The Nevin Kelly Gallery on TV Thursday Morning

Tune into Fox 5 News tomorrow morning at 7:40 am and 8:40 am to see the gallery on TV. The 7:40 segment will involve the 4Traits, a group of four artists (including filmmaker/artist Brandon Bloch and artist Ming Yi Sung Zaleski) who take turns drawing one person's portrait. The 8:40 segment will include Nevin Kelly Gallery artist Sondra Arkin. This is the earliest I've been up in months (years maybe), and to be on TV having my portrait drawn at that! Ugh. So I hope you all tune in to see the excitement.

"Women's Work" is Coming!

Mary Chiaramonte dropped off five paintings today which will be included in the upcoming "Women's Work" exhibition. Mary really wears her heart on her sleeve in her art. She exposes her vulnerability in both joy and heartbreak with dark outlines and cut paper in her mixed media paintings. Here's a little teaser. To see the other two you'll have to come into the gallery between March 14 and April 8. Better yet, come to the opening reception on Thursday, March 15, 6-9pm.
The Cheat, mixed media on luan, 35" x 21"
Lisa Learned a lot from Being Blindfolded, mixed media on luan, 20" x 15"
Thanks A Lot, mixed media on luan, 24" x 18"

Studio Visit with Molly Brose

Molly Brose was kind enough to let me visit her in her studio this morning. Molly's work will be in our upcoming show "Women's Work" along with that of four other young female artists. She works in watercolor, charcoal and China markers on paper.

My favorite part of my job is visiting artists' studios. I just love to learn about the process behind the finished products of artists whose work I admire. Not just how the work is made, but the type of environment the artist creates for him- or herself. Molly's studio is very cozy and sort of romantic - she has a wood burning stove, old photographs, a comfy chair and gorgeous red and orange walls. It's also one of the cleanest and neatest studios I've ever visited. But onto the art.
For the "Women's Work" show Molly has been working on a series of 9 paintings called "What to Keep." Each painting has a different theme about something to keep - "Keep Track," "Keep Up," "Keep in Touch," "Keep Watch," "Keep your Distance," "Keep in Mind," "Keep Faith." She starts out with an abstract watercolor background and then rubs out some of the background to add her images of people taken from old photographs and everyday items. The clear, precise drawings set against churning backgrounds give her work a sense of history - a feeling of memories, thoughts and ideas emerging from the swirl of the past.

Molly has a wonderful story behind each of her paintings that is both personal to her and has universal applications. The painting second from the left on the bottom in the above image is entitled "Keep In Mind." It depicts Molly's two grandmothers with a set of measuring spoons between the two portraits, reminding her to stay mindful of her roots. Next to it is a portrait of her grandfather, a minister, with a flock of birds surrounding him entitled "Keep Faith." Through images of her family and aspects of her life, Molly encourages her viewers to remember who they are, where they came from, what is important to them.

Molly's work will be included in the show "Women's Work: Five Distinct Points of View from Young Female Artists" at the Nevin Kelly Gallery March 14 - April 8. The opening reception will be Thursday, March 15 from 6-9 pm.

On The Walls: The Photographs of Mark Parascandola

This "On the Walls" will be more visual and less chatty as I've PROMISED myself that I'll finish the way-overdue press release for our upcoming show by the end of the day today. So without further ado, here are some of Mark Parascandola's works that are hanging in the gallery for the Double Vision show. All pigment prints. They'll be up until March 11.

La Bombonera

Recoleta
Red Shed at Sunset
La Puerta Vieja

Last Night's Opening

Here are some pictures of the Double Vision show currently up in the gallery and the opening last night.
Laying out the show. We use strips of bubble wrap to protect the frames from getting bumped up and dirty on our concrete floor.
The gallery was a mess! I kind of like it with art all over the place. I always get real stressed out the day before a show when things are all strewn about like this, and the floor is a mess, and the walls all have holes in them. I start worrying that we won't have enough storage space to put all this stuff away.

It always turns out fine though. I liked that we hung fewer works in this show. It really gives them room to breathe.
mmm... Nevin really outdid himself at WholeFoods last night. He got this goat cheese flavored with orange with little flecks of orange peel in it. OMG it was amazing.
Oh no! Nobody came!

Just kidding. We were a little worried that the ice and cold were going to keep people away. It was pretty slow for the first hour, but after that a nice crowd showed up and we relaxed (ok, the champagne helped with the relaxation bit. Thanks for that goes to Roland M. Herrmann of Maisons Marques & Domaines)
Finally when everyone is gone I can relax. Ahh... those pointy shoes were really starting to hurt.
Thanks to Lenny for blogging about the opening. It was great to finally meet him. Here's Nina Manolova's "Death Time for my Body," which Lenny mentions in his post. (I'm not really sure why it looks all pixelated here. It's not like that in person)

New Ming!

Ming Yi Sung Zaleski just dropped off some more work: two heads, two masks, another tree person, a large body, a female anatomy bodysuit, and a set of boobs (they're wearable for the boob-less).

Porn?

My Google Alerts have been blowing up over all the knitting, nude art and general news outlets that have picked up the Ming Yi Sung Zaleski story. Yesterday when I stopped in a coffee shop in New York between visiting the NY Design Fair and checking out the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibition at MAD I got by far my favorite alert. Ming's work and the Nevin Kelly Gallery are mentioned on the Knit Porn blog (only vaguely nsfw- hats, scarves and sweaters strategically covering body parts and one awesome photo called "Still Life With Penguin"). Go Ming!

Hi There!

Lovely and talented local photographer (and blogger) Alexandra Silverthorne has interviewed your favorite deputy director (me!) on her blog. Read all about my obsession with panoramas here.

Nude Crochet Makes for Good Publicity

Thanks endlessly to Lubna Takruri of the AP (and her lovely photographer Jacquelyn) for the great feature on our current exhibition, Ming Yi Sung Zaleski: Public Art Private Parts. It's been picked up by The Washington Times and The Examiner and Lubna tells us it will be read on the air on WTOP radio. (UPDATE: it's also been published in papers in Philadelphia, Montreal, San Francisco and Taiwan!)

There's been so much interest in the show that we've decided to extend it through the weekend. So if you haven't been able to make it in to see Ming's fabulous crochet sculptures, there's still some time.

Double Vision Opens Wednesday, February 14

We're so excited to be hosting our first photography show at the Nevin Kelly Gallery February 14 - March 11. Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, February 15 from 6-9 pm. (see full release below)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NEVIN KELLY GALLERY TO HOST ITS FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION

Exhibit features the work of local photographers Yanina Manolova and Mark Parascandola
Show runs Feb. 14 – Mar. 11, 2007. Opening Reception Thursday, Feb. 15 from 6 – 9 pm

The Nevin Kelly Gallery, located at 1517 U Street, NW, Washington, DC, will host a two-artist exhibition of works by Washington, DC area photographers Yanina Manolova and Mark Parascandola from February 14 until March 11, 2007. The exhibition, titled Double Vision, will juxtapose Manolova’s posed studio photography with Parascandola’s color manipulated landscape photogaphy. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artists on Thursday, February 15, from 6 until 9 o’clock p.m.

Gallery director Nevin J. Kelly explains “as a gallery that has shown mostly paintings since we established it almost four years ago, we wanted to acknowledge the significant contributions of photographers to the contemporary art landscape in Washington, DC. We chose artists who actively create the visual image (versus those who go out in search of it in the more traditional manner). Yanina Manolova consciously manipulates the visual staging in her works. While Mark Parascandola shoots in the more traditional manner, he digitally alters the color and texture of each image. The result in both cases is a series of contemporary works that have powerful emotional impact.” In keeping with the gallery’s focus on both local and international artists, Virginia resident Manalova was born and educated in Bulgaria, and much of DC resident Parascandola’s work is shot in Spain and South America.

Double Vision runs from February 14 until March 11, 2007. The opening reception is on Thursday, February 15, from 6 until 9 o’clock p.m.

For additional information contact:
Julia Morelli julia@nevinkellygallery.com
Nevin Kelly Gallery
1517 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-232-3464
www.nevinkellygallery.com and http://nevinkellygallery.blogspot.com/

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