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Arts & Entertainment

Lighthouses in Two Dimensions

Oakton's Alex Wisniewski will have work on display at the Artists' Undertaking Gallery

Since first picking up a paintbrush as a youngster, Oakton’s own Alex Wisniewski has remained fascinated with the challenge of watercolor, which is accented through his talent for fine line drawing. 

Wisniewski’s work will be featured along with Falls Church woodburning artist Bob Horowitz at the Artists’ Undertaking Gallery in Occoquan from March 7 through April 4, in an exhibit entitled “Lighthouses in Two Dimensions.”

The show will display Wisniewski’s watercolors of lighthouses, mostly located along the eastern seaboard. His paintings bring the lighthouses to life by first drawing them with ink and then finishing with watercolor.

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“Every summer while our three sons were young, we spent a week at the beach over the Fourth of July. Most of these trips were to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which has four beautiful and paintable lighthouses,” Wisniewski said. “Family connections and business drew us to Martha’s Vineyard and Maine, which also offered me great subject matter.”

Over the years, he has traveled to see other lighthouses and finds beauty in objects related to the sea. Oftentimes you will find boats or fishing shacks in his work.

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“A lot of the things I paint are architectural in nature — very structural,” he said. “Lighthouses are something that are just really interesting and you can capture so much in.”

The self-taught artist enjoys painting realistic subjects and over the years has painted covered bridges, mills and historic landmarks around the Virginia area.

“They call this nostalgia painting, and I prefer to paint subjects that are probably out of the past for the most part,” he said. “I get the satisfaction of doing something for myself that is very appealing to me personally. Something that will last awhile that people have good remembrances of.”

Wisniewski and his wife have lived in Oakton for the past 32 years, and he was accepted as one of the Artists’ Undertaking Gallery’s crop of 16 artists last year. His work is on display there, but this show gives him the opportunity to show much more, he said.

“They show work in both 2-D and 3-D, and each show they select artists from each category to give a little balance,” he said. “We hit on the theme of lighthouses because Bob has done some plates that he’s woodburned lighthouses into. One lighthouse in particular, I have done as well, so we can show it in both dimensions.”

Now retired, Wisniewski has been more serious about his painting since 1980 and spends various weekends at shows or participating in exhibits.

“I don’t paint every day. I do it when I have time or feel like it. Nothing is pushing me,” he said. “A lot of things I have done have been put in Giclée (the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing) form, which gives you almost an exact copy of the original. I offer 40 or more paintings in loaded edition print form either matted or framed or not.”

In addition to their featured lighthouses, the gallery will also display an array of both artists other work. Expect anywhere from 40 to 50 paintings on display.

An artists’ reception will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. March 19. The Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

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