The current All Member Show (last names from A—L) at Falls Church Art Gallery features many different works in various media, but it being summer, the thoughts of many of our artists have turned to travel!
The watercolor “Rain Night in Paris” by Barabara Bird, for example, depicts in black-and-white and glowing yellow two figures in the rain (one with umbrella), lumbering their way towards the Eiffel Tower. “The romance of Paris is quiet and ordinary in an extraordinary place,” comments the artist on the gallery card to her painting.
Passing by “happy villages and over green hills, we wander on towards Italy,” to quote the poet Eichendorff, for “A Night in Venice,” an oil painting by Spoorti Dandridge. “I wanted to paint a memory from my trip to Venice,” notes the artist. “It was a romantic place after the city wound down for the night. Monet’s paintings are in inspiration!” Monet-Impressionist is indeed the style that comes to mind as we spy two gondolas, shimmering water, and Italianate architecture through a painterly night filter.
Come fly now to the Americas for “Copacabana at Dusk!” This acrylic by Jeanine Babyak of the city of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, has great personal memories for the artist, for this is the city in which her parents (including her Bolivian-born mother) had her baptized as an infant. This impressive painting reveals a city, large lake, and mountainous landscape.
A similar yet very different painting in terms of color and mood is “The Avila!” For artist Blanca Belisario, her acrylic on canvas of a city and surrounding mountainous environs brings back memories of her Venezuelan homeland: “My city, Caracas, lies in a valley embraced by mountains. To the north rises The Avila, a majestic presence that defines the landscape. From the top, one side offers breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea while the other reveals the city. It’s always been an important inspiration for my art.”
We then experienced Al Krachman’s “Great Blue” in flight (a photograph of a blue heron from the pine woods of Kent Island, Maryland) and enjoyed Susan Hillson’s art photography of “Twilight at the Salt Flats” (returning us to Italy, this time Sicily.) Finally, we admired Lily Andrews’ “Mother of Pearls” (acrylic, watercolor, and pencil on paper), featuring an elegantly clad woman surrounded by sand, sea, and an enormous oyster shell, all “reminiscent of childhood and long-gone vacations with my mother,” writes the artist.
A less vacation-like land-and-sea painting is Adi Rose Henderson’s “Peckish,” an acrylic on canvas featuring two marooned figures on a tiny island under a dark stormy sky. They are under attack by an enormous red sea serpent! The artist narrates the story: “The bold framing and colors of the sea serpent draw the viewers’ eyes in. The dull water and sky create a gloomy atmosphere, adding to the mood and intrigue about what is happening.” The artist also notes: “I left the meaning intentionally open.”
Not all of the works of the exhibition involve flights of travel and flights of fancy, though even in works such as the handcrafted glass mosaic “Mosaic Village” (alternately known as “pieces of a quiet Town”) by Laura Drain, we sense the theme of travel to new idyllic places is not far away. We are curious to see if the M—Z exhibition later this summer follows the travel windings of the current A—L All Member Show, which may be visited at Falls Church Arts Gallery through July 12, 2026.
