“Intimate Encounters” Exhibition Opening A Success

Gaithersburg, MD, November 9, 2023 – The Opening Reception of the art exhibition “Intimate Encounters,” which took place at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, MD at 2:00 pm-4:00 pm, November 4, was a success. Twenty-five artworks sold, out of the 300 exhibits created by three nature loving artists, Celeste Lucid Wiser, Julia Sutliff and Mary McCoy from Maryland. The exhibition is on until December 29, 2023.

When CCACC Art Gallery Director Rita Lewi announced the opening of the exhibition, she invited the three artists onto the stage to share their journeys with a large audience.

An environmental artist and writer, Mary McCoy lives with her husband Howard McCoy on a working farm beside a tidal river that flows to the Chesapeake Bay in the Eastern Shore of Maryland. McCoy started up the Apothecary series in the late 1990s “as a way of cataloging the quantities of intriguing objects I collect when I walk the farm and along the river,” she said, adding that this ongoing series, often in collaboration with her husband, currently numbers over 200 jars. Each contains found materials labeled with a brief, often poetic description. The lid of each jar is painted gold to indicate the sacred quality of the materials inside. “It’s important to me to tell the stories of these objects, including something about the circumstances of when and where I found them,” McCoy said.

Plein Air Landscape Painter Sutliff, living in a suburban area north of Baltimore, said that “it feels crucial to be somewhere my spirit feels buoyed up by the place–It helps me tap into the inspiration and energy I need to work.” To find natural spaces to paint, Sutliff would travel to parks and other protected areas near her home. From her paintings, one may smell the aroma of flowers and grasses in the sun. Sutliff has shared some of her approach and techniques by posting videos of her painting process on various online platforms. “I want to encourage people to get outside, find places that move and excite them, and maybe try capturing their experiences in paint,” she said.

Wiser, from Silver Spring, told the audience that, 25 years ago, while planning to make a wooden trivet with a handheld saw, “I found myself surprisingly intrigued by the interesting shapes I was cutting out. Not long afterward, I bought my first scroll saw and some very thin saw blades.” That was the beginning of her new phase of journey–to explore the magic of wood art, although the wooden trivet was never produced. Wiser was a stone carver before. “While my love of nature has been the primary inspiration for my stone sculpture, my work in wood is, for the most part, abstract and driven by fancy,” she said. “Every wall hanging is made from a single panel of wood, then cut into small sculptural pieces, sanded and colored all around, and finally reassembled into its frame.” Wiser strongly recommended that her works be dismantled and played just like a traditional jigsaw puzzle. In case a small piece was missing, one should feel free to call her so she could produce a replacement piece for them.

The three artists’ works were widely exhibited across the United States and owned by many private collectors. McCoy’s works were shown in Ireland, Wales and New Zealand as well.

CCACC Art Gallery is a nonprofit art gallery established in 2016 for celebrating diversity and enhancing the multicultural art appreciation of the community. The Gallery holds eight art exhibitions and cultural events yearly.

“Intimate Encounters” Exhibition: from November 4 to December 29, 2023

Gallery Opening Hours: 12 pm – 5 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

Admission Ticket: Free

Parking: Free

Address: 9318 Gaither Road, Suite 215, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Phone: (301) 820-7200 Ext. 8522

Website: https://www.ccaccartgallery.org