Visual Arts

Shannon McGovern • July 13, 2011

From the beginning, the relationship between Norman Parish and his wife Gwen centered around a deep appreciation for talent and beauty, values that come to life in the Norman Parish Gallery’s 20th Anniversary exhibition, “Living Embodiments: Artistic Expressions of Being” which will run until July 12.

Norman met his wife, Gwen, 23 years ago after moving to D.C. from Chicago. They spent their weekends driving through the mountains of northwestern Maryland. They would park on the side of the highway where she would sunbathe and read while he painted landscapes, and together, they mused about the idea of opening an art gallery. One day, walking home after enjoying an oyster meal at Manhattan’s, the couple noticed an ad for the sale of a gallery.

Twenty years later, they celebrate not only the anniversary of their gallery’s opening, but also the talent and development of the family of artists who, Norman says, contributed work of consistent quality.

“My reference to quality is that the subject matter may not be to one’s liking, but the art works can truly be called fine art. The diversity of the artists shown over the years has one thing in common . . . quality,” said Norman in a press release.

The Parishes entertained a full house at the gallery’s opening reception for the exhibition on June 17. While exhibitions usually feature the work of one artist, in honor of the anniversary, Norman selected the work of a range of artists with whom he worked over the years and whose work he feels is “meaningful and impactful.” The works of master painters Herbert Gentry and Robert Mayhew were given recognition as well as upcoming artists Mason Archie and Morris Howard, pencil drawings by Kenneth Pasley, photos by 11 photographers and a piece by Sam Gilliam. Some are personal friends of Norman’s including Richard Hunt, a former classmate from the Art Institute of Chicago, and Evangeline J. Montgomery, who advised him while he was opening the gallery.

Collectively, the Parish Gallery features mostly, but not exclusively, artists from Africa and the African Diaspora whose art covers a broad spectrum of styles in contemporary fine art. In the past two decades, the gallery hosted artists from over 25 different countries.

Reflecting back on the life of the gallery, the Parishes remember a few exhibitions that were particularly notable. For both Norman and Gwen, Willard Wigan’s microscopic sculptures in his exhibition “Art in the Eye of a Needle” stood out, particularly for the notoriety and intriguing concept. During the two-month exhibition, 3,500 people visited the gallery to peer into microscopes to view the miniscule sculptures set in the eyes of needles.

Norman noted the development of Yvette Watson, an artist who he introduced to the gallery business. In her first show at the Parish Gallery, she sold 14 of the 16 pieces on display – one of the only sellout shows.

An oil painting by Parish himself also hangs among the work of his friends and colleagues, a brilliantly colored landscape that’s what he calls “expressionism in the form of stylized realism.” Despite his talent, Parish considers himself more of a businessman.

“I spent my life pursuing an art career and I was in my late forties when I realized it wasn’t happening. Someone said, ‘Why don’t you open a gallery?’ So I became a businessman,” he said.

Parish opened the gallery because few galleries consistently allowed diverse art in terms of style.

“My primary concern is that these artists have a place to be seen,” he said.

Shannon McGovern • June 15, 2011

The artists on exhibit at the Maurine Littleton Gallery bring to life an otherwise cold and transparent medium in their glass art, which flaunts dimensions and depth of color unmatched by other art media. Contemporary glass art by local artists, including the “Macchia” collection by the internationally renowned Dale Chihuly, has been displayed at the gallery since its opening in 1984, each work reflecting new interpretations and uses of a range of traditional craft media.

Michael Janis, a D.C. native and a director at the Washington Glass School, experiments with dimension in his fused-glass art. He carefully crafts images on sheets of glass by funneling fine glass powder onto the sheets, which he then uses various tools to move and shape. The sheets are fused together in a kiln to create one panel of glass, but the layering adds an unexpected depth and sense of perspective to the images. A former architect, Janis explores buildings from different perspectives in his art, which has won him recognition and acclaim in recent years. The Florida Glass Art Alliance named him Outstanding Emerging Artist in 2009, and Janis recently received a Fulbright Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State.

Fables and fairytales are represented in the work of Allegra Marquart, who uses the images in her art to explore broader themes associated with the subject matter. Her process involves a different layering approach, in which she spreads a granulated glass material called “frit” over a smooth panel of glass. Placed in a kiln, the loose material melts and fuses with the panel to create a textured surface in which she carves images in relief. The result is like that of a print or stamp and uses dimension and color to create contrast. Marquart formerly taught printmaking at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and now enjoys retirement from her home in Baltimore.

An important element of glass art lies in the interaction between light and color in the work, an aspect embraced by Therman Statom in his constructed glasswork. Statom experiments with dimension, shape, color and light in his glass sculptures to tell a story or explore a school of thought. His ladders and miniature houses are on exhibit at the Maurine Littleton Gallery, but he is internationally recognized for his full installations such as those on exhibit at the Los Angeles International Airport, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués/Contemporain in Lausanne, Switzerland. Statum studied at the Pratt Institute of Art and Design and has been recognized by critics as one of the most influential and significant American experimental glass artists.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Harvey Littleton’s involvement in founding the Studio Glass Movement. Maurine is in the process of compiling his father’s biography with the intention of publishing it in honor of the anniversary. The Corning Museum of Glass in New York and the Chazen Museum of Art in Wisconsin will feature exhibitions showcasing the glasswork of Harvey Littleton in the next year. [gallery ids="99986,99987,99988,99989" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Green: the Color and the Cause
April 16 -September 11, 2011

This exhibition will celebrate everything green, both as a color and as a cause, exploring the techniques people have devised to create green textiles, the meanings this color has held in cultures across time and place, and the ways that contemporary textile artists and designers are responding to concerns about the environment. The exhibition will include a selection of work from the Museum’s collection, along with extraordinary work by contemporary artists and designers from five continents, including two extraordinary on-site installations. [gallery ids="99610,105053" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

NEXT at the Corcoran: BFA Class of 2011
April 23–May 22, 2011

On the footsteps of Corcoran’s progressive and wonderfully fresh “NOW” series, which spotlights contemporary working artists as comprehensively as most museums cover the classics, comes NEXT, an exhibition of the Corcoran College graduating class of 2011. There is sure to be an impressive array of budding artists on display with the bravado and curiosity that students exemplify, like horses chomping at the bit.

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NOW at the Corcoran: Chris Martin
June 18–October 23, 2011

Although abstract, Martin’s paintings are a direct response to the physical world around him. Many of his works integrate objects from his immediate environment into their surfaces, including kitchen utensils, records, photographs, and Persian carpets. The works are as much about daily life—music, travel, and language—as they are about mythology, storytelling, the endurance of symbols, and the role of painting in art history.

Georgetowner •

Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan
February 26–July 31, 2011 (Sackler Gallery)

Majestic sixth-century Chinese Buddhist sculpture is combined with 3-D imaging technology in this exploration of one of the most important groups of Buddhist devotional sites in early medieval China. Carved into the mountains of northern China, the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan (pronounced “shahng-tahng-shahn”) were the crowning cultural achievement of the Northern Qi dynasty (550-77 CE). Once home to a magnificent array of sculptures–monumental Buddhas, divine attendant figures, and crouching monsters framed by floral motifs–the limestone caves were severely damaged in the first half of the twentieth century, when their contents were chiseled away and offered for sale on the international art market. The exhibit re-creates the forms and power of these sacred Eastern sculptures as they were originally constructed.

Georgetowner •

Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964-1977
February 24, 2011- May 15, 2011

Palermo (1943-1977), renowned throughout Europe as an influential postwar painter, has been largely looked over by America. This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of his work in the United States, reflecting the artist’s progression, follows a loose chronology based on his four main bodies of work.

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Directions: Grazia Toderi
Opens April 21, 2011

Best known for her large-scale installations, Toderi calls her video projections “frescoes of light.” The artist works from documentary imagery collected from urban night surveillance and military, satellite, and space program footage. Over these she superimposes her own photography and cinematography, altering the effect with digital manipulations and unifying the vista with sepia-tone filters. The result feels both familiar and mysterious, as the eye struggles to determine the horizon line and read the origins of fields of glimmering lights. Shown on an endless loop, these mesmerizing nightscapes represent the artist’s ambition to “visualize the infinite.”

John Blee •

Siobhan Gavagan is a rising D.C. gallerist and formerly worked for Margery Goldberg. She is now with Susan Calloway at her elegant Georgetown space on Wisconsin Avenue. Siobhan’s energy, smarts, and charm make her a standout in the gallery scene.

What got you into the art business?

My family has always been involved in the arts. My father went to NYU for film and photography
and has a great love for the arts, so we would always go to museums, foreign films, and the theatre growing up. I’m very fortunate to be working in the field that I studied in college as most people get art degrees and end up not doing anything related to art.

Do you hang out with an “art crowd?”

Not really, I have a couple of friends that are painters and musicians, but D.C. is such a political
city, most of my friends work on the Hill or for NGOs. The art scene in D.C. is coming around and getting the younger crowd more involved, but it has a way to go.

What’s your favorite D.C. museum?

The National Portrait Gallery. I’m a big history buff so looking at all of the old portraits of great leaders is really exciting for me.

You’ve lived in a group house, what’s the inside scoop?

It was wild! I lived with nine roommates in Le Droit Park. It was like The Real World, but better.
I found the house on Craigslist and went in not knowing anyone. I’ve made some amazing friends from that experience. We had friends that lived in other group houses so our group would always grow with new people moving in and out. There was a Fourth of July party that we threw that will go down in history!

How was it working for the legendary Margery Goldberg?

Margery is great. I started off interning at Zenith and eventually took on the role as gallery manager. The openings were always fun at Zenith and Margery knows how to throw a party and get other people excited about art.

What’s your commission on selling a picture?

The most I’ve made from a commission was around $600. It’s a great incentive to really go after a sale.

Who ever gets your first name spelled right?

I think my Mom and Dad are the only ones who get it right. I still have family who misspell my name on birthday and Christmas cards! I was always the kid in class who would sink down in their chair when the teacher was calling roll, Sio-Bahn Gava-Gon — they never could pronounce
it right.

What about your own art, is it suffering or gaining by working in a gallery?

Sometimes I can get inspired from all of the beautiful work that surrounds me in the gallery, but other times it does get a bit draining.

What’s your day-to-day routine at Susan’s gallery?

My morning usually involves entering new sales into QuickBooks and updating the inventory. The gallery does custom framing so that takes up a great deal of time. Another big part of my day includes updating our website.

What’s your tip for a first time buyer?

Do some research on the artist. Also learn about their technique and read their resume. It’s an investment, so make sure you really love the piece. There is art out there for everyone and you don’t have to splurge on something expensive.