1st Workhouse Juried Photography Competition

The inaugural Workhouse Juried Photography Competition will be on display in the upper gallery of Building W-16 at the Workhouse Art Center through August 22nd. Juror Ann Shumard, the Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., selected the finalists from a national field of entries. This show establishes the Workhouse as one of the premiere fine art photography venues in the region. There is no charge to view the show. Directions to the Workhouse are available here.

An awards reception will be held Sunday, August 9th from 2 - 4 p.m. Ms Shumard has selected one work to receive a $500 Best in Show award and three others to receive $150 Equal Merit awards.

The photographers of the Workhouse Photographic Society are well represented among Ms. Shumard's selections. Lillis Werder, Kathy Strauss, Jen Chappell, Carol Simons Huddleston, Larry Rood, Wayne Guenther, Loma Mier, and E. E. McCollum all have pieces included. McCollum's photograph "Portoroz Boats #1" (above) was selected for the Best in Show award.

Other WPS members' works in the show include:

Wayne Guenther - Red Square


Loma Mier - Lost Memories


Jen Chappell -- Chicago Night View


Kathy Strauss - Carnival


Lillis Werder - Feeding Pigeons in Venice


Carol Simons Huddleston - Secluded Morning


Larry Rood - Archway - Arles

Artist Reception: "VOLUME" by Jen Chappell

The lovely and talented Jen Chappell is currently the featured exhibitor at the Workhouse Photographic Society! We will host an artist’s reception in our studio in building W6, Saturday, August 1st, 7:00 – 9:00p. Meet Jen and many of the photographers, as we welcome the prints on the walls! Directions, here.

This exhibition entitled, Volume by Jen Chappell, is so thoughtful and succinct. The work is based on the notion of the sound that an image resonates. The photographs have been selected from over two decades of her photographic career, and represent the span of her vision.

On the featured artist and exhibition, by the artist:

“Volume is a play on many levels,” Chappell says. “Each image has a sound quality and each resonates in its own way. Some are quiet (volume 3); some are quite loud (volume 10). I am showing a volume of work, cataloging my evolution and growth as an artist.”

Chappell began photographing directly after high school. Her first works were portraits of friends and the cataloguing of her surroundings. As her surroundings morphed, so did Chappell’s photography. Quickly she became the de facto chronicler of the Lehigh Valley and New Jersey punk scene. She shot many album covers and band photographs.

The frenetic pace that was this demimonde punk scene slowly grew into more structural and architectural work that imbued inanimate objects and spaces with an otherworldliness through her deft use of graininess and cross processing of color. The moodiness that she had found in the interplay of texture and color then encouraged her to move her eye to concentrated close-ups of living and growing things.

Chappell sees these as just another aspect of herself. “I chronicle my life by photographing those things that speak to me. Often these items are either of two opposites. A flower or rusted sheet metal; the quiet morning fog or a concert. I see the beauty of the normal, be it conventionally, or absurdly, beautiful …the life force.”

Jen Chappell is a juried member of the Workhouse Photographic Society at Lorton, a member of Del Ray Artisans, the Del Ray Dozen, and a consistently juried contributor to Alexandria City’s Art in City Hall program. Her work has hung in National Symphony Orchestra designer show houses as well as the Pennsylvania State House.

And there is plenty more photographs, in varied styles, that grace the wall by the additional members of the group! This exhibition runs through September 13th.

FREE Concert Series begins Sunday in Lorton!

This Sunday you should gather some delicious eats and your friends and check out the US Army Band Downrange and the Workhouse Arts Center. Directions are can be found here. Downrange performs a variety of music from the current rock, pop, R&B, and country charts, as well as patriotic classics and their own original music. Soaking up their free performance and a little picnic is just the way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Here's the deal, The Workhouse Arts Center is kicking off their Summer and Fall free concert series, “The Stars on Sunday" . This is the first concert of this series. 3-5pm on Sunday, July 26th on the lovely grass Quad area. While your there, stop by and visit our studio space in building W6!

HELLO!

Take a look at the book the founding members of the Workhouse Photographic Society created. This book contains a sample portfolio of 135 works by the 15 founding members.