Artists of the Gallery on View

Between now and our next opening on May 7th, we will be exhibiting various artists of the gallery, both new works and some old friends. Please stop by and take a look!

















View of gallery with mascot Boone

Hours: Wednesday & Sunday, 12 to 6 pm; Thursday – Saturday, 12 to 8 pm; Closed Monday & Tuesday.

Gretchen Feldman: “stitches in time, etc.” opens May 7th

Recent NKG Feature!

Many thanks to the Prince of Petworth for featuring NKG and the Water Media on Paper show on his March 25, 2008 blog entry! We really appreciate the kudos. The entry, complete with a fabulous picture of Boone, can be found here.

Gallery artists (local, national and Polish) are currently on view between now and the beginning of May. We hope you drop by and see us again soon!

Miriam's Kitchen Benefit Thursday; Last Week for NSAL Show

This is the last week to view the exhibition of paintings by the 19 regional winnners of the National Society of Arts and Letters' 2007 watercolor painting competition. The competition was won by Washington D.C.'s Jenny Davis for her "Portrait of Tess."

If you come on Thursday, you can also benefit Miriam's Kitchen, a Foggy Bottom food bank and counseling center for the homeless. On Thursday, March 20, NGK is joining several other business on the 1500 and 1600 blocks of U Street for a night of shopping and community support. Individual businesses will serve as drop-off points for donations of clothing and other essential items to benefit the clients that Miriam's Kitchen serves. Drop off your new or "gently used" blue jeans at Nevin Kelly Gallery between 6 and 9 p.m. Other participating businesses, and the donations items to be collected there, include:

Caramel 1603 U Street NW (Men's Underwear)
Habitat 1510 U Street NW (Men's Socks)
Moojoo Ken 1512 U Street NW (Deodorant)
Nana 1528 U Street NW (Vitamins)
RCKNDY 1515 U Street NW (Razors)
Wild Women Wear Red 1512 U Street NW (Hotel-Sized Bottles of Shampoo/Lotion)

Most of the businesses will be donating 10 percent of all sales to Miriam's Kitchen.

The event runs from 6 to 9 PM.

Contact Caramel boutique at contact@caramelfashion.com or 202-265-1930 for more information.

Artist Feature 11 : Molly Brose

Local artist Molly Brose is best inspired while engaged in the making of her art, taking chances along the way. Molly started out as a jewelry maker after college, and gradually returned to her childhood love of making art. The subjects chosen for Molly’s lyrical pieces consist of anything that speaks to her intuitively, from an old photograph to a phone conversation. According to Molly, “it’s gotta be worthy of a song.”

NKG has two new pieces by Molly on view right now. Both “Good Together” and “The Girl He Chose” [pictured below] feature Molly’s meticulous drawings on a smudged background of watercolor and conté. “The Girl He Chose” allows the viewer to see the subject through a zoomed-in lens. “Good Together” shows two people on horseback inside a more defined diamond shape, with a red circle overlapping the picture plane. Both backgrounds are scratched more than her previous works, and greater emphasis is given to the paintings’ linear properties (done in watercolor and graphite).

Molly’s new work continues to sparkle like precious jewels, worn as a personal ornament to remember where they came from, and where they are headed. Stop by and see them if you haven't done so already!

DCist Review of NSAL Water Media on Paper Show

Thank you to Kelly Rand of the DCist for her review of the National Society of Arts and Letters Water Media on Paper exhibition currently up in the gallery. Please read the review here.

NSAL Water Media on Paper will be on view through March 23rd, 2008.

Water Media on Paper Opening Review

Thank you to all of you who came out last night to celebrate the opening of the National Society of Arts and Letters Water Media on Paper (2007 Finalists) exhibition with us! We are the second to last stop on this national tour. This exhibit is a wonderful opportunity for young artists to explore more imaginative realms, while using a very difficult medium. Local artist Jenny Davis (first prize winner of the NSAL Competition), along with her mother and friend, were also present at the opening.

If you missed the festivities (or simply want to re-live them), visual documentation can be found here. Hope you enjoy the photos and slideshow!

Water Media on Paper will be on view until March 23, 2008.

Looking Ahead...

January has come and gone, and February is well under way. With the start of spring right around the corner, it seems appropriate to introduce talented, emerging artists into the local art community. From February 27 thru March 23, Nevin Kelly Gallery will host a traveling exhibition featuring the winners of the National Society of Arts and Letters’ 2007 arts competition. This competition was open to young artists (ages 18-29) who work in water media on paper. Local artist Jenny Davis, a previous NKG exhibitor, won this year’s $10,000 national first prize for her watercolor work entitled "Portrait of Tess” (pictured above). The winning works of the other 18 local chapter competitions who competed for the grand prize will also be on display.

We will host an opening reception at the gallery, 1517 U Street, NW for the National Tour of Works by 2007 NSAL Water Media On Paper competition winners on Thursday, February 28, 2008 from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Please stop by and see this notable exhibition!

New Works by Sondra Arkin

She’s done it again! Local artist Sondra Arkin recently brought four new works to the gallery depicting a different style. She was uncertain about the new direction her paintings were headed and wanted to see her work outside the confines of the studio. Arkin’s works were mounted on the gallery’s white walls right before the talk on Saturday afternoon. They were the most talked-about pieces of the day. Sondra may have felt that she “jumped off the cliff”, but she sure landed well.


Stylistic development is crucial in the oeuvre of every artist. If Picasso stuck with the academic realism of his figures prior to 1901, the history of art would have never witnessed his defying of tradition via the Blue, Rose and African-influenced Periods, as well as the different stages of Cubism. In the twenty-first century, artists are expected to reinvent their styles over and over again. For many, it is the only way to keep developing artistically. It is hard to do, and even harder to do it successfully.

Two of Arkin’s new works (pictured above), 32’’x32’’ encaustic on dibond paintings, particularly stand out. Her “brick wall” motif both dominates and accents the new compositions, without becoming repetitive, (as, in my view, the paintings in Sean Scully’s Wall of Light series did). These compositions are less structured than before, and indicate the artist’s desire to toss all pre-determined fears aside and simply jump into the unknown. The colors, though still energetic, are slightly muted, as if to reduce the focus on color itself in favor of returning to a focus on the effects of layering – which contain Arkin’s stylistic reference to the overlapping layers of joy, sadness, triumph and tragedy that come to define each of us.

In my opinion, the biggest difference between the old and new Arkin works is in her ability to create movement with the tactile rendering of colors. Rather than having the colors compliment each other side by side, Arkin has produced lines, points and shapes that are suspended in a timeless dance on the picture plane. In her new paintings Mitosis and Waterloo (both 2008), it is the texture that compliment each other; they tell stories and compose melodies. Like the musical paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, Arkin’s new works express power in linear forms and prove that abstraction is not simply the effect of a random process but the result of authenticity and an effort towards the beauty found inwards.

Above all, Sondra Arkin’s continued success in creating abstract art teaches us to observe our surroundings and "see" things we have never seen before or perhaps never looked close enough to see. May these musical pieces continue to add to the many layers of experience that influence our lives.

Polish Art Talk Re-cap

A big, heart-felt thank you to those who came out for the Polish Art Talk and reception supporting “An Ideal Mix-Up” last Saturday. Highlights from the afternoon included the unveiling of Sondra Arkin’s newest pieces (see entry above) and Nevin’s talk on the history of the gallery and the Polish art that inspired it. As indicated on the press release, we will be switching paintings around during the course of the show so please stop by and see us this winter – you’re bound to see something new.

[ Links ]
Video: Polish Art Talk
Photos: Talk and Reception

and...

Photos from the 40x26.667 show featuring Mark Parascandola and Stirling Elmendorf:

Mark Parascandola & Stirling Elmendorf at Caramel

Kudos to local men's and women's clothing boutique Caramel for providing much-needed alternative exhibition space to local artists. On Friday evening, I attended the opening reception for the collaborative digital photography exhibition of works by local artists Mark Parascandola and Stirling Elmendorf at Caramel's 1603 U Street, NW location. Mark and Stirling's photographs are ideally suited to each other, like a perfect wine/cheese or wine/chocolate pairing. In their first collaboration, these young photographers look like they've been working together for years. Please show your thanks to Caramel, and your appreciation for local artists, by stopping in to see this show (and the wonderful merchandise Caramel has to offer). You will leave enriched--and better dressed.