Art Exhibit “Ebb & Flow” Portrays Beach Like Feel

An opening reception was held at last Saturday to welcome the newest exhibit “Ebb & Flow.” The show features a variety of “beach-like” watercolors created by local artist Rachel Collins along with paper sculptures by Jessica Beels.

Both women, who are members of Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, specifically applied for the show together. Beels said that although they may work in entirely different settings their minds connect with both the process and the image.

“She’s blowing things up two dimensionally and I’m sort of distorting them three dimensionally. But people seemed to get it and liked the way it looked,” she said, describing the atmosphere of the reception. Beels, who has about twelve pieces in the show, said that both women were thrilled with the number of people who attended and the feedback in which they received.

“I think there were about 45 people, which is pretty good for a space that size. We had excellent questions and Rachel and I both talked somewhat about how we decided to collaborate and then also about our process.”

In 1998, Beels took a course to learn sculptural paper techniques, which has been her primary medium for the last five years. Her artistic talent consists of placing handmade paper from over-beaten flax and mulberry fiber over reed or wire armatures, while it’s still wet.

“I make it a special way that it will shrink as it dries,” Beels described. “So I will make a sheet of paper, then rip pieces off and drape it over either open sections of the armature or wrap it around the wire itself and as the paper shrinks it sometimes distorts the armature.”

As the paper dries, it leaves a taut, transparent skin on the pieces, Beels said. She particularly likes the way high-shrinkage paper distorts its armature, lending an element of unpredictability to the process of completing each piece.

“I like the way those forms are somewhat abstracted so the viewer sees something that they recognize but it’s not exactly what they usually see,” Beels said. “It’s enough for them to recognize a pattern or something familiar and it gives them a way to extrapolate into their own imagination.”

Collins, who has been serious about creating watercolors since 1996, said she has about 29 pieces in this month’s show. This is the first time that either woman has had their work on display in Herndon, and so far Collins said it’s been "a great deal of fun."

“Listening to Jessica explain about her work, you can really tell her own personal fascination with the process and just the enthusiasm with which she’s able to convey what she does,” Collins said. “I certainly hope that that’s what comes across when I speak about what I do as well. I think it’s an excellent idea to have an artist talk at the reception simply because it sort of engages everyone in the whole process. With just a hint of words I think everyone enjoys the exhibit that much more.”

As artists, Collins said it’s important that people take the time to view their work closely. Learning to see the world through an artist’s eyes, she said, is really what it’s all about.  

“I would say that when it comes to subject matter what I really enjoy is the close focus view on pretty much any subject simply because it allows to play back and forth between what is recognizable and yet what is also very abstract,” Collins said. “Certainly [Jessica and I] created our pieces independently and yet there is an amazing synchronicity of interest in what we are trying to convey. The surprise for both of us was the degree to which the underlying artistic interest is so similar despite the obvious difference in medium.”

Together, both women have created a number of pieces that will be on display at through Sunday, July 31. Each piece explores the spaces in and around shells and bones as landscapes and abstracted forms, examining light play and shadows and revealing inner structures and hidden echoes.

“I’m thrilled to be there. I think my work, in particular, is unlike what a lot of people usually see in galleries. It’s a material that isn’t used often and their interesting forms,” Beels said. “I like to introduce people to the process and I think the best way to do that is to see it in the flesh. It’s a good representation of what that material can do.”

Check the listing in our Places directory for hours and more information.