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Date: Art Opening Reception on Friday, April 5th, 2024.
Time: 4 pm — 6:30 pm
Live Music
Poetry Reading
Artist Talks
Location: mosaicARTs Onsite Gallery and Virtual Gallery
by Studio 10 Women Artists:by Women Artists:
mosaicARTs and Debra Wright Studio have joined forces to commemorate the feminist art movement. These women artists ignited a spark that inspired them to create, build, and establish a supportive art community for others. The collaboration aims to acknowledge the significant contributions of female artists while promoting gender equality and empowerment for women.
In this collection, Maya Gorrez illustrates the freedom of creating outside of the traditional artistic box. “Unbound” seeks to understand the inner machinations of an artist driven by the compulsions and fixations of ADHD rather than the safety of repetition and practice. In this way, Maya aims to evoke dialogue about artistic stasis and the idea of constant evolution.
Maya Gorrez shared: “In the span of my artistic career, I may never be known for a style or a technique. But when someone experiences my work, I want them to be drawn into that moment and that moment alone, knowing that it is fleeting.”
Maya Gorrez is a painter and photographer based in Fairfax, VA. Her art aims to highlight the value of life and the beauty that we can find in ordinary things. She uses bold embellishments and abstract representations of truth to encourage the audience to interact with her work actively. She said: “My goal is to create a space where there is no right or wrong interpretation of my paintings.” Maya uses different colors, textures, and movement to elicit unique and personal emotions from each viewer.
Kara Aledort is a photographer who loves capturing nature, architecture, and human expressions. She enjoys improvising with her art form and takes inspiration from life’s candid moments. Her portfolio features photos taken in Charleston, SC, where she used to live, and in Washington, DC, where she currently resides. Kara loves to take images on road trips as they present endless opportunities to capture unique photographs that tell a story. She believes images can fill many possibilities, emotions, and characters that reflect her optimistic outlook. She said: ” I use digital editing to control my process of telling a story within an unscripted frame. I enjoy experimenting with non-structure, balance, storyline, movement, and lighting within my photos, allowing my craft to evolve continuously.”
One of Ithiar’s series, “Evanescence of Memory,” explores how memories disappear over time. She explained: “Objects, people, and activities form the foundation of our memories. However, we will forget them when they are out of sight. As time passes, we remember things differently. Some memories may fade away entirely. Ithiar’s project is a preliminary exploration of this phenomenon. It raises questions such as where forgotten memories go and why we remember things differently if we remember them at all.”
Ithiar loves working with analog photos as they evoke emotions and ignite memories. Her photographs aim to document what inspires her and reflect her view of the world. She wants her art to be memorable and meaningful. For Ithiar, photography is a way of communicating and is the driving force in her life. Ithiar Bertholet del Barrio is a photographer who lives and works in Fairfax, Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in photography from George Mason University.
Karen captures the beauty of nature by cherishing special moments. She finds inspiration in peaceful moments during her sunrise walks along the beaches of Florida’s Treasure Coast. Her photos capture beautiful moments in time.
Karen, a retiree on Florida’s East Coast, enjoys creating lasting memories by taking photos of sun rises and nature. “We were standing there looking at the boat, and all of a sudden I saw that gorgeous reflection in the water, and just snapped a photo. That’s what started it all,” she shared.
Matt Makara is a versatile photographer who uses various techniques, including digital, film, and historic photographic processes, to capture the beauty of nature. He enjoys winter hiking and believes that black and white photography is the best way to showcase the coldness and overall feel of the season before the more colorful and warmer seasons begin. Matt shared: “Photographing in black and white allows me to simplify the image and highlight and enhance the more dramatic aspects of the scene.”
Matt often captures images of trees and water while hiking in national parks and the Swiss/German Alps. He loves experimenting with techniques like long exposure and intentional camera movement to enhance the dramatic aspects of the scene and expand his creative process.
James Jung is a multi-disciplinary creative based in Northern Virginia. He loves to mix a variety of artistic mediums including photography, fashion, dance, and software. As a photographer, he loves to spend hours exploring new areas and going on adventures. James mainly shoots street photography and portraits, but enjoys landscape photography as an escape into nature. Find more of his photography work at https://jung.camera.
“Over the past few years, I’ve found myself less focused on the technical aspect of photography. Instead, the act of taking photos has become a meditative experience of mental awareness. Appreciating the present. That’s why I do most of my photography in solitude. This series of photos is from the woods of Virginia where I grew up. A white forest that made me feel like I was walking through an abstract painting. Trees brushed with black ink, set against an empty canvas. Footsteps muffled in the fresh snow. A sudden spring shower turning a vibrant green forest into a gentle instrument. Rain falling onto streams, painting the water like oil on canvas. The sun still shining bright.
From my eyes to yours, I hope you enjoy these moments that brought me much peace.”
Kathleen is a local photographer who is always drawn to the outdoors. “Photography pulls me into the details of what I see outside–forces me to look critically at those details–particularly the light, the changing light. Then I look for movement, and sometimes I’m lucky.” Time outside with her camera keeps her active and in touch with the seasons (what’s in bloom), the length of days, the phases of the moon, Time out with her camera is needed and happy time alone for her.
“When creating pieces that are aesthetically self-sufficient and true to my visual language, my hope is to also challenge viewers to think beyond what is immediately perceptible.” Each of her artworks tell a story as Mari Calai approaches her craft with a life-long learning lens and open senses. While making cyanotypes, silver gelatin, platinum palladium prints, and collages, she uses different mediums, from vintage film cameras to digital cameras, handmade papers, canvases, wood, and gold leaf. The media and techniques often change based on her project, but her curiosity and passion to create remain the same. Mari welcome experimentation, especially in alternative photographic processes, since imperfection plays an integral part in her work. Her latest work embodies kintsugi, the Japanese art of putting pieces together using gold emphasizing the beauty of imperfection.
Mari Calai was born and raised in Romania, but she has lived in Italy, S. Korea, and now reside in Falls Church, VA. She have an inherent curiosity about life and cultures that she utilizes in her art, and mostly the unseen magic around us. Learn more about her work at www.maricalai.com
Michael is a photographer and graphic designer based in Alexandria, VA. Whether photographing in the neighborhood or while traveling, capturing what the eye and heart encounter creates moments of beauty. The simplest of things can hold a well of amazement. He is drawn to both the natural and the man made as well as how each one affects the other. Mike shared: “After growing up with a film camera, switching to digital photography released a reservoir of creativity I would not have known otherwise. I enjoy exploring elements I encounter in my travels. If something strikes me I work to capture that feeling through my photography, finding the best expression of that feeling in the moment. I love getting up close and personal with a subject.”
Verasak (Sak) Liengsiriwat was born in Bangkok – the City of Angels, Thailand – the land of smiles. Prior to his retirement, Sak worked for numerous agencies of the United Nations that took him to many wonderful countries around the world. In retirement, Sak lives in Austria, continues to travel and volunteers for several UN organizations by providing policy assessment projects. This photograph was taken when he and his secondary school classmate hiked at the famous lake region Salzkammergut in Austria, where the story and movie “The Sound of Music” took place. Sack shared: “While hiking in the mountains along the three connected lakes, the sky turned dark and covered with thick clouds over one of the lakes and like magic – heavy rain came down over that lake while other parts were completely dry. Mother Nature set stages for us to enjoy this spectacular scene which the photo in front of you is captured.” Enjoy and let your imagination run wild with Mother Nature.
