Artist Profile – Joanna Athey

"Life in a Fish Bowl" by Joanna Athey

When Joanna Athey retired in 1994 she wondered what she was going to do with all the time on her hands. A homemaker for many years and staffer at National Geographic in Gaithersburg when her children had grown, she had never been interested in art. She couldn’t sing and she couldn’t draw, she says. But that didn’t stop her from taking a watercolor class with Elizabeth Smith Carlson in 1996 and then later, after a struggle with watercolor, a collage class.

Collage clicked. “I found myself ripping and tearing and feeling like I was back in school,” says Athey in her wry way of her first experiences in collage.

An exhibiting member of the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative, Athey has taken many classes from teachers around the country. “I like to experiment in different media,” she explains, but she always returns to collage because she likes the texture of this art form, the almost sculptural quality she can bring to the piece.

“There is something in you,” Athey says, “that wants more color and texture.” Her favorite colors are the reds, gold, oranges, as is evident in her striking pieces.

All those painting classes have given her something else she didn’t anticipate: material for her collage work. She tears up her old watercolor paintings for collages, building layers and layers of colors that form themselves into landscapes, abstracts, and one delicious portrait of a woman who wears one of Athey’s earrings.

“Being an artist,” she says, “is being willing to experiment and create.”

A piece starts as an idea, or something she sees in nature or a photograph. “Sometimes when I don’t know what I want to do, I start just tearing up paper and putting it down.” Always, complementary colors, texture, and mood are part of her process.

This is not a quick process, however. Athey starts a piece, sets it up in the studio, and looks at it from various angles. She studies it, trying to decide what she wants to do. “I try to think of the principles and elements of design, to see if everything is in balance, and,” she adds with a slight smile, “if I like it whether I followed the rules or not.”

Although she’s been a working artist for 16 years, Athey doesn’t call herself a full-time artist. She wants to work when the mood hits her, not because she must. Having a studio her son built for her in the basement of her Charles Town home allows her to be alone with her work when she wants and close the door and “leave my mess” until the mood hits again.

“I don’t want to do anymore art unless I have fun,” she says adamantly. “Maybe as a child, I did what everyone else was doing. Now, at my age, I am doing what I do. It’s my own.”

-Ginny Fite

Posted in Artist Information, Co-op News

Spring Exhibit Opens at the AHA Fire Hall Gallery

Photograph by Anna Gibson

The Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative will mount another beautiful exhibit in the AHA Fire Hall Gallery in the Charles Town Visitors Center, 108 N. George Street. Visit us early and often to view our members’ exhibit, opening April 7 and continuing throughout the month. The Charles Town Visitor’s Center is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Posted in Co-op News, Coming Events, Special Exhibits

Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative Launches “Making Art” Series

"Quiet Cove" by Sue Parker

The Washington Street Artists’ (WSA) Cooperative launches a rare opportunity for area residents and visitors to Charles Town to observe and interact with an artist at work “Making Art.”

Beginning on April 14 from 2 – 5 p.m., the WSA Co-op will pull back the curtain on what goes on in the mind and hands of an artist, featuring different member artists one Saturday a month for six months working in a variety of media from drawing to painting to photography to furniture decoration and wood working and porcelain carving right in our Charles Town gallery.

The schedule is as follows:

  • April 14 –Sue Parker – drawing and painting
  • May 12 – Suzanne Ravgiala – broken plate furniture decoration
  • June 9 – Loretta Bailey – painting
  • July 14 – Mary Jo Bennett – macro photography
  • Aug. 11 – Malcolm Hally – multi-media constructions
  • Sept. 8 – Joe Bourgeois – wood working and Martha LeRoi – carving porcelain

Fruit Table by Suzanne Ravgiala

The monthly sessions are informal and gallery visitors are invited to sit and watch each artist and ask questions about materials or techniques or how an artist makes decisions as he or she works. Visitors will see art developing as they watch and learn about what it takes to make a work of art.

Posted in Co-op News, Coming Events, Special Exhibits

Shameless Plug

Four members of the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative will have their work included among the 52 pieces selected for the 2nd annual Art and Earth Exhibit mounted by the Berkeley Arts Council in The Arts Centre in Martinsburg.

Mary Jo Bennett’s photograph “Sunflower Drops,” Earl Mills’ photograph “Live Oak, and Gary Bergel’s digital photography pieces, “Autumn Icon” and “Curbside Landscape” will be in the show. The show is curated by WSAC member Rip Smith, who is also a prime mover on the Berkeley Arts Council.

In all, 36 artists from West Virginia and eight other states have been selected for display in the juried exhibit. The show will be open to the public in the gallery of The Arts Centre, 300 West King Street in Martinsburg. The exhibit opens Friday, April 20 with a reception from 5 – 7 p.m. visitors are welcome from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday until May 19.

More than 100 works in various media were reviewed by juror Laura Amussen for the “Art and Earth: My Art, My World” show.  Amussen is Director of Exhibitions and Art Collection Coordinator at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland.

Posted in Co-op News

OOH – Enjoy a Night on the Town

See a show at the Old Opera House in Charles Town and get a discount on dinner at participating Charles Town restaurants and on a unique work of art from the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative gallery.

Pottery by Annette Verna

Just show your ticket or our flier before or after the show on performance weekends and receive 10 percent off your meal at Shu Chen, Dish, or Mediterranean. You may pick up flier at our gallery, 235 W. Washington Street, Charles Town, and in participating restaurants.

Visit the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative gallery for 10 percent off the price of the work of participating WSA artists Frank Ceravalo, Susan Parker, Rip Smith, Joanna Athey, Mary Jo Bennett, Joseph Bourgeois, Annette Verna, Lis Burrows, Nancy Streeter, Loretta Bailey, Elaine Mosel and Ginny Fite.

The WSA gallery will be open until 7 p.m. on the opening night of each OOH show. OOH performance dates are March 23, 24, 25; May 4, 5, 6; Sept. 6, 7, 8; Oct. 19, 20, 21; and Dec. 6, 7, 8.

Posted in Coming Events, Special Exhibits

You Don’t Have to be Irish to Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day

Stop by on St. Paddy’s Day, Saturday, March 17, from 1 – 5 p.m.,
have a bite to eat, a bit to drink,
and meet our artists while you browse through our work.

"On a Clear Day" by Joanna Athey

Between threats of winter snowstorms and severe wind warnings, spring has quietly crept up on our region. Daffodils are blooming in sunny spots and grass is beginning to green.

The Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative gallery has dressed itself for the season as well with new work from our 28 member artists and artisans.

Posted in Co-op News

Get a New Perspective with an Exhibit of Recent Paintings by Doug Kinnett

Doug Kinnett Georgetown Series #9 "Partly Coudy Morning"

Exhibit dates:  March 2-31, 2012, 10:00 – 5:00 daily
Reception:  Saturday, March 10, 2012, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
AHA Fire Hall Gallery, Visitor’s Center,
108 N. George Street, Charles Town, WV

Well-known local artist Doug Kinnett, who has worked in many media including painting, prints, jewelry, furniture and collage, opens an exciting new exhibit of his Georgetown Series paintings on March 2 under the combined auspices of the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative and the Arts & Humanities Alliance of Jefferson County (AHA!) in the AHA Fire Hall Gallery in the Charles Town Visitors Center, 108 N. George Street, Charles Town. The reception with the artist is open to the public on Saturday, March 10 from 4 – 8 p.m. at the Visitor’s Center.

Doug Kinnett Georgetown Series #1

Kinnett holds two masters degrees, one in painting and the other in arts education, and earned a doctorate in art education at Illinois State University in Bloomington, IL. Before embarking on a full time art career, he worked on the art faculty at Shepherd University. He has taught art to all levels of students, from kindergarten to graduate school. Kinnett’s work has been featured in numerous local, regional and national shows since the 1970s and he is part of the Over the Mountain Studio Tour. His studio is called Manna Machine Studio, where his focus is on art with abstract, organic forms and geometric shapes; bold colors and imaginative patterns. Images of the Georgetown Series are available on www.mannamachine.com.

The mission of the Arts & Humanities Alliance of Jefferson County is to preserve the rich history and culture of Jefferson County; enhance and encourage creative opportunity; facilitate communication between the arts & humanities and the community, and provide support to local cultural entities and individuals through educational and organizational assistance.


Posted in Co-op News, Coming Events, Special Exhibits