Archway Gallery
Upcoming Exhibition Calendar
Upcoming Exhibition Calendar
February 5 - March 3, 2022
Nowruz - A New Beginning
Featuring New Paintings and Sculptures by Maryam Lavaf
Saturday, Febuary 5
All day Meet The Artist, from 10 a.m.
Followed by our regular Opening Reception 5 - 8 p.m.
Artist's Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary Valet Parking & Light Refreshments at the evening reception
Masks required
All day Meet The Artist, from 10 a.m.
Followed by our regular Opening Reception 5 - 8 p.m.
Artist's Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary Valet Parking & Light Refreshments at the evening reception
Masks required
The word Nowruz means “new day.” Occurring on the spring equinox, on or around March 20, Nowruz is celebrated as the beginning of the New Year by more than 300 million people worldwide. For over 3,000 years, Nowruz has marked a new beginning and a sense of renewal. In her new series of abstract paintings and sculptures, Maryam Lavaf seeks to create an energy and vibrancy reflective of the Nowruz spirit as we move into the season of its celebration after a COVID-driven challenging 2020-2021.
Maryam believes that even the darkest situations contain a spark of positive energy. Our task, she says, “is to look for that spark – in nature, in humanity, or in someone’s eyes – to know it is always there, encouraging us to change and to move forward.” This year, as the world comes together to defeat COVID-19, Maryam encourages us to let the new beginning spirit of Nowruz serve as an inspiration to recover and rebuild in a more just and sustainable way. “Change is difficult, but it is necessary and is a natural part of life,” says Maryam Lavaf. “It challenges us to be open to possibility, to acknowledge our own resistance, and to celebrate the renewal and blooming we can bring forth.”
In this exhibition, Maryam Lavaf explores the concept of renewal by embracing change in her own view and approach to her work. The footprints of nature can be traced throughout Lavaf’s work. “Nature stimulates the primary sense – the ecstasy of existence and the essence of life -- for me,” she explains. “It’s the same sense that we experience in love.” Each of these new works begins with a sound from nature -- the sound of a raindrop or a leaf falling. She then allows each sound to form its own visual logic, and each work is guided by its own rules according to its unique demands. Collectively, Lavaf strives to present the elements of nature in abstract form through her work.
Maryam Lavaf began her life in Iran. She received a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Painting from Tehran Azad University in 2002. In 2004, Lavaf moved to Houston. Her first connection with the arts community in the U.S. was through the Visual Arts Alliance where she met fellow Archway artist, Becky Soria, who connected her to a group of artists at Winter Street Studios. In 2015, she began an exploration of ceramics under Jeff Forster’s supervision at the Glassell School of Art. She is currently an active member of Archway Gallery.
Maryam believes that even the darkest situations contain a spark of positive energy. Our task, she says, “is to look for that spark – in nature, in humanity, or in someone’s eyes – to know it is always there, encouraging us to change and to move forward.” This year, as the world comes together to defeat COVID-19, Maryam encourages us to let the new beginning spirit of Nowruz serve as an inspiration to recover and rebuild in a more just and sustainable way. “Change is difficult, but it is necessary and is a natural part of life,” says Maryam Lavaf. “It challenges us to be open to possibility, to acknowledge our own resistance, and to celebrate the renewal and blooming we can bring forth.”
In this exhibition, Maryam Lavaf explores the concept of renewal by embracing change in her own view and approach to her work. The footprints of nature can be traced throughout Lavaf’s work. “Nature stimulates the primary sense – the ecstasy of existence and the essence of life -- for me,” she explains. “It’s the same sense that we experience in love.” Each of these new works begins with a sound from nature -- the sound of a raindrop or a leaf falling. She then allows each sound to form its own visual logic, and each work is guided by its own rules according to its unique demands. Collectively, Lavaf strives to present the elements of nature in abstract form through her work.
Maryam Lavaf began her life in Iran. She received a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Painting from Tehran Azad University in 2002. In 2004, Lavaf moved to Houston. Her first connection with the arts community in the U.S. was through the Visual Arts Alliance where she met fellow Archway artist, Becky Soria, who connected her to a group of artists at Winter Street Studios. In 2015, she began an exploration of ceramics under Jeff Forster’s supervision at the Glassell School of Art. She is currently an active member of Archway Gallery.
February Calendar
Sunday, February 6 @ 6:00pm |
|
Sunday, February 20 @ 6:00pm |
March 5 - March 31, 2022
Stuck
Featuring New Photography by Larry Garmezy
Saturday, March 5
All day Meet The Artist, from 10 a.m.
Followed by our regular Opening Reception 5 - 8 p.m.
Artist's Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary Valet Parking & Light Refreshments at the evening reception
Masks required
All day Meet The Artist, from 10 a.m.
Followed by our regular Opening Reception 5 - 8 p.m.
Artist's Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary Valet Parking & Light Refreshments at the evening reception
Masks required
The pandemic prevented Larry Garmezy from making his annual photographic pilgrimage to the natural springs of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Stuck at home, he turned to a source of water a little bit closer -- his fifty-year-old pool. The patterns formed by the circulation jets function as a stand-in for the natural water surface distortion and ripples he usually photographs. Garmezy’s show, Stuck, is a unique, often playful, chronicle of a disrupted life, a deserted downtown, and how stuck we, as individuals, remain as our society ripples and shifts.
One suite of images began with a simple desire to create a still life using persimmons ripening in Garmezy’s backyard. With a glance at the ripples near the pool jets and around thirty dollars in quarters to sink the fruit, a suite of “not-so-still-life” images was born. Garmezy then experimented with immersing his earlier photographs of mountain springs, urban Houston, and a Mexican street, creating a “second derivative” set of altered images. Other experiments captured floating leaves; their shadows distorted by the lensing effect of surface tension around their edges.
The common thread? Garmezy’s images are typically impressions or abstractions of the visual landscape, distorted by physical processes that create surprising and fleeting patterns —including the warping of glass in a skyscraper. Videos illustrating how the pool became his artistic playground will be on display alongside the work.
Larry Garmezy, a geologist, spent 32 years traveling the world with Shell Oil after graduating from Amherst College and Penn State University. A lifelong photographer, he has had four solo shows as a member artist at Archway Gallery in Houston. His work has been in numerous juried shows, hangs in homes, offices and public spaces across the U.S. and Europe, and has been published in Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine (issues 15, 17, and 23). Two of his images from this exhibition will be highlighted in Issue 27.
One suite of images began with a simple desire to create a still life using persimmons ripening in Garmezy’s backyard. With a glance at the ripples near the pool jets and around thirty dollars in quarters to sink the fruit, a suite of “not-so-still-life” images was born. Garmezy then experimented with immersing his earlier photographs of mountain springs, urban Houston, and a Mexican street, creating a “second derivative” set of altered images. Other experiments captured floating leaves; their shadows distorted by the lensing effect of surface tension around their edges.
The common thread? Garmezy’s images are typically impressions or abstractions of the visual landscape, distorted by physical processes that create surprising and fleeting patterns —including the warping of glass in a skyscraper. Videos illustrating how the pool became his artistic playground will be on display alongside the work.
Larry Garmezy, a geologist, spent 32 years traveling the world with Shell Oil after graduating from Amherst College and Penn State University. A lifelong photographer, he has had four solo shows as a member artist at Archway Gallery in Houston. His work has been in numerous juried shows, hangs in homes, offices and public spaces across the U.S. and Europe, and has been published in Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine (issues 15, 17, and 23). Two of his images from this exhibition will be highlighted in Issue 27.
March Calendar
Wednesday, March 30 @ 6:00pm |
Texas New Music Ensemble - Open Rehearsal |
Thursday, March 31 @ 6:00pm |
Texas New Music Ensemble - Composer Spotlight Concert |