Beyond Layers


This Washington DC group exhibit closes Sunday April 26 with a reception from 3-5 PM.

‘Beyond Layers’ features Leda Black, Anna Fine Foer, Ruth Pettus, Judith Pratt, Marie Ringwald, and Sylvie van Helden. These six local artists show work that presents how artists today are using both the traditional methods of paper layering and found objects, as well as newer digital techniques to create contemporary collage and assemblage.

Anna Fine Foer’s Fire Signals II אותות אש uses traditional methods of paper collage, with images of neural networks and typographic maps of Israel that come together to depict mountains. This work draws a connection between when Jews in Palestine and in the Babylonian exile, during the the Second Temple period, were notified of the new moon’s arrival by fire beacons that were lit across the mountaintops, signifying the start of each Jewish month. This type of “fire signal” communication is visually linked to how messages are sent in our brain.

Leda Black’s series Celestial Bodies are computer-made collages created by layering, masking, and grafting pieces from her photographs; each containing digital mash-ups of animals, plants, and human-made objects.

Ruth Pettus works with used, found shoes to create sculptures and installation, utilizing them as both simple metaphor and as sensual, visual text. The variety and texture of the shoes emphasizes the uniqueness, endurance and occasionally the wit of individual experience. Judith Pratt demonstrates how the traditional boundaries between drawing, painting, and sculpture can be expanded with her piece Axis. This large wall-hung installation incorporates paper shapes that are transformed texturally and chromatically with acrylic paint and graphite. Coiled bands of aluminum sheeting add light and movement to each piece.

— Established in April 2006, Hillyer is a program of International Arts & Artists, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing cross- cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally. Each month Hillyer presents three solo exhibitions featuring artists from the mid-Atlantic region— particularly the DC area—as well as works by international artists. Our focus is on showing under-represented artists, both emerging and established. We are located in Dupont Circle, next to the Phillips Collection, in Washington, DC. The gallery is open Monday 12-5pm, Tuesday through Friday 12-6pm, and Saturday 12-5pm, or by appointment.