This month Persiano Gallery, an interior design store in The Kentlands, has opened its space for local artists to display their work along with the various collections of furniture from around the world.
Owner John Hashempour began working for his father at his clothing factory designing clothes. “Elegance and sophistication are part of our culture. We would make dresses and design them with very interesting colors. Then I was in the jewelry business for 15 years and now I am the only designer that owns his own furniture store. I work hard to have a variety of styles and to do things right the first time. What makes me successful is my wife. I am so in love it brings me success.”
His wife Laura said they “are always helpful and friendly. Our customers become like family.” The Hashempours look forward to hosting local and international artists at their “gallery within a gallery” and hope to have a new exhibit each month.
One group of artists has met once a week for the past four years in a class called Right-Brained Drawing, given by Yolanda Prinsloo at the Potomac Community Center. “Exhibiting our work is a celebration of the art we create and enjoy. Putting it together with interior design brings art to another dimension, taking the artists' self-expression to art within a living space and the Art of Living. We are glad to have found another home for our artistic outlet,” she said.
The group has also exhibited at the Art Gallery of Potomac and in the Banks for Potomac Days. Members also participate in juried shows and a member has won Best in Show for the professional level at the Montgomery County Art Fair.
The styles represented by this group of artists varies from Fine Hyper-Realism to Romanticism. As the title of the show suggests, some of the work is in pencil and the rest in oil.
In this exhibit, Potomac artist Swati Gupta is featuring a graphite drawing of a lion which she made for her father whose zodiac sign is Leo. She rediscovered her love of art four years ago when she left a high pressure IT job and discovered her drawing pad from high school.
“I remembered how much I loved art,” she said. “I signed up for Yolanda’s class and it was great to get back to my creative side. She teaches you to look at things with a different perspective by drawing upside down and has you think about thinks in a different way. With each class I take I’m building a skill set. People often say they can’t do art but they may be surprised at what they can do if they try. Just try drawing what appeals to you.”
Paint and Graphite exhibit will be held Oct. 10 through Nov. 14. Opening reception is on Oct. 10, 2-4 p.m. at Persiano Gallery in The Kentlands, 188 Kentlands Blvd,. Gaithersburg. Its phone number is 240-683-1022.