Michael Brown, Abner De Jesus, Javier Padilla, Kathy Turner and Asad ULTRA Walker. The musical headlining act for the event was electronic-indie musician, Den-Mate.
For the coming year, there are plans to expand The Bunnyman Bridge Collective with artists as well as exhibitions in other art galleries. There are also plans to create a space specifically for the Collective to showcase their artworks. For their next exhibition, expect, "Divine," with vivid colors, ornate calligraphy and the focus on "the rebirth of everything," says Padilla.
The opening was on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Epicure Cafe. The exhibition will continue until Dec. 5. Check out the exhibition at 11104 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA.
