From OPTIONS 2013: Carolyn Case, Red Drug, 2011, Oil on panel, 22″ x 24″

Dates: May 18, 2013, 4pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201
Admission: Free

Related Event: The CIA, UFO’s, and Abstract Expressionism, Saturday, May 18, 3pm

Curator: Gerald Ross, Director of Exhibitions and Faculty, MFA in Curatorial Practice, Maryland Institute College of Art

Participating artists: Selin Balci (Annapolis, MD), Christina Billotte (Baltimore, MD), Michael Borek (Bethesda, MD), Julia Brown (Washington, DC), Carolyn Case (Cockeysville, MD), Bonnie Crawford Kotula (Baltimore, MD), Evan Hume (Washington, DC), Lisa Marie Jakab (Washington, DC), Magnolia Laurie (Baltimore, MD), Aaron McIntosh (Baltimore, MD), Mark Parascandola (Washington, DC), Wendy Rodgers (Takoma Park, MD), Kathryn Sowinski (Baltimore, MD), Colette Veasey-Cullors (Baltimore, MD), William Whitaker (Washington, DC), and Millicent Young (Ruckersville, VA).

Curator Gerald Ross leads a discussion and tour of the exhibition OPTIONS 2013. The talk begins at 4pm, but guests are encouraged to arrive early for artist Even Humes’ performance, The CIA, UFOs, and Abstract Expressionism at 3pm.

OPTIONS 2013 is the fifteenth iteration of WPA’s biennial exhibition of works by emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Begun in 1981 under the direction of WPA Executive Director Al Nodal, the OPTIONS biennial has, for over three decades, showcased vibrant, challenging, and innovative work by artists from the mid-Atlantic region.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Gerald Ross is the Director of Exhibitions at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and on the faculty of MICA’s MFA in Curatorial Practice Program. He was born in Laramie, WY in 1965. He received a degree in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989 where he was also a Yale scholar. In the 1990s, he collaborated on six public mural projects, receiving numerous awards. Ross continues to pursue studio art and shows regularly throughout the region. He has also served as a juror for many fine arts awards, including the Trawick Prize and the National Sculpture Residency Prize at Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, MD. As Director of the Exhibitions Department at MICA, Ross manages a diverse, energetic, and vital program – presenting over 100 exhibitions per year, campus-wide. Since 2003, he has curated, established public programming, and worked with the community to bring a large variety of local, national, and international groups and artists to MICA.

A lecture by artist Evan Hume for OPTIONS 2013

Dates: May 18, 2013 at 3pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201

Related Event: OPTIONS 2013 Curator and Artist Talk

Three decades celebrating emerging and unrepresented artists

 
logo from the cover of the catalog for the first OPTIONS exhibition

Dates: May 22, 2013 6:30pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201
Admission: Free

Moderated by: Angela Adams, Public Art Administrator, Arlington Economic Development and Don Russell, Executive Director, Provisions Library (co-curators, OPTIONS 1993)

Participating artists: Cynthia Connolly (OPTIONS 1997), Katherine Mann (OPTIONS 2011), Jeff Spaulding (OPTIONS 1981), and other OPTIONS alumni.

WPA celebrates 32 years of its OPTIONS biennial with a panel discussion and community forum featuring artists and curators involved in the exhibition throughout its history. A consistent feature of DC’s local arts landscape since 1981, OPTIONS highlights work by emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  The list of artists and curators who have been involved with OPTIONS over the years reads like a who’s who of the DC arts scene, reflecting the important role the exhibition has played in the development of the local arts community over the last three decades.