The Connection

Arlington — Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song, “Big Yellow Taxi” where “they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot,” Artisphere's visual art exhibition Beyond the Parking Lot will motivate the viewer to think how we have used and deserted the land that surrounds us in our everyday life. These scarred landscapes covered in pavement — be it vacated buildings, parking lots and roadways — are found across the United States.

Curated by Artisphere Visual Arts Curator Cynthia Connolly, this exhibit shows contemporary landscapes by nine artists from throughout the U.S. who are observing these changes, exposing the use of the environment in compromising ways through a variety of mediums. Exhibiting artists include:

• Amanda Burnham makes drawings and drawing installations based on her explorations of and encounters with the city. She lives in Baltimore and is an Assistant Professor at Towson University with BA and MFA degrees from Harvard and Yale.

• Maya Ciarrocchi, of New York City, is a video artist who held an onsite residency in Artisphere’s Works In Progress Gallery last fall, filming her new media work I’m Nobody, Who Are You? Her work has been exhibited at places such as Chashama, the Chocolate Factory, School of Visual Arts, Westbeth Gallery and Sasha Wolf Gallery. She earned a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts.

• Julia Christensen is an artist who works in video, photography, networked media, writing, sound arts, sculpture, installation and performance. She is currently the Assistant Professor of Integrated Media in the Studio Art Department at Oberlin College, where she also serves on the faculties of Environmental Studies and TIMARA (Technology in Music and Related Arts).

• Richard Crozier is an Emeritus Professor for the University of Virginia's McIntire Department of Art. He first began teaching at the University of Virginia in 1974 and tenured in 1980. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle, and went on to earn an M.F.A. from the University of California at Davis.

• Frank Hallam Day, of Washington, D.C., is the 2012 winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Prize and the 2006 Bader Prize, as well as numerous other grants, prizes and commissions. His work is in domestic and international museum collections, including the Berlin State Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts. He is represented locally by Addison/Ripley Fine Art, and is the subject of a solo exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art this fall.

• Gregory Euclide is an artist and teacher living in the Minnesota River Valley. His work has recently been featured at MASS MoCA, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Toledo Museum of Art, and is currently on view in the solo exhibition Nature Out There at the Nevada Museum of Art. Euclide was a recipient of the 2011-12 Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Emerging Artists. He received his MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His work is featured on the 2012 Grammy Award winning album covers of the musical group Bon Iver.

• Alex Lukas, of Philadelphia, creates highly detailed drawings and intricate ‘zines, booklets and prints. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His drawings have been exhibited in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Stockholm and Copenhagen as well as in the pages of Megawords Magazine, DWELL and Juxtapoz amongst others.

• Rachel Sitkin’s, of Baltimore, work revolves around the evolving relationship between humans and the landscape. She received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and MFA from American University.

• Trevor Young, of Washington, D.C., is a painter whose images of transient “non-places” are uneasy amalgamations. He cobbles together these paintings from his own memories of road trips, photographs, and pure invention, and renders with a sense of atmosphere and drama seemingly at odds with his use of hard lines and simple geometric shapes.

Artisphere Visual Arts Curator Cynthia Connolly is an American photographer, letterpress printer and artist. Connolly was born in Los Angeles and moved to Washington, D.C. at 16, where she attended the Corcoran School of Art, receiving her BFA in Graphic Design in 1985. In 2003, she received a certificate from Auburn University's design/build architecture program, The Rural Studio, where she extensively photographed the land and its people. Internationally exhibited and a prolific artist, she is known for works in the internationally touring Beautiful Losers exhibit; the book Banned in DC; her postcards; and curatorial work at Artisphere, DC Space and the Ellipse Arts Center.

Her photography is in many publications and private collections, as well as the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Her most recent exhibition, "Letters on Top of Buildings" was on view at DC’s Civilian Art Projects in May 2012 and was acquired by the Corcoran Gallery of Art for their permanent collection.

For more information, visit www.artisphere.com.

ABOUT ARTISPHERE

Artisphere connects artists and patrons through an eclectic mix of fresh, thought-provoking arts programming. We’re your spot for insight into the creative process and to engage in artistic adventures—from contemporary visual art, live music and theatre to new media, film and dance. Come explore, experience and engage—collide with art.

Artisphere is located at 1101 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia, two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro (blue/orange) and within walking distance of Georgetown. Admission to Artisphere and all its visual art galleries is free; there is a cost for ticketed events. Artisphere is pleased to offer its patrons free parking evenings after 5 p.m. and all day on weekends. For more information about Artisphere, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.artisphere.com/"www.artisphere.com.

Artisphere is managed by Arlington County’s Arlington Economic

Development and supported in part by the Rosslyn Business Improvement

District, corporations, foundations and individuals.

Address/Contact

Artisphere1101 Wilson Boulevard

Phone: 703-875-1100, TTY: 703-228-1855

Admission to Artisphere and its galleries is free; there is a cost for ticketed events. Tickets for all events, unless otherwise noted, are available for advance purchase online through tickets.artisphere.com.

Tickets are also available for purchase through the Box Office Call Center at 888-841-2787.

Wednesday-Friday: 4-11 p.m., Saturday: Noon–11 p.m., Sunday: Noon–5 p.m., Monday-Tuesday: Closed

Open later pending programmed events.