"Nursing Mother"

"In My Arms"

Loft Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Fri 11-4, Sat. 11-5, Sun. 12-5
Interviews are welcome by Linda Larochelle. Please contact her at 703. 490-1117 (gallery)
original block print images attached:

"In My Arms" an exhibit of relief block prints by Linda Larochelle will be on display at the Loft Gallery in Occoquan May 6 through June 2. The exhibit includes several of Larochelle's lively hand colored and printed block prints many of which illustrate the mother and child theme. The flat colors, busy patterns and stylized design of these block prints lend a folk-like charm to these mother and child images, making them definitely worth seeing.

The artist, a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute in printmaking, has explored many venues of art including watercolors and pastels but has recently returned to her old love printmaking. Along with this shift in medium came a shift in subject matter with Larochelle giving graphic expression to her own experience of parenting through the mother and child theme.

All of the artist's blocks are carved, inked and printed by hand. Most of her prints are unique variations, even when images are the same the colors vary with each print making them similar to mono prints.

The individual print "In My Arms" depicts the artist's grandmother holding a great-grand child. It is done from a photo the artist herself took forty years ago. In reference to that print and to the exhibit the artist says; "The show is meant to express what we hold dear. It's about mothers and their children. It's about that special time when our children are small...that nurturing and caring we give to our children and what they give back to us. I'm trying to capture that snap shot in time."

The opening reception, quite fittingly, will be on Mother's Day from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Loft Gallery.

"Alternative Perspectives" - Colored Pencil Drawings
by Sherry Smith

June 4- July 6, 2008
Opening reception Saturday, June 7
1-3 p.m.

Loft Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Fri 11-4, Sat. 11-5, Sun. 12-5
Interviews are welcome by Sherry Smith. Please contact her at 703. 490-1117 (gallery)

Northern Virginia artist Sherry Smith will be displaying her colored pencil drawings in Occoquan, Virginia. Sherry received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Akron- Akron, Ohio. Her colored pencil drawings are vibrant, bold and full of contrast. Many of the works are presented in aerial perspective or looking down from above the subject matter.