Nevin Kelly Gallery Blog: Women's Work Opens Thursday

Here's the release:

NEVIN KELLY GALLERY TO HOST WOMEN’S WORK: FIVE DISTINCT POINTS OF VIEW FROM YOUNG FEMALE ARTISTS

Exhibit features the work of local painters Molly Brose, Mary Chiaramonte, Jenny Davis, Abbe McGray, and Laurel Hausler

Show runs Mar. 14 – Apr. 8, 2007. Opening Reception Thursday, Mar. 15 from 6 – 9 pm

The Nevin Kelly Gallery, located at 1517 U Street, NW, Washington, DC, will host a five-artist exhibition of works by Washington, DC area painters Molly Brose, Mary Chiaramonte, Jenny Davis, Abbe McGray, and Laurel Hausler from March 14 until April 8, 2007. The exhibition, titled Woman’s Work, presents the five distinct artistic viewpoints of these emerging female artists. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artists on Thursday, March 15, from 6 until 9 o’clock p.m.

All of the artists in the show are under 30 years old. Though stylistically different, each artist’s work expresses an artistic point-of-view that is uniquely that of a young woman. Julia Morelli, Deputy Director of the Nevin Kelly Gallery (and the show’s curator), states “Much of the most striking and engaging artwork I see day-to-day is done by women in my own age group (I’m 25). We wanted to highlight the skill and range of artistic vision of a group of artists – young women – that is historically under-represented. Each artist depicts images, events, and emotions unique to herself, but does so in a way that makes them accessible to others.”

Molly Brose sets clear, precise drawings against churning abstract watercolor backgrounds, giving her work a sense of history - a feeling of memories, thoughts and ideas emerging from the swirl of the past. Mary Chiaramonte wears her heart on her sleeve, exposing her vulnerability in both joy and heartbreak through dark outlines and cut paper in her figural mixed media paintings. Eighteen-year-old Jenny Davis, the youngest artist in the exhibition, paints intricately detailed, close-up watercolor portraits of other young women – usually her friends. Davis aims to capture the subtle nuances of her sitters’ expressions in order to establish a connection between viewer and subject. Abbe McGray began painting portraiture in order to stop time; to slow the pace of everyday life that causes one to stop seeing others; to begin to see and recognize the unique beauty and tragedy in each human being. In her mixed media paintings, Laurel Hausler creates haunting, mysterious tableaux that give voice to her own emotions helping her to understand and make beautiful that which is frightening and unknown.