The Charles County Arts Alliance (CCAA) has announced its Visual Arts Exhibits that will run during May and June. "The CCAA is a community non-profit organization which serves to channel Community Arts Development (CAD) and Artists-in-Education (A-i-E) grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and/or other sources to local arts organizations and organizations sponsoring arts-related activities. The CCAA also sponsors cultural events in Charles County of its own, and builds partnerships with the local government and the business community to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Charles County. The CCAA works in partnership with the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Economic and Employment Development of the State of Maryland."
Founded in 1987, the Charles County Arts Alliance promotes and supports ALL the arts in Charles County: music, visual art, drama, dance, and literature, through grant programs, workshops, community events, and its publication, the Arts Insider. The CCAA additionally manages 4 galleries, including the Commissioners' Gallery, the Clark Senior Center Gallery, the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Gallery, and the CCAA Gallery. More information about the CCAA can be found by visiting their website at http://charlescountyarts.org/.
County Commissioners' Gallery
(200 Baltimore St., La Plata, MD)
Patricia Hope Windrow was born in London, England and educated in Paris, France. She is listed in Who's Who in American Art and The Dictionary of Contemporary Achievement.
A longtime resident of Long Island before establishing her gallery in Front Royal, Virginia in 1991, Patricia Windrow developed and hosted a weekly educational television series called "The Cable Easel" that ran for 12 years. This pioneering series of television art instruction programs was recognized in 1988 with a coveted Cable Ace Award. A frequently commissioned painter, Patricia has executed numerous portraits of eminent people including the Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne and the late president of the Rockefeller Foundation, John Knowles. She has created some 60 large scale indoor and outdoor murals in private homes and in public settings including banks, schools and restaurants.
Patricia is a realist oil painter whose enormous range encompasses portraits, landscapes, seascapes and floral paintings as well as surrealist treatments of timeless subjects. Her paintings range in scale from miniatures (some of which measure one square inch) to upwards of four feet by six feet.
Patricia's exhibit (hanging through the end of June) in the Commissioner's Gallery is entitled "The Barns of Southern Maryland" and consists of paintings of local barns.
Morgan Stanley Gallery
(3 Post Office Rd., Waldorf, MD)
Sudheshna Reddy (known to family and friends as Sudha Reddy) learned many different art forms from her mother, who was a great artist and good with arts and crafts. Although she uses acrylic, water, pastel, pencil, and other media, Sudha's favorite medium is oil because of its flexibility in giving more time to work.
Having started drawing and painting as a child, Sudha says she has never completely stopped her work in the arts. Over the years she has read and practiced a lot. She completed her Master in Arts in India and lived for a few years in the United Kingdom.
She receives motivation by visiting museums, reading art books, and participating in talks about art. Beautiful surroundings, beautiful photographs, and great paintings inspire Sudha to reach for her canvas.
In reflecting about art, Sudha says, "It is a meditation and also a technique of communication with the world and with my inner-self. There is an artist in everybody. Everybody has some type of creativity, which is natural order of life and energy. The big art is our life and nature around us. Painting is an expression of my feelings and it gives me happiness, and I want to share it with others. Art has a great power on us, it heals, it calms, and it mesmerizes many." Sudha and her husband, Soma, live in La Plata. Her exhibit can be seen through the end of June.
CCAA Gallery at the United Way
(10250 La Plata Rd., La Plata, MD)
Lucretia Dewey Tanner is an artist who paints with strong and vibrant colors. Her medium is acrylic and her subject matter is eclectic, ranging from flowers, landscapes, people and abstracts. None are executed traditionally. In the art she has chosen for this exhibit, there are two themes: business and gardens. Pictures based on the economy and business subjects are done on paper, collage and acrylic, and rendered in bold blacks, whites and reds. The abstract gardens are colorful collages and acrylics.
Lucretia is a member of the Southern Maryland Art League and has exhibited her paintings throughout the Southern Maryland area. Her works are in private Collections from Connecticut to Florida as well as Colorado. For several years, she has donated paintings to the annual Cerebral Palsy fund raiser and to the Baden Library.
Lucretia and her husband have traveled extensively and have visited all the major art museums of the world, which have influenced her passion for art. They live on a Christmas tree farm in Prince George's County and also have a farm in Charles County. Her exhibit can be seen through the end of June.
Richard Clark Senior Center Gallery
(1210 Charles St., La Plata, MD)
May is the month for the 13th Annual Senior Citizens Arts Competition & Exhibit. The exhibit will be shown from May 2 - 31, 2005 with judging and an Awards Luncheon on May 10th. All artwork entered will have been created between May 2004 and May 2005 by Senior Citizens (60 years old and up) who are residents of Charles County. The artwork displayed may include oils, acrylics, watercolors, stained glass, jewelry, ceramics, photography, quilts, collage and more.