• Visitors view artwork in the Park View Gallery

    PARK VIEW GALLERY

    Glen Echo Park's Park View Gallery presents the work of emerging visual artists, including Glen Echo Park instructors and advanced students at Glen Echo Park.

    Gallery Hours

    Monday - Saturday  |  10am to 6pm

  • Jack in the Pulpit

    "Jack in the Pulpit"

  • Olmstead Report

    "Olmsted Report"

  • Red Maple

    "Red Maple"

ON VIEW NOW

Barb Siegel
Local: Language and Landscape
July 5 - 28, 2024

Park View Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm

Opening Reception: Friday, July 5, 6 - 8 pm | During Art Walk
 

RSVP  (preferred, not required)

The Park View Gallery presents Local: Language and Landscape, a solo exhibition by artist Barb Siegel. This exhibition explores our local landscape and native plants. Instead of painting with images (wordless interpretation), the artist begins with words and paints until the words are illegible and the painting is open for interpretation. 

Artist Biography
Barb Siegel’s art is in collections around the world and has been in numerous shows throughout the DMV area. Her many recognitions include a MD State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and multiple Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council Individual Artist and Scholar grants, as well as inclusion in many juried and invitational shows. Siegel has studied with several recognized artists, including Don Reitz (ceramics) and with FL Wall and Bert Schmutzhart at the Corcoran School of Art. She is a registered architect and currently works in the field of complexity thinking and confluent communications. She has been invited to make presentations internationally in the area of art and cognition. She wrote and illustrated The Shattered Sky: How Tycho Brahe Lost His Nose and Broke the Sky out of curiosity about what could only be communicated through the (then relatively new) medium of graphic novels.    

Artist Statement
How do we communicate? How can we describe our amorphous internal feelings to the outside world? How can I understand what another person means? Words are only a shared agreement, an approximation of what we strive to say. What is sadness? An easier question, what is a monument? Everyone has their own initial specific image for monument, yet we rarely allow time for clarification. Is a monument a tombstone, a huge building, or a person who inspires us? 

What is sadness? An easier question, what is a tree? Everyone has their own initial idea of tree. When you think of the tree do you think of it as a source of lumber or a place to find shade?  I have asked this question of hundreds of people and the answers range from ‘We breathe in and they breathe out’ to ‘a cord of wood’. 

My current paintings begin with text. Here I used online government documents about local native fauna and laid the text down letter by letter with no rules about size or font. Words run together and wrap lines. Even in the beginning, the text is barely readable. Working intuitively on both the background and the letters, the composition evolves; text becomes texture and loses legibility.

These paintings speak a wordless language. Yet, the viewer is likely to search for the words, completing a circle of research. When the viewer reads the description, do they lose access to the deeper meaning? Or is it both/and where the feeling remains and the information adds to the experience?

Upcoming Exhibition

Lis Zadravec
Through Eyes of Wonder
August 2 - September 29, 2024

Park View Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm

Opening Reception: Friday, August 2, 6 - 8 pm | During Art Walk
 

RSVP  (preferred, not required)

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