Patrice Drago: The 33rd Annual Annapolis Art Walk is coming up, so plan accordingly

Jul 24, 2023

Mark your calendar: The 33rd Annual Annapolis Art Walk occurs on Aug. 17. It’s a fun community art night in Annapolis and West Annapolis, where galleries are open until 9 p.m. offering refreshments, demonstrations and lots of wonderful new art.

Thursday evenings are perfect for starting the weekend early, especially because it is still, after all, summer. If you haven’t yet taken a day this summer to enjoy City Dock, cruise the shops and galleries and enjoy the new restaurants in West Annapolis, this is the best invitation to ensure you will have plenty to see, learn and enjoy.

I’ve indicated which galleries are participating in Art Walk. The galleries that aren’t participating should also be included in your itinerary, because their exhibits are equally compelling. I’m going to hit as many receptions and demos as I can that evening, so I hope to see you out there.

The Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College presents “José Guadalupe Posada: Legendary Mexican Printmaker,” featuring work by the 19th-/early-20th-century tabloid illustrator and satirist. Posada’s images found audiences through hojas volantes, brightly colored broadsheets distributed by hand to the urban poor and working class.

The museum is participating in Art Walk this year. Other events in August include conversation-style exhibition tours in Spanish and English beginning at 2 p.m. today, and a roundtable discussion of satire and absurdity in Alvaro Enrigue’s award-winning novel Sudden Death from 4 to 5 p.m. Aug. 19. RSVP to [email protected].

McBride Gallery is featuring “Poetry in Painting,” an exhibition of Sam Robinson’s recent oil paintings that express his love of landscapes, horses, gardens and more. Robinson is a Maryland artist who prefers working directly from life, capturing the “dynamics of the moment,” with energetic strokes of color expressing mood and movement. He says of nature, “… there is poetry to be found in the look and feel of it all …” The opening takes place during the evening of the Annapolis Art Walk from 5 to 9 p.m., and will include a painting demonstration. Robinson will entertain questions and share his knowledge.

49 West presents a new exhibition by MFA artists Lee Goodwin and Michael Schoppman. It is open through Sept. 26. Goodwin has been a photographer since he was a child, learning from film, and now practicing with and exploring the possibilities of digital photography. His medium is time, which he uses long exposures to emphasize the subject. Schoppman is an engineer turned visual artist who is inspired by the stream of contrasts created by our senses. Join them at the opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. today.

West Annapolis Artworks is thrilled to host an event that welcomes the unforgettable “Art Things” family from 2 Annapolis St. This incredibly creative and caring group was an integral part of the Annapolis art community for decades.

Laurie Nolan, the ever-helpful Kim Hover, along with Lindsey Fisk and Susan Chambers, Betsy Mortimer and more, each brought their unique artistic perspectives. They assisted each patron with finding just the right tools and media, along with a dose of confidence that their art will take flight. Each one of them are artists in their own right, and WAW presents this exhibition to bring the art community together and celebrate these dear friends.

Join the Art Things Family from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 17 to celebrate life, past, presen, and future. This coincides with Annapolis Art Walk. It promises to be a celebration of creativity, collaboration, connection and a chance to witness the artistry this group has to offer.

Annapolis Marine Art Gallery has partnered with Annapolis Maritime Museum to exhibit a collection of marine artworks in the museum’s Bay Room. This exhibition offers original artwork and prints for display and sale by renowned artists John Barber, William Stille, Ben Neill and Paul Landry, and is open to the public now through November. In addition, they will be participating in the Art Walk at the gallery on Dock Street, with refreshments and a demonstration by artist Collin Cessna.

Mylo Studios is joining Art Walk this month and will show off a renovation of the studio. New to the Annapolis Gallery Association, Mylo Studios is located at 48 Maryland Ave. Multiple local artists are featured in the gallery with art ranging from watercolors and resin pours to handmade pottery. Karen Britton, the studio owner and artist will be painting live with plenty of art available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served.

Jo Fleming Contemporary Art will be open for Art Walk and sharing “Coastal Abstractions” with new works by local and regional Maryland artists, including Sally Rhudy, Sigrid Trumpy, Geo McElroy, Murray Taylor, Christine Laubach, Camilla Schwarz and Doug Moulden.

Rhudy’s contemporary landscapes offer a rich, layered and atmospheric interpretation of our shoreline. McElroy nestles into the grasses of the coastal wetland, Trumpy’s organic and geometric compositions present the colors of the sea with the brushstrokes of storm clouds while Laubach’s paintings are minimalist, textural and elemental. Schwarz presents modest sized yet powerful local landscapes while Taylor presents huge paintings of cloud formations over coastal farmlands and water. They will provide a round robin of artist interviewing artist, each hour during Art Walk at 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

MFA at Circle Gallery presents “Eye of the Beholder” through Aug. 26. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, or in this case, the beginning of a found object assemblage artwork. “Eye of the Beholder: The Art of the Found Object” is a biennial found object art exhibition now in its eighth year, showcasing fine art constructed from ordinary, everyday objects that have been scavenged and repurposed into art by the artist.

The juror who selected the works for this show is scholar and multidisciplinary artist Toni-Lee Sangastiano. Join them for a closing reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 26 at Circle Gallery. Circle Gallery will also be open for Art Walk with an art demonstration by an MFA member.

Gallery 57 West will feature art talks by two Annapolis Arts Alliance members, Colleen Harkins Carter and Kathy Strouss, at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 15. Carter will talk about several paint styles she enjoys working with, from using a palette knife for oil paints to line drawings and watercolor. Most of her work has an Annapolis theme. Strouss will share her experiences while traveling to Europe to enjoy painting with inspired medieval backdrops and beautiful scenery and collaborating with other artists. In addition, Gallery 57 West will be participating in the Art Walk when various artists will be available to talk about their art.

In the Maryland Hall galleries:

• Martino Gallery continues to host the group exhibition “Community 23,” presented by AND Creative Studio and the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County (ACAAC). The show includes works by local creatives who make Annapolis an artistic haven. Join them for the closing reception at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 24.

• Openshaw Gallery: Warren Hanson, the Openshaw Gallery Artist-in-Residence presents “The Master of Love,” on display through Sept. 28.

Additionally, Maryland Hall will be open during Art Walk for visitors to come to the galleries, and also enjoy a demonstration by Artist-in-Residence Selin Balci, in the AIR studio 312B.

Paul’s Homewood Café presents a new exhibit by MFA artists Kay Fuller and Janet Ewing through the end of October. Fuller is a multi-media artist who creates expressionistic figurative works that are a reflection of her innermost thoughts and feelings. They are inspired by intuitive urges and exploration of color, shape and textures. Color is used as an emotional tool for expression, with a focus on texture, composition, and depth.

Ewing grew up in Annapolis surrounded by art and artists. Her work for this show reflects that as many of the paintings in this exhibition were inspired by boats sailing on the waters surrounding Annapolis. Check MFA website for opening reception date yet to be scheduled.

“The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy,” guest curated by Myrtis Bedolla of Galerie Myrtis, continues through Sept. 30 at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Maryland’s official museum of African American heritage. Experience multidisciplinary works of art by 17 cross-generational Black Maryland-based artists, including pieces from the Banneker-Douglass Museum Fine Art Collection. The work explores America’s fraught history of systemic racism while celebrating the resiliency of a people who have persevered despite social and political suppression.

Opening Aug. 16 and running through Oct. 1, the Annapolis Arts Alliance will have its 14th Annual Juried Exhibit entitled “Wild About Wildlife” in the Willow Gallery at Quiet Waters Park. More than 40 members of the alliance will have artwork displayed in the gallery featuring a wide range of mediums including watercolors, oils, acrylics, mixed media/collage, jewelry, fused glass, photography and woodwork. The opening reception is from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Visitor Center.

Patrice Drago is a painter and writer in Annapolis, MD. Website: www.patricedrago.com. This column is written in cooperation with the Annapolis Gallery Association. Contact Patrice at [email protected].