Throughout the year the Arts Building presents an inviting selection of exhibits. Each exhibit includes carefully crafted programs and events designed to complement the show and provide opportunities for visitors to interact and better understand art.
Current Exhibits
Green: Art with the Earth in Mind June 12 - August 27, 2010 Main Gallery
Juried by Dr. Margaret Palmer, Director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, and Ms. Bryna Freyer, Curator of Collections at the National Museum of African Art, the GREEN exhibition includes more than sixty-five works of art displayed inside and out, that examine ecological issues on a local, regional, national, and global level. The thirty artists chosen for GREEN come from across the U.S, as well as southern Maryland. This timely exhibition is a celebration of our relationship to the natural world and a profound visual exploration of our impact on the earth.
Contributing Artists: Brenda Belfield
------------Tara Bonner ------------------ Barbara Boward
Melissa Buesing ----------- Ryan Anthony Burns-------
Kathleen Carlson
Everitt Clark----------------- Jim Coates---------------------- Mary Ellen Croteau
Richard Elaver------------- Paul Ford------------------------ Stephen Godfrey
Abbey Griffin-------------- Susan Hogan-------------------
Chavawn Kelley
Joel LeVasseur------------
Lisa Lindgren-------------------
Yuko Oda
Sri Prabha--------------
Catherine Prose--------
Jacqueline Rose Schlossman
Suzanne Shelden-------------------
Katherine D. Singh---------
Merrill Steiger
Gerardo Valerio-Trigueros------- Kevin Veara-------------------- Alice Yutzy
Learn more about the artists behind the GREEN show.
Embark on your Summer Safari for GREEN here! Click the icon to download your passport to fun!
Green Too: Installations with the Earth in Mind July 16 - October 8, 2010 Mezzanine Gallery
GREEN TOO, a complementary component of GREEN, showcases small to large scale installations that
confront ecological issues on a local, regional, national, and/or global level. The exhibition creates
an experience that physically immerses the audience in environmental issues.
Contributing Artists: Krisanne Baker
Oreen Cohen
Mary Ellen Croteau with Aviva Alter & Mary Buczyk
Christine Destrempes
Beverly Jackson
William Malatesta
von Schmidt
Julie Whitney Barnes
Art Blooms: Floral Arrangements Inspired by the GREEN Exhibits Friday, July 23 - Sunday, July 25
Main Gallery
Inspried by the works of art in the GREEN exhibits, this unique three-day exhibition will feature the work of 19 floral designers from across the state of Maryland. Juried by the Calvert Garden Club, each floral designer will present their creation inspired by one of the spectacular 2-D or 3-D works in the gallery.
ART BLOOMS Preview Gala, July 23th, 7:00-9:00pm.
Hosted by the Calvert Garden Club & Annmarie Garden --- Come enjoy a special evening featuring the live floral creations of 19 floral designers from across Maryland as they present arrangements inspired by the GREEN exhibits at Annmarie Garden. Enjoy hot and cold hors d’oeurves, cash bar, and live music by John Shaw. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Dunkirk Floral (Dunkirk), Educate & Celebrate (Prince Frederick), or by calling Annmarie Garden at 410-326-4640. The ART BLOOMS floral exhibit will continue through Sunday, July 25 at Annmarie Garden. Proceeds from the event will benefit the new Children’s Discovery Garden at Annmarie Garden.
Upcoming Exhibits
_text/message: a teen art exhibit Facebook public comments: October 1-15, 2010
Exhibition dates:
November 13, 2010 - January 30, 2011
Mezzanine Gallery
_text/message is a student exhibition that will showcase the talent, creativity, and perspectives of today's teen culture. Whether through visual artwork, creative writing, or performing arts, the exhibit will include work that communicates what it means to be a teen in the world today. All artwork will include text or a message in the body of the work. The deadline for teens to apply to the show is September 30.
Images of all submitted works will be posted on Facebook from October 1-15 during which time the public will be invited to comment on the works. The Jury Panel will review all Facebook comments/ votes to determine which works to include in the exhibit at Annmarie Garden. The exhibit will open November 13, 2010. The Awards Reception will be held Sunday, December 5, 2010, 5-7pm. The Awards Reception is open to the public.
Jury Panel:
Teen Peers - names to be announced
Nancy Proctor, PhD,Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives, Smithsonian Institution
Nick Garrett, Founder & Dean of Students, Garrett Music Academy
Joe Ruff, PhD., Public Services Librarian, Calvert Public Library
Tim Scheirer,Exhibits Technician, Calvert Marine Museum
Exhibit Archives
re.action: art that will move you! May 31-August 31, 2008
Viewing art becomes a highly interactive experience in Re.action, an exploration of the language of movement in art. Juried by Mark Ward, Deputy Director of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Re.action includes works that literally move as well as pieces that suggest movement visually. Discover the various media and techniques contemporary artists use to examine the role of movement in their artwork; push a button, turn a crank, spin a pedestal, or experience the optical illusions that seem to wave and pulse as the work is closely examined.
Olga Hirshhorn Recollects: an intimate view at a private collection May 30-September 21, 2008
Annmarie Garden introduces an extraordinary exhibit of modern art, including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Joan Miro. Made up of works on loan from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, this exhibition surveys a large donation made by Mrs. Hirshhorn to the Corcoran. Many of the works were created specifically for Mrs. Hirshhorn and her husband, the late Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founder of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. The show provides an intimate look at the friendships the Hirshhorns enjoyed with some of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. On loan from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Some Assembly Required: a participatory art exhibit September 26- November 16, 2008
Main Gallery
This participatory art exhibit explores the seven basic elements of art - line, color, shape, form, value, texture, and space - by inviting visitors to help create four on-site installations and two make and take projects. These works of art will grow and change every day as visitors contribute new elements. Whether you are a confident artist, or a hesitant dabbler, you are invited to participate. It is participation that is sought, not perfection. The ultimate goal is to create art shaped by our diverse community. Help us create something wonderful! Repeat visits are encouraged!
Celebrations: Art Glass Exhibit November 28, 2008 - February 15, 2009 Main Gallery
This winter Annmarie Garden is teaming up with the National Capital Art Glass Guild to exhibit spectacular glass works for the holiday season. Lasting from late November through the middle of February, this exhibit will complement the new walk-through Garden in Lights special event.
Touch! art that breaks the rules March 7- May 3, 2009
Main Gallery
This exhibit invites guests to use their sense of touch to explore the texture and shape of art. Seventeen artists have contributed more than forty-five works, including bronze, wood, marble, glass, brick, and ceramic, to this unconventional exhibit. Close your eyes and feel the smooth marble, the pebbly bronze, the gritty clay, the rough wood, and the satiny glass. What does your sense of touch communicate to you about the art? What do you feel? Texture, temperature, shape? Break the rules, touch the art, and use your sense of touch to experience art in a new and enriching way. Guests with sight impairments may find distinct delight in being allowed this intimate experience.
TOUCH! is anchored by twenty-one extraordinary bronze shields by Andrew Baxter. Widely sought after for his restoration work, Baxter is also a talented artist who creates mesmerizing bronze works using luminous patinas and repetitive shapes. With raised nodules, squiggly lines, hatch marks, and geometric forms, Baxter creates a rich world of sensory delights. Other artists in the exhibit include sculptor Lee Aks, well-known artist Brenda Belfield, wood carver John A. Schaffner, and Perry Carsley, a contributing artist to the National World War II Memorial. Two emerging artists of note in TOUCH! are Amanda Willis and James Thomas Robertson.
Sailor Made: the art of the woolie October 25, 2008 - July 5, 2009
Mezzanine Gallery
A woolie is a hand-stitched portrait of a ship created by British seamen between the 1830s and 1880s. Long hours at sea, coupled with the on-the-job knowledge of sewing, gave sailors the time and talent to create these exceptional works of art. This unusual collection is on loan from Donald Berezoski.
What is it about animals that enthrall, delight, terrify, inspire, comfort, and intrigue us? Some of the earliest forms of art, stunning prehistoric cave paintings and bas relief sculptures estimated to be at least 30,000 years old, are dominated by representations of animals. Our ancient relationship with animals - wild and domesticated, real and imagined, extinct and extant - is the inspiration for Wild Things.
As you view the sixty-eight pieces selected for this exhibit (located outdoors in the garden as well as in the Main Gallery), consider the emotions that animals arouse. How do the representations here affect your emotions? What is it about animals that enthrall, delight, terrify, inspire, comfort, and intrigue you ?
Daily Activities: enjoy these hands-on activities inspired by the exhibit
----Walk on the Wild Side - channel your inner beast and create a graphic print of the wild thing within you!
----Creature Collage - help complete a mural by desinging your own fantasy animal and placing it in a landscape.
Scheduled Activities: ----WILD Things Program - Sunday, June 28, 10am-5pm ----WILD Things Summer Safari - June 1 - August 30 ----WILD Things Pet Day - Sunday, August 23, 10am-5pm
Proximity: Regional Discoveries July 25- October 4, 2009 Mezzanine Gallery
How does proximity to the water, land and urban center influence art? This exhibit explores the ways southern Maryland artists are taking fresh perspectives on traditional subjects.
Date Night Opening of Echo - Friday, October 2, 6-9pm
MLK Days January 16 -18, 2009 Free admission for children! Main Gallery
Join DC artist, Joyce Wellman, as she leads visitors in a collaborative mural project inspired by the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Learn about Dr. King's life and work, and make a collage about his impact on your personal world. Final collage will be arranged in a multimedia installation at Annmarie Garden and other southern Maryland sites.
Also in the gallery, explore Forty Blossoms from the Bouquet, featuring portraits of forty of our area's most prominent African-American women by local artist, Delphine Siggers-Williams. Forty Blossoms will be on display from January 16- February 28.
GLOW November 24, 2009 - February 14, 2010 Main Gallery
Let there be light! During the darkening months of the year, light artists will set the Arts Building aglow with their work.
GLOW Reception - Sunday, December 6, 5-7pm
Living Gallery January 9 - February 14, 2010 Main Gallery
Witness the working process of artists-- from concept to finished product-- as Annmarie Garden’s spectacular Main Gallery is transformed into artist studios, allowing visitors the opportunity to appreciate the artistic process as well as the product. Gallery artists change every week-- stop back often!
Living Gallery Schedule
Jan 12-16 Mickey Kunkle, Jewelry
Jan 12-17 Brenda Belfield, Mixed Media
Jan 16-21 Doug Reynolds, Collage
Jan 17-21, Bertram White, Pastel
Jan 18-24, Alexa Meade, Mixed Media
Jan 23-29 Jacquelyn Dinora, Watercolor
Jan 25-31 Amy Koskey Mixed Media
Jan 25-31 Helen Anne, Painting
Jan 25-29 Ann Crain, Painting
Jan 25-29 Mary Beth Harry, Painting
Jan 30-31, Feb 2-4 Frances Borchardt, Mixed Media
Feb 8-12, Carmelo Ciancio, Scratchboard
Feb 8-14 Sarah Houde, Ceramics
Feb 8-14 Barbara Jones, Mosaic
Celebrate African-American History Month at Annmarie with southern Maryland artist Delphine Siggers Williams' collection, Forty Blossoms from the Bouquet, a celebration of prominent African-American women in our community. Also on view, don't miss Delphine's newest series, Portraits of the Pastors and Brothers.
Constructed Place March 20, 2010 - May 8, 2010 Main Gallery
Interact and immerse yourself in the created spaces, built places, and imagined environments designed and sculpted by the Washington Sculptors Group.
