Trio of AACC Artists Focus on Human Figure

The powerful relationship between the human figure and the environment is the focus of a new exhibit in October at the Anne Arundel Community College Cade Center for Fine Arts gallery.

“Mary Arthur, Margaret Galloway and Karen Warshal -- New Works” runs through Oct. 26 at the gallery on the Arnold campus, 101 College Parkway. An artists’ talk about the oil paintings and charcoal drawings takes place at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, with a reception 6 to 8 p.m. the same day. Both events are set in the gallery.

Arthur and Galloway, both of Annapolis, and Warshal of Baltimore are all part-time art instructors at the college.

Arthur often uses the figure to study relationships. In “Back,” Arthur paints an isolated female in a way that commands the spare interior, making the viewer aware he is peering into a private realm.

Galloway traveled to Morocco last summer, creating sketches she transformed into paintings once back in her Maryland studio that evoke the dazzling Mediterranean light of Northern Africa. “Moroccan Man with Bike” depicts a traditionally clad figure on a sun-drenched and blue-tiled walkway.

Warshal’s charcoal drawings plumb the Renaissance tradition of humanism in her love of Italy and her studio practice of figure studies. Her drawings bring out her subjects’ expressions, even in repose or in reflection.

The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays. For information, contact Christopher P. Mona, associate professor of art and gallery coordinator, at 410-777-7028 or cpmona@aacc.edu.