Award-winning sculptor Barbara Grygutis, who has created more than 75 large-scale public artworks across the United States and Canada, including the Silver Line’s Spring Hill metro station, will kick off the Initiative for Public Art-Reston’s (IPAR) Artist Talk Series on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. Presented in collaboration with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Art in Transit program and the Reston Association (RA), the Artist Talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held in a conference room at RA offices, 12001 Sunrise Valley Drive. Grygutis will speak at McLean Project for the Arts’ Emerson Gallery the following evening.
Recognized internationally for her sculptural environments, Grygutis describes her approach as creating “public spaces that enhance the built environment, enable civic interaction, and reveal unspoken relationships between nature and humanity.” She engages the public by “identifying themes that are meaningful to each specific site and community.”
Grygutis’ completed projects include sculptural environments integrated into urban and natural landscapes, iconic freestanding works, sculpture gardens, public plazas, gateways and signature markers, memorials, monuments, and works of art designed to enhance pedestrian and urban mass transportation systems. In October, Oro Editions will release a new publication, titled “Public Art/Public Space,” about her sculptural environments.
In addition to her permanent public art installations, Grygutis’ work has been exhibited at The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.; The Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, N.Y.; The Bronx Museum in New York City; and The Parker Collection for the White House and the Vice-President's House, both in Washington, D.C.
Among her awards are the National Endowment for the Arts’ Individual Artist’s Fellowship and an Individual Project Design, and a second place in the International Quadrennial Competition in Faenza, Italy. In 2011, the New York Municipal Art Society awarded her a “MASTERworks” honorable mention for her sculptural installation “Bronx River View.” In 2010, “her Imaginary Garden” in Cary, North Carolina’s Walnut Street Park, received national awards from Hardscape North America and the Brick Industry Association’s Brick in Architecture competition.
Registration required at rsvp@publicartreston.org. For more information on IPAR and its Artist Talk Series, visit www.publicartreston.org or call 703-467-9797.