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By Carolyn Moore | Photos courtesy of the individual artists
The Prince William Art Society began as Woodbridge Art Guild but did not feel that they were encompassing the entire area. In order to bring in more artists from Greater Prince William, they became the Prince William Art Society. The society exists solely to encourage and promote local artists, offering classes and workshops throughout the year. Now a group of 90+, the group converges monthly for meetings and puts together shows at the Open Space Art Gallery in Woodbridge. The current show features a number of creative local artists. Read on for a sneak peak of their work.
Evelyn Chatters’ medium of choice is acrylics. She has been represented in several shows and has successfully sold work. Chatters’ piece is called Connections. It was inspired by “The current state of America and the world,” said Chatters. She used an acrylic pour, chosen for its easy workability.
Maurine Guillot has been an artist for approximately 30 years. Being retired means that she can now spend more time on art. This piece was inspired by Guillot’s feelings that “As humans we need to show more empathy toward each other and celebrate how diverse we are.” This mixed-medium piece was created using decorated paper, cards, maps, old books, paint, and pastel.
Art has been a central part of Connell Calvert’s life. He works in mainly graphite, charcoal, pen, and watercolor, but is sometimes known to pick up oils, acrylics, and pastels. This piece was inspired by “the connections and desires felt by any and everyone,” quoted Mr. Calvert. It was created in charcoal to “give a messy and uncontrolled appearance to mimic people’s uninhibited emotions.”
Kelly Haneklau began painting murals for clients at the age of 18, received her degree in fine art at 23, and began serious commissions soon thereafter. Her business, Minor Miracles, was formed in 2001. Haneklau is versatile and works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, alcohol ink, pencil, pen and ink, sculpture, photography, jewelry making, and mixed media.
She received the “Best Top Ten Illustrator” in the International Art Competition for the book, Art from Heart, for her acrylic painting titled Together. She has received multiple awards from Light, Space, Time International online competitions for the acrylic paintings, MLK, Jr, Inside, Maine’s Main, and Arles Light.
Haneklau’s piece, Everyone’s Table, was inspired by pondering on how everyone is alike and yet different.
Bettie Sperty has been drawing ever since she can remember. She began painting in her young adult years, but not to the degree she does now. Her primary mediums are oils and acrylics, though she has dabbled in many mediums. She also creates hand-made pottery. Sperty’s current show piece is called Love Life Tattoo and is created with acrylic on canvas. The inspiration for this piece is old-school tattoos. “I paint things that make my eyes happy and hope that my artwork will make someone else’s eyes happy,” said Sperty.
Helen Burroughs has been an artist for 16 years. She paints with acrylic and oil pastels and combines them with textiles. She is an award-winning artist and has been featured at the Fredericksburg Center for the Arts and the McLean Textile Gallery. Her textile art displayed is entitled Cloth Wars. The mediums in Cloth Wars are acrylic, silk, and cotton. Burroughs wished to include fabric with her acrylics and love how fabric gives a unique perspective to paintings. Cloth Wars was created in 2019.
Tony Muller has been involved with art for 20 years but has shown professionally since 2019. He works in digital media. His work has won recognition at shows. His current piece on display at Open Space Art Gallery is titled Hate Has No Place Here.
This piece allowed him “to showcase some of the things that were said to me after coming out, but also the positive messages I want to relay to the world,” said Muller. He stated that this show was special to him as it is the very first Pride show at the Open Space Arts Gallery.
Mandy Powell has been an artist for more than 30 years. She works mostly in acrylic, but also enjoys watercolor, pencil, ink, and chalk paint. Powell won awards as a young artist and currently also does commissioned murals. Powell’s piece in the show is titled Courage, because she feels that it takes courage to “step outside the boundaries placed on love, no matter if it involves religion, ethnicity, gender, or social class.” This piece was inspired by the courage it takes to love who you want without fear of judgement.
Connie Heubner works with photography and digital art. She has been a photographer since high school. Photoshop was used for this piece, Becoming. This art was inspired by Huebner’s stepson who is transitioning and allowed her to tell his story. He consulted during the process as he wanted to be sure his emotion was captured completely.
Dinah Conteh has been an artist since she was a child. She studied art in college and enjoys working in watercolor, gouache, pencil, pens, and markers.
To learn more about the Prince William Art Society’s shows, classes, or membership, visit princewilliamartsociety.com.
Carolyn has been a successful artist and writer for many years. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, and computers.
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