Words to Art Spring 2020: A Community Art Project by Sushmita Mazumdar & Arlington Arts
This online project will invite the public to give 5 Arlington artists ONE WORD expressing their feelings and perception of the #COVID19 quarantine, and watch them transform it into art! Arlington Arts will post every Monday for 4 weeks asking for new words and the artists will turn select words from the submissions into an original artwork. Follow their creative process through the weekend via interpretative sketches posted on social media. The finished works will be posted here and at arlingtonarts.org.
The public is also encouraged to make their own artworks expressing a word and post it with #WordsToArtArlington, share it in real-time in their window, or as chalk art on the sidewalk!
This project was originally designed by Sushmita Mazumdar in 2018 for Words to Art: Art on the ART Bus where she asked the ART Bus drivers for their words to share with bus riders. The 2020 version takes a new angle by asking the public to collaborate. The finished works will be posted here.
Participating Arlington artists (and the neighborhoods they live/work in):
Sushmita Mazumdar (Buckingham): After a 15-year career in advertising in India and the US, Sushmita started writing stories from her childhood for her American children and making them into handmade storybooks. Her work encourages everyone to share their stories of home, heritage, and migration through the fun and exciting book arts. In 2013 Sushmita opened Studio Pause where she works and invites people to learn, create, share, and celebrate community. She mixes community voices into her own work, allowing cross-cultural collaborations and dialogues to inform her creations. Sushmita has designed and taught projects for the Smithsonian Institution; DC Public Libraries; DC, Arlington and Alexandria public schools, and Glen Echo Park, Arlington Arts Center, and Smithsonian Associates. Her art has been on view at the National Building Museum, The Art League, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Arlington Arts, and the Smithsonian’s Dillon Ripley Center. In 2018 she received the Woman of Vision Award from Arlington County and in 2019 she was appointed to the Virginia Commission for the Arts representing Congressional District 8. Photo: Lloyd Wolf
www.Instagram.com/studiopause; www.Facebook.com/studiopausebysush
David Amoroso (Douglas Park): David Amoroso shares his “Pop Art” aesthetic through painting, photography, and block and screen printing. Although the majority of David’s work is dedicated to painting portraits of cultural icons, he also represents everyday people and addresses social justice through his art. The influence of Mexico and Central America are apparent in his bold color palette, and he upholds traditional cultural artistries such as Papel Picado, altars for Día de los Muertos and Guatemalan Alfombras de Aserrín. David Amoroso has exhibited in the DC Metro area, New York, California, Mexico, and Central and South America. His work is frequently highlighted in cultural events, festivals and Smithsonian programs.
Website: http://amorosoart.wix.com/davidamoroso • Email: AmorosoART@yahoo.com Instagram:@amorosoart • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.amoroso.90
Maribeth Egan (Ballston/Virginia Square): Maribeth Egan is a painter and art educator who lives in Arlington. She has taught art to a range of folks from young children to adults. Maribeth firmly believes everyone should learn to value creativity, make art, and is happy to support that effort. In her art practice, she combines a variety of materials with paint, investigating what rankles or delights her at a given time. Her work has been shown locally at Arlington Arts Center, Washington Project for the Arts, Rockville Arts Place, McLean Project for the Arts, and Artisphere. In her spare time she likes to fix things and tries to grow things.
Website: www.maribethegan.com , www.Instagram.com/maribethegan Email: maribethegan@gmail.com
Kate Fleming (Maywood): Kate Fleming is a painter, printmaker, and installation artist from Arlington, VA. She and her partner, Tom Woodruff, created The 50 States Project: a mobile artist residency traveling to all 50 states in one year. Kate and Tom were 18 states into their year-long journey when the global pandemic necessitated their return to Arlington. Kate is an Arlington County Cultural Affairs Spotlight Artist Grant recipient and has completed residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, VA; Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC; and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in Washington, D.C. She has shown her work throughout the DC area and across the United States at galleries and mural festivals, and designed and produced the set for Taffety Punk Theater Company’s 2018 production of Sadie Hasler’s Pramkicker. Kate is eager to get back on the road and continue making art in all 50 states as soon as it is safe to do so.
See more of Kate’s work: www.kateflemingpaintings.com • www.the50statesproject.com
@the50statesproject_ @kateflemingpaintings
MasPaz (Arlington Ridge): MasPaz was born in Bogota, Colombia, adopted from La Casa De La Madre Y El Niño orphanage, to an American family, and raised in Washington, DC. In his home, his mother hung Colombian tapestries and shared her stories of the Peace Corps in Quibdo, Colombia, 1964. Her memories gave him a closer understanding to his Colombian roots. His Latin American heritage guides his art today, as he explores themes of respect for Mother Earth and her indigenous peoples.
MasPaz is a graduate of George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. His studio work, installations and gallery projects have been exhibited throughout the world most notably The Smithsonian Institution, Corcoran Gallery of Art and The New Museum. MasPaz lives and works in Arlington, VA, while spending a majority of his time traveling, teaching and painting murals across the world.
@maspaz
