Annmarie Garden Sculpture Park & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland offers an extraordinary visitor experience for guests of all ages. In addition to the lovely thirty-acre sculpture park, the new Arts Building is now open offering exceptional exhibits, a Gift Shop, Café, and outdoor plaza perfect for enjoying lunch. Each exhibit in the new building includes engaging activities designed for a range of ages and backgrounds. Annmarie Garden is the perfect place to spend time exploring how art and nature meet.


Currently On Exhibit in the Main Gallery of the New Arts Building:

Re.action, May 31-August 31

This exhibition explores the many ways artists depict movement in their artwork. Whether it is sculpture activated by a button or a painting that appears to pulse, the works invite the audience to participate in the creative process. Push a button, turn a crank, stand in a certain place; each piece invites you to interact with the art in some way. By doing so, you become an essential part of the creative process.

Artists in Re.action use movement to express an array of ideas and emotions. Andy Malone’s movable chess set, 1967 Rebellion Chess Set, 2003, dramatically recreates a moment in the history of the city of Detroit. In Karl Lautman’s Who’s On First, 2003, 19th century technology is merged with comedy to reprise the famous Abbott and Costello routine. Other artists, such as Bradley Litwin use elaborate gears and machinery to explore universal laws of motion. Through pieces such as Tracker-Rocker, 2007, and the Quadrapult, 2006, he hopes to instill an appreciation for the precision and capabilities of machines.

Similarly, painters and photographers use dynamic elements to achieve movement in their pieces. Monte Sheldon’s painting, Large Spiral, 1992, uses color and contrast to represent light and energy. The repetition of the circular pattern creates an optical illusion, as the surface seems to pulse and vibrate. Glenn Friedel produces a slower, floating movement in Awakening, 2004. Created by using a live model that physically lies on light sensitive paper, the artist achieves an ethereal and aquatic sensation in the art.

As visitors examine each work in Re.action, they are encouraged to consider how the movement affects them. Is it energizing, soothing, mesmerizing, or perhaps disturbing? Ultimately, the exhibit invites the audience to become a part of the energy and movement of the works.

Currently On Exhibit in the Mezzanine Gallery of the New Arts Building:

Olga Hirshhorn Recollects, May 31-September 21

 
 Olga Hirshhorn

Olga Hirshhorn, well-known art collector, has amassed an extraordinary collection in her lifetime. Widow of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Olga entered the relationship with no prior knowledge of modern or contemporary art. Remarried late in