Destruction - Arlington Career Center Student Show at Gallery Underground in June 2022 Gallery Underground, Arlington

Arlington Artists Alliance (AAA) and Gallery Underground provide Arlington Career Center Students Real Life Experience as Artists

***Gallery Underground’s Focus Gallery June show, Destruction, dives into the minds of high school students to understand what destruction means to them***

(Arlington, VA) Arlington Artists Alliance’s Gallery Underground will sponsor an exhibition from the Arlington Career Center students. Alliance members mentored students in all aspects of managing a professional gallery show.

“We partnered with Arlington Career Center to not only represent Arlington’s diverse community through art, but also to use our resources as an Alliance to teach students what it takes to be an artist in the real world,” says AAA Executive Director, Christina Papanicolaou. Arlington Career Center teacher Christina Ascani and AAA members are mentoring students in the myriad of behind the scene aspects of standing up a gallery show from framing, pricing art, to how to curate an exhibition. All proceeds from art commissions at the student show will be donated to the Career Center to purchase art supplies.

The students created the exhibition’s theme and title: Destruction. Together, they wrote about this concept:

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction”- Pablo Picasso

Many of us are not yet eighteen but we’ve grown up in an age of destruction. In an era of a pandemic, global warming, war, and oppressive legislation, it often feels like there’s nothing left to destroy. Sometimes it’s easy to think, ‘What’s the point of fighting the inevitable?’ We sometimes are forced to wonder if this world is even worth saving…
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Despite the path society is heading, we believe that there is something worth fighting for. We keep working for change and we believe that destruction has an opportunity for rebirth and renewal. Destruction can be beautiful, whether that be unkempt landscapes, broken glass, or shattered buildings. Beneath the shabby appearance of a derelict park or an abandoned building is the possibility of something new, the promise and act of creation.

This exhibition dives into the minds of high school students from the Arlington Career Center to understand what destruction means to us. This exhibit is a display of destruction through the mediums of photography, painting, and collage. We are turning art on its head by destroying the artwork of our classmates and using it to create new art. Our works push the definition of destruction itself to convey their creators unique thoughts and emotions about the world around them.

Opening Reception for Destruction is Friday, June 3, 2022 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibition will run from May 31 through June 24, 2022. Gallery Underground is located at The Shops at 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. It is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Additionally, our Main Gallery features new works by our gallery members, in media including oil, acrylic, pastel, watermedia, sculpture, glass, and ceramics.

ABOUT ARLINGTON ARTISTS ALLIANCE
Arlington Artists Alliance is a non-profit organization serving and supporting artists in Arlington County. The Alliance works with participating local businesses, county offices, churches, and educational institutions by exhibiting artworks in their spaces. The Alliance also maintains a full-time gallery, Gallery Underground, in Crystal City. The organization provides a support network to members, allowing local artists to develop their practice and share ideas. The Alliance is headquartered at Gallery Underground in the Crystal City Shops, 2100 Crystal Drive, Suite 2120-A in Arlington, VA. For more information, please call (571) 483-0652 or visit arlingtonartistsalliance.org.

Image: Aidan McGeehan The Road to Destruction

Gallery Underground
Headquarters of the Arlington Artists Alliance
Voted “Best Art Gallery” by Arlington Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine and ARLNow readers

https://www.arlingtonartistsalliance.org/
571-483-0652

HOURS: Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM or by appointment

GPS Address: 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington VA
(in the Crystal City Shops)
Mailing Address: 2120-A Crystal Plaza Arcade, Arlington, VA 22202