ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts opens two exhibitions on January 9: Passing the Torch: Artists Influencing Artists in the Chaney Gallery and Hai-Ou Hou: Window Shopping Paintings in the Martino Gallery. A free reception will take place that evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibits will remain on display through February 14, 2014.
Courtesy Photo
Hai-Ou Hou Window Shopping at Aspen oil at MD Hall
Passing the Torch: Artists Influencing Artists brings the Artery, Annapolis’s newest alternative art cooperative, together with students from the Performing and Visual Arts (PVA) programs at Bates Middle School and Annapolis Senior High School, to create an art-and-response showcase. The students of the Bates Middle School PVA program will be given selected works created by members of The Artery so they may creatively respond through a variety of mediums. The students of Annapolis High School’s PVA program will work closely with The Artery’s organizers, Emily Welsh and Lindsay Zetter, to curate and construct an exhibit within the Chaney Gallery that will contain both the original works of art from the cooperative’s members, as well as the artistic responses from the Middle School students.
The Artery was created by a group of artists who wished to further enrich the artistic environment of Annapolis. They are a cooperative for up-and-coming artists, providing an agency-type service in order to give them the opportunity to gain exposure within their own community. This could be through their own work, or ideas that promote the work of others. Their mission is to grow the already-expanding art district by developing a steady schedule of singular or cooperative artist-based events such as pop-up shows, fundraisers, workshops, and speakers. Their goal for the future is to gain enough momentum to create a physical space in which artists can collaborate with each other, have their own studio space, and host their own shows within their own four walls. They also hope to expand their influence to surrounding educational facilities in order to provide educational outreach.
Hai-Ou Hou: Window Shopping Paintings features paintings by noted plein air artist Hai-Ou Hou. “I love fashion, I love dance, and I’m crazy about Tango.” says artist Hai-Ou Hou. It is not surprising that she would combine these interests by designing clothing for Latin dancing. It is less surprising that she would combine her passion for fashion with her primary interest: plein air painting. The results are seen in these most recent works in the ever-expanding “Window Shopping” series of paintings. A regular participant in Paint Annapolis and other plein air events throughout the country, Hai-Ou has invented in these works a metaphor of enticement and inaccessibility; of invisible barriers; of being on the outside and looking in.
Hai-Ou Hou was born in Beijing where she studied painting and ceramics at the prestigious Central Institute of Fine Art and Design. She accepted a teaching post at the Hubei Fine Art Institute where she taught painting and design. After immigrating to the United States, she received her Master of Fine Arts from Towson University. Hai-Ou’s work has been widely published and exhibited both nationally and internationally and hangs in many museum, corporate, and private collections. She is the recipient of numerous fine arts honors and awards.
Maryland Hall is located at 801 Chase Street in Annapolis. For more information, visit www.marylandhall.org or call 410-263-5544.