Today the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church (UMC) in NW held an extraordinary free piano concert in the Sanctuary and opened a stunning visual art exhibit called "Light" in their Great Hall.
Funded by the UMC Arts Council, the concert featured two auspiciously talented young women, Wen-Yin Chan and Hanchien Lee performing piano music written or arranged for four hands.
Chan holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale and teaches at the Levine School of Music in DC.
Lee holds a Doctoral degree from the Peabody Conservatory and teaches at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The audience was treated to three pieces, spanning 3 centuries:
- Sonata in C major for Piano Four Hands by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, (18th C.)
- Danse Macabre, opus 40 by Camille Saint-Saens (19th C.), and
- Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, (20th C.)
Following the widely appreciated concert, the church Arts Council treated the community and six local artists to an opening reception for their exhibit, "Light." A six-woman collaborative named "Art Spirit" displayed nearly 50 works of 2 and 3-dimensional media.
- Lorraine Arden inspired viewers with transformation-themed, ethereal mixed-media paintings on treated paper, using oils and oil pastels. She also included bold bronze sculpture.
- Martha Finley Johnson delighted viewers with religious and secular mixed media collages and bold, geometric acrylic paintings.
- Susan Due Pearcy impressed with both mono-types and mono-prints on hand-made paper, incorporating unusual materials like aluminum.
- Judith Simmons moved viewers with dreamy pastels, colorful oil pastels and one lithograph, titled "Big Bang."
- Terry Svat offered the most diverse portfolio of media, including collagraphs on handmade paper, viscosity etchings, linoleum cuts, and a single mono-type.
- Sandra Wasko-Flood thrilled viewers by cleverly incorporating electric light into her multi-media works about spirit and life-cycles. Wasko-Flood displayed groupings of photo montages in "light boxes."
The Arts Council of Metro Memorial UMC "aims to promote the awareness that art is a gift of being and serves as a sacred bridge to our Creator, to ourselves, and to our world."
On April 12 the Metro Players will perform the comedy, "Leading Ladies," and on May 5, the UMC Arts Council will present a concert by the Marquis Ensemble, followed by a reception in the Grand Hall where the audience may enjoy the exhibit "Light," which will still be on display through May 12.
Most of the artwork is for sale.
For more information, contact the church at 202-363-4900, go to www.nationalchurch.org or write to Carol Griffith at carolgriffith33@hotmail.com.
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