R. Gordon Arneson was a prominent painter, military leader, and federal employee. He painted in acrylics, holding a dozen solo shows, including ones at the Foreign Service Club and National Arboretum. While a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1945, Arneson served as secretary to the Interim Committee on Atomic Energy. This specialized committee, appointed by Secretary of War Henry Stimson, provided advice on matters that concerned the atomic bomb and the future development of atomic energy. Later, Arneson served in the State Department as a special assistant, first to the Under Secretary of State and then to the Secretary of State, dealing with atomic energy matters.

In his textile work, Tim Harding uses free reverse applique, a technique that utilizes the intrinsic properties of textiles and fosters an interplay of surface and structure. To create the illusion of three-dimensional space on the picture plane, he employs painterly methods like light and shadow, figure and ground, and perspective. Harding layers his textiles to obscure and reveal images beneath their surfaces. Based on an enlarged photograph of surface scales from a butterfly wing, Winged reflects “the influences of luster and iridescent in the natural world and how they show up in various forms of indigenous art.” The artist likens this textile to ethnographic artifacts from museums and galleries, like pre-Columbian feather capes and African ceremonial garments.

Merging traditional, ancestral techniques with bespoke improvisations, painter, weaver, and teacher Amber Jensen fashions stories and symbols out of thread and cloth. Jensen compares her weavings and patterns to European American woven coverlet patterns and finely detailed sampler embroideries. a tree, from a bare seed of potential, the self can become was woven in a historical overshot pattern called wheel and cross, then layered with hand-stitched patchwork and woolen leaves, all in monochromatic green hues. Inspired by Jensen’s memory of a woodland hike in the American Midwest, this textile features a verdant bed of moss, lichen, and leaves that bring shelter and comfort for wildlife.  Read More

Painter, illustrator, and printmaker Reginald Marsh was renowned for his lively depictions of burlesque shows, throngs of crowds at Coney Island, and bustling ship harbors. Rendered in egg tempera, oils, ink, and watercolor, Marsh’s busy, muddy scenes are infused with social realism. Although he was known for his paintings of New York City, Marsh also documented his extensive travels throughout the United States and abroad. The artist would return to his favorite spots, capturing immediate impressions in his sketchbook and taking preparatory photographs.

In his abstract landscapes and seascapes like Surging Sea, Jason Schoener developed a distinctive technique using vibrant oils, acrylic colors, and transparent watercolors. Schoener’s oil compositions were influenced by his travels through Scotland, Greece, and Latin America. Other subject matter included floral still lifes, naval operations scenes, and landscapes around his home in Georgetown, Maine. A critic from The Late Chronicle once wrote that Schoener “studies nature closely and transforms its moods into images with exceptional imagination and skill…he possesses a remarkably sensitive touch in matters of color and surface effect.”