F.C. Arts: 'Women Artists of the DMV' Opens Jan. 10; 'Kinship' People's Choice & Juror's Prizes

F.C. Arts: 'Women Artists of the DMV' Opens Jan. 10

60 Contemporary Artists Working in a Wide Range of Media to be Showcased

This groundbreaking survey of female visual artists from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia was selected by D.C.-based artist, critic, and curator Florencio Lennox “Lenny” Campello.

The exhibition opens with a “meet-the-artists” reception at Falls Church Arts's gallery at 700-B W. Broad St. on Jan. 10 from 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the reception will provide visitors with the opportunity to meet participating artists and Campello, as well as to vote for the People’s Choice Award winner. “Women Artists of the DMV” will be on display through Feb. 22.

According to a Jan. 5 Falls Church Arts press release, the "60 artists participating in 'Women Artists of the DMV' at Falls Church Arts demonstrate the creative power, vibrancy, and diversity of local female artists. Pieces on view will range widely in scale, style, and approach and are in a variety of media, including acrylic on canvas, acrylic on gesso wood, oil on canvas, oil on panel, photography, collage, mixed media, watercolor and gouache, etching, intaglio print, and terracotta." 

Campello "conceived this groundbreaking exhibition some 20 years ago as an opportunity to showcase well-established local female artists and to present mid-career and emerging artists to a wider audience," FCA continued. "He began actively planning 'Women Artists of the DMV' in 2023 and eventually received nearly 4,000 entries for the project. The resulting series of 18 shows in 2025 included over 600 works. An entirely new selection of works will be on view at Falls Church Arts in this 19th installment of the exhibition." 

The Falls Church Arts gallery is at 700-B West Broad St. (Route 7), Falls Church. Admission is free, and the gallery is open with new winter hours: Tuesdays–Fridays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

All the artworks are for sale and can be viewed in person or online at https://www.fallschurcharts.org. Pieces can be purchased at the gallery or on the website.

Visitors to the show can cast their ballot for the People’s Choice Award until Feb. 6; the winner will be announced on Feb. 7. 

For more information, visit https://www.fallschurcharts.org or email info@fallschurcharts.org.

Participants include:

Kathleen Adams

Cheryl Bearss

Blanca Belisario

Sabine Carlson

Marietje Chamberlain

Chris Chernow

Pat Choquette

Gillian Collins

Deborah Conn

Gretchen D’Amore

Anjelika Deogirikar Grossman

Jihye Desjadon

Sarah DeWitt Brooks

Virginia Donovan

Laura Drain

Jennifer Dreyfus

Mehrnoosh Ebrahimi

Merete Evans

Nicole Gauvin

Miki Nishida Goerdt

Maureen Goss

Janet Hansen Martinet

Pamela Huffman

Lizzy Javier

Kristen Kavcar

Sharapat Kessler

Jeanne Kramer-Smyth

Gerda Lane

Xianling Liu

Nancy Lorentz

Samantha Majerus

Molly McCracken

Judith Mensh

Jessica Mickey

Tee Moon

Carol Morgan

Nan Morrison

Lynn Nguyen

Jennifer Packard

Nancy M Patrick

Helen Power

Alison Powers

Sarah Presley

Renée Nicole Ruggles

Shalini Saksena

Cynthia Schoeppel

Alexia Scott

Jenny Sewell

Yelena Skripchenko

Kristin Thomas

Iza Thomas

Nina Tisara

Sherry Trachtman

Anastasia Travieso-Diaz

Suzanne Updike

Gloria Valdes

Deborah Walmer

Amy Woodhouse

Kathleen Zeifang

Laura Zhao

People's Choice and Juror's Choice Prizes Awarded in FCA's Nov. 22-Jan. 4 'Kinship' Show

Two compelling, intriguing, and technically adept paintings were selected for outstanding recognition in Falls Church Arts's recent Nov. 22 - Jan. 4 "Kinship" 2025 exhibition displaying all-media works referencing "the bonds between or among communities, families, cultures, or other groups."

At FCA's gallery at 700-B W. Broad St. on Nov. 22, exhibition Juror Glen Kessler presented the Juror's Choice prize to Robin Lazarus-Berlin for her "Boy King," a 36 x 48" oil on canvas. And, based on gallery visitors' votes, the People's Choice Award was conferred upon Jose Quinonez's The Caregiver’s Weaving," a 30 x 10" acrylic on canvas.

'Boy King' by Robin Lazarus-Berlin

"The painting 'Boy King' is a visual masterpiece utilizing an image that begs the viewer to ponder its meaning," Juror Kessler's prize certificate read. "I find myself vacillating between its dynamic composition, compelling imagery, and nostalgic palette."

For the exhibit blurb, Glen Echo artist Lazarus-Berlin described the painting in ambiguous, mysterious tones reminiscent of how the works of American realist painter Edward Hopper are often described.

"The family at the beach is connected, yet the members are isolated. This is a theme I express in many of my paintings. I strive to capture emotional resonance and poetic meaning rather than to tell explicit narratives, keeping them as open-ended as possible."

Though the family is portrayed facing the sun directly at the public beach on a clear blue day, Lazarus-Berlin employed cooler hues on the skin tones of the family members seemingly accentuating their emotional distance rather than the sunny red/orange hues she might have used to emphasize their "warmth" as a family unit.

Stressing themes of emotional detachment and perhaps forgotten memories, she also presents the work as if it were rendered from an old black-and-white family beach shot. The boldest colors in the painting are not from bright bathing suits or beach umbrellas, but from the cool open sky and the "Boy King's" toy pale and shovel in the foreground.

The painting indeed poses many questions to the viewer. The 'Boy King' – the main subject of the piece – is standing triumphantly upon his grand pile of sand. Is he a pharaoh standing upon his pyramid? But while his feet are facing his parents, or the adults in the scene, his glance is distracted, looking away down the beach, as the grown-ups appear to nap.

Stillness, calm, and "emotional resonance" also appear to be emphasized by the repose of all the figures in the work. Despite the busy beach scene, the main characters are almost rendered statuesque, though they're lounging or distracted.

Has the mother-figure in the scene just looked up to complement her child's achievement and then closed her eyes again? Is the dad with the hyper-realistic face and 5 o'clock shadow a bit worn-out after helping his son complete his sandy masterpiece? Does the Boy King perhaps psychologically represent the artist herself?

'The Caregiver's Weaving' by Jose Quinonez

Despite its diminutive size (30 x 10"), Jose Quinonez's "The Caregiver's Weaving" provides an outsized, vibrant, and emotionally resonant impact. By the Arlington artist's description, the work itself, is an homage to those care providers and healers who helped him recover from a tragic accident.

Quinonez's blurb for the work tells of the harrowing medical journey he suffered, and his creative and heartfelt tribute to his many caregivers.

"With no formal training in art, I started my creations as a therapy to recover from an accident that required 11 surgeries to rebuild my left jawbone," he wrote. "I found that immersing myself in these creations kept my mind free of the pain and gave joy to continue my journey. This piece, 'The Caregiver's Weaving,' is my way to remember and honor all the people who took care of me during my moments of vulnerability. This piece also honors my two wonderful adult children who work in healthcare and a social worker who has been my wife of over 33 years."

"Jose uses bold colors, lines, geometric and organic shapes, and inspiration from Mayan textiles to create narratives," FCA posted to Quinonez's Instagram page Dec. 22 in congratulations for his People's Choice Award. "Each painting tells a story, like honoring the people who supported Jose during a time of vulnerability, Guatemalan indigenous communities, their traditional lives, and resilience."

As an acrylic painting, "The Caregiver's Weaving" beautifully, harmoniously, and vibrantly conveys the rich and textured polychromatic tapestry of a woven work – including embroidered "tassels" around the work's edges – paying homage to all the many healers wearing traditional village garments depicted within the frame. What appears to be a healing hand is centered in the horizontal "tapestry," as pulsating geometrical patterns give radiance and perhaps healing energy to the composition.

For a 2025 Aurora Hills Library exhibit, Arlington County Public Libraries provided further background to Quinonez's artistic approach:

"Jose describes himself – with some accuracy – as a primitive cubista painter. Through his paintings, he tries to capture both the vitality and images of traditional Guatemalan life as well as the tragic reality of the past day nation. Their straight lines, geometric patterns, and brilliant colors are inspired by the patterns used in traditional Mayan textiles."

"The juxtaposition of colors in my paintings creates an almost textured quality so that at times one is tempted to reach out and feel the woven pattern I am creating," Quinones continued. "His creations with the feature-less faces cry out for both an end to the suffering and for justice for the indigenous peoples of Latin America."

"He paints to give expression to the joys, rhythms, and meanings he finds in life, in community, and in nature. He weaves in the colors, patterns, textures, and symbols of Latin American indigenous communities to honor their experiences of joy and of horror, of connection and of fragmentation, of exploitation and of belonging."

A glimpse at Quinones biographical background gives further insight into how the artist developed such a deep sense of empathy for his caregiving subjects. "I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but raised in Guatemala City. I had the opportunity to grow up among indigenous artists who reflected the colors and patterns of every day Guatemala. Trained as an environmental engineer and indigenous sociologist, I had the opportunity to work with many indigenous communities – around Guatemala as well as in many other countries in Latin America. Professionally, I worked over 40 years in international humanitarian relief and development with emphasis in poverty alleviation programs. This gave me the opportunity to travel the world and explore the colors and patterns of many other indigenous communities."

By Christopher Jones