Associate artists are integral to our connections to the VisArts Education program. They serve as esteemed faculty and maintain a rigorous studio practice.
Associate Artists have opportunities for solo exhibitions, dialogue, professional development, teaching, and community engagement. Engagement can take the form of public artist talks, workshops, screenings, community or socially-engaged art projects, open studio events, public lectures, teaching or other mutually agreed upon events. Associate Artists are part of the Studio Artist Program that meets monthly. Open studios are held at each exhibition reception.
Being a VisArts Associate Artist is a blessing that I don’t take for granted. People take my work seriously because I’m creating in a studio, and my business has grown. I’ve gotten commissions for private homes as well as commercial spaces. [Galleries department staff] are so positive and encouraging. I have support and professional opportunities. I’ve participated in a Studio Artist exhibition, taught a class, and chatted with campers about my art. There’s always something new to do, see, and learn and interesting people to meet.
Current Associate Artists
Dunnie Onasanya
Dunnie Onasanya
Dunnie Onasanya
My artwork is an exploration of Pan African modernism which delves into the connectedness of the historic and the abstract by creating a conversation between color, texture and vibrance.
Often referencing African culture or faith symbolism, my work explores the varying relationships between tribal influences and women in power. Having engaged subjects such as unity and spirituality my work produces visually stimulating experiences.
While I utilize a variety of materials and processes my methodology is consistent. Although there may not always be material similarities between the different projects I complete they will always linked by my unique freedhand style of lines and curves. The subject matter and client preference of each of my works determined the materials I will choose to use on the project. During both the research and production phase of my process new areas of interest always arise and often lead to the next body of work I venture into cultivating.
About the Artist: Dunnie Onasanya is a Nigerian American visual artist and muralist. Dunnie is currently devoting her time polishing her artistry as a canvas painter and muralist. Her work is heavily influenced by her West African heritage and faith in God. She creates breathtaking abstract works, cultural masks, hamsas and other historic symbols with the use of bright colors, metallic paints, gold leaf and jewels.
Dunnie was the featured International visual artist at AfroChic Cultural Arts Festival 2018 in Toronto Canada. Most recently she performed a live painting demonstration of cultural masks at the Umu Igbo Unite Nigerian Cultural Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has also participated in several pop-up events and exhibitions. She recently partnered with joonafrica.com, an Afrocentric Interior Decor design company to curate her art for purchase. She’s also working on releasing her home collection of throw pillows, wall art, wearable art and home decor and other on joonafrica.com.
As a survivor of domestic violence she is dedicated to sharing her story and artistry practice to aid in the healing of others through Art which has been her primary form of therapy that she is uses to inspire others, by bringing them love, joy, and light.
2018
Bertrand Mao
Bertrand Mao
Bertrand Mao
Born in the Jiangsu province of China, Bertrand Mao has studied and practiced Chinese calligraphy and painting for over sixty years. His work consists of the traditional Chinese art forms of Shan-Shui painting, Chinese calligraphy, and the Four Gentlemen of Chinese brush painting – the plum blossom, chrysanthemum, bamboo, and orchid. Shan-Shui, more commonly understood in the western world as Chinese Landscape painting, is the highest form of Chinese painting. The literal translation of Shan-Shui is “Mountain and Water”.
Bertrand Mao’s paintings express a poetic state of mind. He often finishes a painting by adding a poem or verse reflecting his mood and thoughts at the time. His paintings are created in the traditional manner by applying Chinese black ink on rice paper with a brush, and adding some light blue and rock red pigments for color. Bertrand Mao’s extensive training in Chinese calligraphy has helped to make him a master of the brush, with the ability to freely and elegantly create lines so that the brushstrokes in his paintings have the feel and rhythm of music and dance. As Bertrand Mao says, “It is almost without exception that an outstanding Chinese painter must be, at the same time, an excellent Chinese calligrapher.”
Bertrand Mao has exhibited his artwork in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Taiwan, India, China, and Russia. He has demonstrated and lectured on Chinese calligraphy and painting at universities, libraries, art centers, and government institutions, including the Sackler Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In addition to private collections, his artwork is on permanent display at the Potomac Public Library in Potomac, Maryland, in the art collection of the Gaithersburg Public Library in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and the art collections of the Chinese Television Corporation and the Pacific Cultural Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan. One of Bertrand Mao’s paintings also appears in the 2001 edition of the “Catalog of Paintings by Chinese American Artists,” a juried collection published by Homa and Sekey Books, Dumont, NJ.
In 2002, Mr. Mao was commissioned to paint a 210-foot long interpretative mural of the Great Wall of China. This piece is displayed annually in the atrium of Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, Maryland during their annual 2 week celebration of the Asian Lunar New Year. In 2004, his work was selected by the United States Department of State to be included in the ART in the Embassies Program, which exhibits artwork in US embassies abroad.
Bertrand Mao is a resident artist at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts) in Rockville, Maryland. He is currently on faculty at University of Maryland University College, at the Institute for Learning in Retirement at American University, and at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland.
2010 - 2026
Nanette Bevan
Nanette Bevan
Nanette Bevan
Nanette Bevan is a glass artist with over 20 years of experience glass and mixed media. Her undergraduate studies in English at Georgetown University encouraged a creative approach to poetry and writing. The images, emotions and beauty in the written word often become themes in her studio artwork. Her studies in glass include exploring the reactive nature of glass and the nature of transparency.
Images and colors often seen in her work reflect time spent living in Japan, Iran and her home, New England. Her warm glass is alternately intricately detailed and deceptively simple. The smaller interior landscapes are attempts recreate the worlds we all have inside us.
In addition to challenging herself, she enjoys finding new ways to inspire her students to find their own creative voice.
Contact Ms Bevan at nbevanglass@me.com
2010
Xiaosheng Bi
Xiaosheng Bi
Xiaosheng Bi
Xiaosheng Bi was raised in the countryside near Xian, China, an area that was China’s ancient capital for centuries and is replete with traditional Chinese art and culture. After studying graphic design, Xiaosheng worked at the Xian Craft Art Research Institute where he traveled throughout China to study and document classical and folk art. In 1989, he was admitted to the Ceramic Art Department within the College of Art at Qinghua University in Beijing, China where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and then taught ceramics for eight years. In 1997 Xiaosheng immigrated to the United States and soon established himself as a ceramist and teacher in Chicago. In 2004 he moved to the Washington, D.C. area and now lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife and young daughter.
Xiaosheng’s work reflects his traditional Chinese influences, yet is infused with a contemporary aesthetic. Suffused with gentle colors, his delicate forms shine with the brilliant translucency of bone china porcelain and traditional Chinese motifs such as bamboo leaves or lotus blossoms are painted with dynamic, nearly abstract strokes. Through his life and work, Xiaosheng has formed a bridge between the introspective sensibilities of Chinese culture and the dynamism of modern Western culture.
Learn more at www.xiaoshengbi.com
Contact Mr. Bi at xiaoshengbi@gmail.com
2010 - 2026
