Looking at the artwork of Carmen Barros Howell, one may notice the shapes she uses, another may comment on her use of space, and a third may see the animals, insects and human figures she uses as her models.
"The wonderful thing about art is that you can see whatever it is within you that you want to see," said Howell, a native Chilean living in Loudoun County. "Different people see different things in all the things that I do."
On Sept. 5, Howell's artwork will go on display at the Chilean Embassy in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the launch of the Web site www.arslatino.com. The show opening will be attended by the Ambassador of Chile, Andrés Bianchi, and an introductory speech will be given by Consuelo Cheyre, the founder of www.arslatino.com.
An abstract artist, Howell focuses on shapes, volumes and light. "I first draw from the model," she said. "Then as I look at the figurative drawing, new volumes emerge, lines are connected and forms appear in different ways on paper."
She uses her theory of art in a variety of methods, including painting, sculpting, welding, drawing and carving. Howell's gallery at the Chilean Embassy will showcase examples of each style.
The gallery will be only the second art exhibit opened at the Chilean Embassy. The space to hold a gallery opened up a few years ago when the building was remodeled, Eliana Jimenez, the press counselor for the Chilean Embassy, explained.
Jimenez hopes to bring future galleries and artists from Chile to the embassy, but for now, Howell is a perfect fit.
"Carmen is fantastic because she is living here and she is well-known," Jimenez said. "She has experience in this kind of event, so she has worked very well with us and helped us a lot."
A SUCCESSFUL gallery could be the bridge that brings more artists from Chile. "I hope that we are going to be very busy and our walls will be full of paintings," Jimenez said.
Jimenez also helped bring Howell and Cheyre together for the event to showcase Latin American artwork.
"It was the perfect complement to share the space with the art exhibit and the presentation of arslatino," Jimenez said.
Cheyre founded the Web site, www.arslatino.com, two years ago as a reference point for Latin American art. Starting Sept. 5, it will become available in English to the American public.
"The purpose of the arslatino Web site is both information and business," Cheyre said. The arslatino Web site will be a weekly "web magazine," which will bring Latin American art closer and more easily into North America. The magazine will include reports on Latin American artists, news and a catalogue of Latin American works that can be purchased.
"We hope www.arslatino.com will be a real opportunity to buy Latin American arts to discover Latin American arts and artists," Cheyre said.
Howell seems to be a good choice to help christen the Web site, as her work is seen as a "Latin expression," because of her wonderful creativity, Cheyre said. "You can see, for instance, in each of her sculptures how nature, life and humanity appear on a piece of terra cotta or iron."
Howell's art, and her husband, have taken her all over the world. She studied art at the University of Chile, later continuing her studies at the University of New Mexico when her husband was transferred there as part of the Peace Corps. They lived in Brazil for about a year before coming back to the Washington, D.C., area to Loudoun County, where she now resides.
Though Howell has traveled far, she does not cite any one place as her inspiration.
"I think everything influences you in life," Howell said. "I think that the people that you know, the trees that you see, the different people that you meet, all that influences who you are. Who you are is what your art is."
HOWELL has taken part in numerous local galleries in Virginia and Washington, D.C., most notably at Gallery 222 in Leesburg, where she has done solo exhibits as well as group shows.
When she was fresh from a show at Gallery 222, it took convincing from Jimenez before she agreed to display her art at the Chilean Embassy.
"I generally do not do more than one show every year or two because it is really a lot of work to do a show," she said.
Howell also taught at the Loudoun Academy of the Arts from 1994 until this July, when she resigned to devote more time to her artwork.
The amount of art Howell has produced since resigning has been prolific, judging from the stacks of drawings in her studio to her shed, where pieces of metal scraps are piled everywhere from her welding. Buried in these piles are a few pieces that will go on display, while others are destined for the trash. Howell just shrugs it off.
"Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't work," she said. "And if it doesn't work, you throw it out. You start again."