In this post on her Gessohead blog, local arts writer (and Bourgeon editor) Ellyn Weiss describes some of the unique and innovative work presently on view at the Neptune Gallery in Bethesda. Here is an excerpt:

“Elyse Harrison, doyenne of Neptune Gallery, has, along with Cate Fraser of Fraser Gallery, consistently brought serious work by local artists to Bethesda. Neptune’s show this month is particularly rewarding, combining the depth of Joan Belmar’s otherworldly paintings with the zen of Cameron Pietke’s ceramic bells and the architectural discipline of Marie Ringwald’s constructions.

I am normally too afflicted with shpielkes (i.e. antsy) to sit comfortably through artists’ talks, most of which are interchangeably vapid in any case. So I was surprised: a) to see so many civilians turn out on a Saturday afternoon in May for artists’ talks, and b) to find these talks interested and informed me. The artists are all thoughtful and genuine about their work, which can be seen in the product.

Joan Belmar is a friend whose work I admire greatly. Born in Chile, resident in Spain and then the US, the element of layered experience, of more in the background than is revealed on first view, of lives that have been lived in the past but never left entirely behind, is always present in his work. The image of the bicycle, which appears prominently in a number of the new paintings, seems an almost literal expression of life as a traveler among cultures.”

Click here to read the complete post. To learn more about Neptune Gallery, visit its website here.

Image in the post of a new Joan Belmar work, from Weiss’s post.