By F. Lennox Campello

The summer is essentially here and so are some great shows opening around the DMV.

Over In Rockville’s Artists & Makers Studios you’ll see the work of Robert LeMar titled “Crossing the Line”, the Resident Artist exhibit “10×10” and the Artists of Gallery 209 for the month of June as well as  building-wide Open Studios.

The June 4th opening will run from 11am – 3pm at Artists & Makers Studios, 11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210 in Rockville, MD. They tell me that “LeMar’s interest in line has always been prevalent in his work. Three years of portrait sketching on the beaches of Chicago when he was a preteen developed his affinity to line. This was further bolstered by sketching portraits on the boardwalk of Ocean City Maryland in his twenties. Even though he was later encouraged by his art professors at The Maryland School of Art and Design in Silver Spring to not rely on drawing when painting, he still persisted in drawing on the canvas before applying paint. To this day drawing remains a major element in his painting technique. In his recent abstract work, as he crosses the line between realism and abstraction, he gives line an obviously dominant and defining role.”

Over at the Kreeger Museum, Hamiltonian Artists and The Kreeger Museum presents “Unexpected Occurrences”, which is described as “a contemporary response to a modern collection”, and which features the work of Hamiltonian Artists’ seven current fellows—Amber Eve Anderson, Maria Luz Bravo, Jason Bulluck, Joey Enriquez, Stephanie Garon, Madeline Stratton, and Lionel Frazier White III. The exhibition includes new works in video, mixed media, sculpture, photography, encaustic, printmaking, and painting installed throughout the museum.

Described as “unconventional pairings of old and new works, the exhibition challenges the viewer to consider the nuances of medium and subject and how they shift over time. Using sculpture and encaustic, Bulluck explores the meaning of databases, from a Buddhist and Marxist framework, to consider the human contribution to systems through interaction. Enriquez and Garon both use raw material to comment on labor, land, and their connections to society. Stratton’s series of new paintings consider the specific shapes and shadows from the Kreeger terrace and color from the Claude Monet paintings in the collection. Bravo and Anderson utilize new technologies to capture movement and time through photography. White memorializes Black experiences through mixed media assemblage specifically referencing family legacy and spirituality.”

Fellowship Director Tomora Wright states, “We are so pleased to be partnering with the Kreeger on this impactful initiative. I, along with the seven artists, were exhilarated by the opportunity to show alongside the important modern works in the museum’s collection. We want visitors to draw connections between, find unexpected occurrences, and consider differences in focus and subject of the work then and now.”

“The Collaborative furthers our mission by supporting and spotlighting the immense talent of visual and performing artists in our city,” adds Helen Chason, director of The Kreeger Museum. “We are thrilled to be in partnership with Hamiltonian Artists to present work of the Hamiltonian Fellows. We are honored to champion the work of these artists and provide many of them the opportunity to present their work in a museum for the first time.” The show runs through August 27, 2022.

Lastly, summer exhibitions will open Jun. 11 in the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center and be on display through Aug. 7. Real openings! The shows start with “The Quest for Tranquil Space: Paintings and Photograms” which marks Czech Republic artist Josef Achrer’s U.S. debut. “The Bridge that Carried Us Over” explores the mechanisms by which the transfer of intergenerational wealth, land, and historical memory have been denied to the African diaspora in the United States.

“Caribbean Transitions” explores the character, complexity, and originality of art by Caribbean American artists as they expand the art of the North American continent. It features the work of 20 artists who are painters, printmakers, photographers, video makers, and installation and performance artists.

“Mokha Laget: Perceptualism” features over 40 paintings, sculpture, drawings, and lithographs and surveys the last 10 years of an artistic practice devoted to exploring perception and space and documents the ways in which female-identifying artists have contributed to abstraction.

“Vertiginous Matter: Jason Horowitz” is an investigation of materialism, scale, and perception as shown through the artist’s lens and artistic process. Utilizing modern technology, Horowitz’s images are both “arresting in their scale and magnitude and yet intricate in their detail and delicacy.” Curated by Jennifer Sakai and presented by the Alper Initiative for Washington Art.

“Home-Land: Exploring the American Myth” considers the museum’s proximity to the location of the Department of Homeland Security’s Nebraska Avenue Complex as it explores of the impact of American culture on its citizens both naturalized and native. The curators add that “using American iconography, consumer and visual culture, and personal experience, the featured eight Washington area artists simultaneously honor and confront the American dream. Artists reveal that home is not a privilege for all – for some it is taken, for others it is to be fought for and defended, and, for many artists in the show, it is reforged in a new land. This exhibition, curated by Michael Quituisaca and Alexandra Schuman, highlights how these artists have found their place within multiple frameworks of identity, both ascribed and subscribed.”