From the Cells to the Stars by Michele Banks, 2011, watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 inches>> Nature has created some of the most delicate and beautiful things on a microscopic scale so it’s no wonder that Michele Banks and Kendall Nordin have made some of them the subject of their latest works in their exhibition Our Small Rooms at the Cafritz Arts Center at Montgomery College. Banks uses watercolor to create jewel-toned portraits of viruses, bacteria, and other cells while Nordin creates site-specific mixed-media installations that focus on the complexity of autonomic cellular responses. Opening reception Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m.
>> After attending the opening reception at Montgomery College on Thursday you can make your way to Cafe Asia in DC for a showcase event hosted by RAW: Washington. Activate will feature 30 local area artists and will include film, fashion shows, live body painting, performance art, music, photography, and an art gallery. Tickets are $10 presale, $15 at the door. 8 p.m.
>> Update: This opening reception has been posponed until next week. Have you ever thought of making your dreams a reality? That’s what Jacqueline Levine has done in her exhibition The Temptation opening at Flashpoint Gallery on Friday. Taking her inspiration from her vivid dreams as well as the imagery of Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and the distorted scale of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Levine has created large-scale figures that represent our struggle with the dark side and the light of our personalities and how easily we give in to our personal fears. 6 to 8 p.m.
>> Gallery B in Bethesda will be present its fifth exhibition featuring the work of photographers Shelva Gallman and Sandra Jensen-Taubman, and painters Kevin Gonzales and Richard Levine. An opening reception will be held on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and will coincide with the monthly Bethesda Art Walk.
>> Continuing with the inadvertent organic theme of this week’s Agenda is Emerging from the Curious: Common Place Anomalies at DC Arts Center featuring the work of Stephanie Williams. In her drawings and paintings Williams explores the strangeness and creates some bizarre and intriguing organic systems. Opening reception on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.
>> You’ve heard of endurance running but have you ever heard of endurance dancing? If you’re local performer Holly Bass you have. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ms. Bass will be performing non-stop in a specially designed bridge over the entry of the Corcoran Gallery of Art as a part of Moneymaker: An Endurance Performance by Holly Bass. Head over there to get inspired, root her on, and maybe even join in.
>> The Textile Museum will host a public gallery talk and tour of their current exhibition Dragons, Nagas, and Creatures of the Deep at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Free. No reservation required. Stick around after the tour and make your own paper molas just like those made by the Kuna people of Panama and Coastal Columbia. 2 to 4 p.m. Free.
>> Georg Kuettinger’s landscapes may look like real places upon first inspection but after taking a closer look you’ll begin to see that they are actually layers of images of the same location placed on top of each other. The scenes look familiar and inviting, places you’d like to visit in person but can only visit through your imagination. Kuettinger’s work will be on display in his first U.S. exhibition at Project 4 Gallery with an opening reception on Saturday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The artist will also be in attendance.
>> The exhibition opening at Adah Rose Gallery this week, The Pleasures Here Are Well Known, features the work of John James Anderson and Susan Stacks. Anderson addresses the printed word and the acquisition of language in his series’ “Building Blocks” and “Out Of Print” while Stacks shows us that doodles aren’t always just doodles when they are created with the precision and attention to detail that she applies. Opening reception on Saturday, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
>> Hamiltonian Gallery will be holding an opening reception for two concurrent solo exhibitions on Saturday. Passages by Joyce Y-J Lee will feature a collection of fine art photographs as well as video projections that “convey the theatrical nature of light” that she experienced while visiting the Great Wall of China and the Venice Biennale. Buddy Pictures by Matthew Mann features paintings full of cowboys in geographically impossible landscapes.
>> This week’s free films at the National Gallery of Art begin with three screenings of Le Mystère Picasso by Georges Clouzot on Wednesday, February 8 at 2:30 p.m., and Thursday, February 9 and Friday, February 10 at 12:30 p.m. On Saturday at 2:30 p.m. the program DDR/DDR will allow a discussion with young independent American filmmakers and an opportunity to share in their artistic process through special presentations and screenings. The focus of this installment is Amie Siegel. On Sunday at 4:30 p.m. the 2011 documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey will be shown.
Art Notes:
- Tonight at 7 p.m. is the final lecture as a part of the 30 Americans exhibition and will feature Xaveria Simmons, known for her work in photography, performance, installation, and video. The lecture will be at the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland.
- Celebrate Valentine’s Day early at 2nd Thursday Art Night: Made With Love at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Browse galleries, meet artists, munch on candy, and create your own valentine. 6 to 9 p.m.
- An opening reception for Cliff Evans: Sites and Stations, on display at The Stamp Gallery at University of Maryland, will be held on Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. A gallery talk with the artist and Andrea Pollan, Director of Curator’s Office in Washington DC, will take place on Saturday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m.
- On Saturday the Off-Rhode Studio will host an opening reception and artist talk for Red and White, Too and exhibition of 39 quilts inspired by Joanna S. Rose’s Red and White exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. 1 to 4 p.m.
- The opening reception for Gallery West’s 15th Annual National Juried Show will be held on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Bethesda Urban Partnership and Bethesda Arts & Entertainment have put out a call for artists for Tunnel Vision. Submit your artwork for a chance to have it displayed in the Metro tunnel that runs under Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. Twelve artists will have their work chosen and will receive $500 for licensing. Deadline is Friday, March 9; submit up to 5 pieces.
