Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Future
On display January 3 – February 3, opening reception on February 2
An exhibit of art by students from the Barnesville School of Arts and Sciences, which explores and takes inspiration from the local history of the Sandy Spring community.
In early November, Middle School students spent a “Collaborative Day” visiting the Museum to prepare for this exhibit. Fifth through eighth graders explored a variety of objects from the museum’s collection, ranging from newspaper publications and handwritten correspondence to clothing, daguerreotypes (an early form of photographs), and athletic gear. Items were selected to represent four notable people from Sandy Spring’s past: suffragist Mary Bentley Thomas, baseball player Jack Bentley, postmaster and bank founder Alban Gilpin Thomas, and free black, shingle maker Remus Q. Hill.
Students were taught guidelines for object handling and were able to study pieces chosen specifically for this exercise. Explanations were shared of each item’s importance in the life of its prior owner. Students were asked to select objects that interested them most to sketch, and then wrote detailed descriptive paragraphs about them. These objects will be the inspiration for artwork students will create for an exhibit that will be on display at the museum in January.
Colors of the Community
on display February 7 – April 28, opening reception February 9
Artists Martha Spak and Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg will explore the interwoven quality of our Sandy Spring community through both two- and three-dimensional interpretation, inviting visitors to join them in creation of the art.
There will be abstract expressionist oil and acrylic paintings, colorful film panels, life-scale figurative sculptures, and photos from the local community on display. Additionally, community members and guests join with the artists in finishing a mural depicting Sandy Spring faces and places, forming the unifying center of this exhibit. Visitors are invited to add to the mural, in both color and content, to join in the dialogue of the communal form itself. This visual dialogue invites visitors to explore the artist that resides in each of us and illustrate their unique place in the Sandy Spring Community.
In preparation for this communal mural’s art form, we invite community members to contribute their own images to be incorporated into this visual montage of Sandy Spring.
Colored Folks: We Come in Every Shade
on display May 2 – July 28, opening reception May 4
“Colored Folks” is an art exhibit of Normon Greene’s paintings that show people as they really are- a mixture of colors, sizes, and differences. People come in all colors, from very light skin to very dark skin and all shades in between. This exhibit will display a collection of paintings celebrating our differences and similarities and they many ways in which we complement each other.
Greene draws inspiration from a number of art historical periods including cubism and futurism. He admires the expression and forms of Marcel and Raymond Duchamp, Henry Moore, and Umberto Boccioni. In his art, he strives to honor the human form through reflections on people’s relationships with themselves, each other, and their environments.
St. John’s Episcopal School: Our Life in Art
on display May 2 – July 28, opening reception May 2
“Our Life in Art” will feature artwork from the students of St. John’s Episcopal School. Students have been working since October 2018 on these pieces and are very excited for the upcoming exhibition. For most students this will be their first formal exhibition.
Each class, kindergarten through eighth grade, will create a collaborative artwork that focuses on subjects such as reflections of themselves, their community, the world around them, religion, spirituality, and personal values.
Upper School students, fifth through eighth grade, were selected as solo artists and will design large-scale drawings and paintings that concentrate on personal experiences and ideals that they value as important. Their artwork will consist of many different media including colored pencil, pastel, acrylic paint, and graphite.
Creativity, with a capital WHY?
on display September 5- November 24. 2019
An exhibit of creative people at work captured in action by professional photographer Larry Marc Levine. Mr. Levine is interested in watching people create different forms of art and finds it as fascinating as the creative process itself. For this exhibit, he interviewed and photographed a variety of talented individuals from different backgrounds with experience in different areas including a glass blower, a Native American pow wow dancer, painters, fabric artists, a Chinese zither player, a violin maker, and many others. Most of these creative spirits are from the local Montgomery County area. Levine believes that respect for the individual and appreciation for diversity of people, of ideas, of processes are all important aspects of his photography. A reception on Sunday, September 15 will feature demonstrations by many of the artists whose portraits will be on exhibit.