Spring is here, and the great outdoors and exuberant moods of springtime are celebrated at Falls Church Arts Gallery’s latest exhibit of artworks in many media. This new show, “Flora and Fauna: Thriving or Threatened,” takes us through many landscapes, various lands and diverse artistic styles.
In her acrylic painting “The Moon and the Moon Flower,” artist Maria Brito captures the grace and innocence of both the beautiful plant depicted and a memory of her childhood in her stellar work. When she was a child, the artist’s mother would invite her and her siblings to see these flowers magically open at night outside their home. Just as the artist describes, these vines (depicted in exquisite detail) are a fascinating version of the more common morning glory vine, which opens at night. A long and narrow vertical canvas helps to further the mystical “glory” the artist hopes to convey, with a full moon high above.
In the photograph “A Wetland Autumn” by Renée Ruggles, we see a perfectly lateral mirroring of trees and their reflection below in the water. This reflection is so idyllically crafted that, at first glance, it is difficult for the viewer to distinguish whether the top or bottom is the reflection. This vision of autumn colors consists of northern hardwood swamp trees seen in the background and is contrasted by spike-like stumps viewed in the foreground, where perhaps beavers have felled some of the trees. The beautiful vibrant oranges, yellows, and greens play upon the water below in soft and fluttering ripples.
Moving from autumn to spring: The cherry blossoms of Washington, D.C., are now no more, but we may return briefly to their ephemeral beauty via Claudine Edelblute’s acrylic “Elation.” As for many a viewer, these blossoms bring the artist a great sense of calm and peace, for in this beautiful work, every detail is carefully and yet ever so gently noted by a delicate acrylic brushstroke reminiscent of the blossoms themselves. At the center left of the work, our eyes are drawn to a cup-like blossom which is truly a well-chosen centerpiece for this work with its beautiful juxtaposition of light and shadow, texture and translucence. Just above and below we note that the artist has even captured the sun, with its dainty highlights on the tops of the branches from which the blossoms hang like ornaments strung by an ineffable presence. The true magic of this work is that it includes both the realistic experience and romantic majesty that walking amongst flowering cherry trees evokes.
In the fascinating “Polyphemus Moth” by Suzanne Updike, the artist uses the very unique process of making a reduction linocut to make a beautiful and intricate visualization of a most beautiful insect. This process takes a single linoleum block and creates every color of the print from it by starting with the first color etched into the block and then proceeding to several more, ever further reducing the block with each color of the work printed—thus the term “reduction.” Although the beautiful block printing at hand may seem like something out of an Audubon Society “field guide,” the artist is careful to remind us in her description of the work that there is a connection here to the literature of classical antiquity: “The Polyphemus moth is named after the cyclops in Greek mythology,” nemesis of Odysseus as the famous Greek hero of the Trojan War attempted to return to his kingdom of Ithaca.
The Japanese classic “The Tale of Geni” speaks of the “noble crane that soars on high,” yet Sandra Lewin’s acrylic painting “Crowned Cranes” of that title, while acknowledging an Asian influence, indeed “incorporating muted bamboo shoots and a red sun,” shows two cranes very much “grounded” and connected to the earth. Gerda Lane’s oil painting “Lavender in Provence” also takes us to far-away climes to “the countryside in the south of France [which] inspired the painting.” Finally, be sure also to enjoy “Dahlia,” the yellow oil on panel with blue highlights by Dane Hamlin.
The current exhibit runs through June 9 at Falls Church Arts Gallery, 700-B West Broad St. (Rte. 7), Falls Church, Virginia 22046. We recommend a visit to the gallery in the near future to see these and other “Flora and Fauna” and extol in these beautiful “thriving” natural images as well as reflect on how nature is also, at the same time, delicate and threatened.
