Janet Wheeler grew up in Dutchess County, New York, a place once inhabited by native Wappinger peoples before the Anglo-Dutch settled there in the 1600's. Although Janet had no contact with those indigenous peoples, the wildness of the area and perhaps some Native dreams eventually worked their way into her psyche to be expressed in sculptural form. As a kid Janet loved exploring the forest and making art. As an adult, after obtaining her art degree from Stanford, she and her husband moved to Switzerland and then to Ithaca, New York. Home again she again "went wild" exploring the 30 foot waterfalls, pools and lakes in the natural world that called to her.
Read moreSteve Alderton's ICONS
Vibrant colors, free flowing brushstrokes, enticing textures, and layers of interconnected geometry anchored amongst elegant shapes, this is the alluring realm of Steve Alderton. A true expressionist, Alderton, prefers for his paintings to speak for themselves. Figuratively, he lays out a colorful and emotive walkway, asks and demands nothing of the viewer, except to experience your own journey along his beautifully painted path.
Read moreTimothy Johnson's Single Figure Narratives
Tim could be your ordinary picture framer during the day, or a master of disguise at night--or maybe both. You never know with Tim Johnson. He's a painter of human complexities using friends for models or capturing himself in mirrors and lenses. What transpires in his imagination as he stands before a blank canvas and opens tubes of paint is anybody's guess.
Read more“UNFILTERED” by Leslie M. Nolan
Within each brush-stroke, a poetic tinge of mystery, a sophisticated flick of intrigue, a provocative expedition of color and form playing along the canvas: welcome to the painted world of Leslie M. Nolan.
Read moreUncovering the Magic of the Universe: Bill Mould
Bill calls himself a ceramic sculptor -- one who works at taking clay from the earth and transforming it into sculptures, which recall ancient myths. The clay, heavy to begin with, becomes light and intensely fragile as he works with it. He makes art in order to stir new ways of thinking and experiencing the world both for himself and for those who view the finished pieces.
Read moreOn Being Nomadic: Gale Wallar
For Gale, who was born into a military family, being nomadic was the norm. That, and a rich exposure to art, architecture and history. Art is the course that Gale set for herself as a child and she has stuck to it during some circuitous turns and long journeys. After achieving a BFA in painting and printmaking, she freelanced in Washington D.C. and some of her political cartoons were published in the Washington Post.
Read moreThe Whole Ball of Wax: Georgia Nassikas
Georgia Nassikas, a new Touchstone artist, paints in the encaustic medium, so she has something in common with the ancient Egyptians who painted mummy portraits 1700 years ago -- and more recently Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Diego Rivera, Jasper Johns, just to name a few. All these artists painted at some time in their lives with the encaustic medium: hot beeswax infused with colored pigments.
Read morePhotography: The Observant Eye: Micheal Lang
It takes an observant eye, two eyes, or even three to catch the essence of a person on film. Mike Lang has the prerequisite three eyes -- two in his head and one in his camera. Being a social documentary photographer, he's had a camera in front of his face since he started taking shots of pool players in Baltimore. That was back when he was a wet-behind-the-ears kid in 1957. Mike photographs all over the country and even in places like Thailand. But this time around in 2012, Mike hung out at the Town Dance Boutique on weekends off and on for eight months, observing the drag queens and how illusion was created by them through makeup, costume, and performance.
Read moreOut of Chaos: Rosemary Luckett
Whether an artist's studio is neat as a pin or heaped full of brushes, tools, clay or wood, disorder characterizes the creative process. A chaotic jumble of ideas spill out of the brain and become organized in drawn or painted forms. Tubes of color sort themselves out, then are squeezed onto the palette in a jumble of mixed hues. A teapot spout, in a box of cast-offs, offers itself to the sculptor as the beginning of a bird with a long neck. A dream works its way to the conscious surface, suggesting a vision that emerges in material form from a chunk of clay.
Read moreThe Touchstone Community: History Highlights
Artist-owned Touchstone Gallery has maintained a reputation for exhibiting contemporary work of high quality, vision and innovation by top-notch artists. Since the beginning, Touchstone’s mission remains unaltered: to enrich the lives of the community through exhibits of diverse contemporary collections of visual art; to promote a rich variety of artistic talent in the DC region; to connect collectors with its artists; and to foster continuing artistic and career growth of participating artist through encouragement and support. As a member owned and managed gallery, Touchstone artists enjoy the right to guide gallery policies and control their solo exhibitions. For each piece seen in any given monthly exhibit, countless others are located in each artist’s studio. Our director, artists and staffers are readily available for discussing all artwork types, techniques, and commission possibilities.
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