The Byrne Gallery is proud to present The Poetry of Spring 2025! This exhibition for the month of March features six talented local artists: Suzanne Lago Arthur, Miguel Diaz, Gerald Hennesy, Cathleen Lawless, Matt Tymowski and Carolyn Marshall Wright. Celebrating the enduring beauty of classic still life painting, this exhibition will span a range of artistic media. The artists will present works in oil on canvas, watercolor on paper, acrylic on canvas and graphite on paper. Please come enjoy their paintings as we welcome the return to a season of joy and vibrant color.
The exhibit will be on display from March 1st through 30th, 2025. There will be a reception for the artists on Saturday, March 15th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. In addition, we will present a gallery talk on Saturday, March 29th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
The exhibition and reception are both open to the public and everyone is cordially invited to attend.
Suzanne Lago Arthur
Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Loudoun County. She is the host/creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast, with listeners from over sixty countries. Suzanne has exhibited nationally and internationally in museums including the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., the Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba. She has been featured in the New York Times and the House and Garden UK Magazine (Condé Nast). She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University. She teaches painting locally in Lucketts, VA. In her paintings, Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience, and memory while working from direct observation.
Miguel Diaz
Venezuelan American artist Miguel Diaz’s work is found in private collections across the United States, Latin America and Europe. Miguel grew up in Caracas, and from boyhood spent hours sketching his favorite subjects on paper, especially nature and the human figure. He enrolled in the Studio of Maestro Antonio Galeandro to study composition and portraiture and later joined the Studio of Maestro Pedro Centeno Vallenilla, a recognized figure of the 20th century visual arts in Venezuela. In 1998, Miguel studied under internationally known Maestro Peter Von Artens.
Miguel has earned top honors in two international competitions and has been awarded prizes in local Middleburg community exhibits. He has exhibited in Caracas, Miami, Puerto Rico, Atlanta, and New York City, as well as Middleburg and Leesburg. His work hangs in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fox Hounds and Hunting of North America – with special thanks to the patronage of Mrs. Jaqueline Mars.
Gerald Hennesy
Over his long 80-year career, Gerald Hennesy exhibited in commercial and museum galleries including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Georgia Museum of Art, The Corcoran Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Museum. He was a true master landscape artist of the Virginia countryside. While known for his en plein air painting, The Byrne Gallery is featuring his exquisite classical still life canvases for the month of March.
His paintings hang in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Department of State, the Maryland State Mansion, the DAR Headquarters, and the American Legion Headquarters in Indianapolis. His work has been widely sought by numerous private, corporate, and public collections. He is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Art.
Cathleen Lawless
Cathleen’s paintings harken back to themes from her childhood. She often incorporates her mother’s antiques and other family heirlooms into her still life paintings, imparting a sense of nostalgia while showcasing the beauty of their shapes. Flowers are prominent in many of her works and most of these she grows in her garden. Cathleen enjoys the challenge of capturing the color, form, and gesture of flowers as a way of preserving their loveliness to bring joy to others. She is also inspired by animals and people as subjects for her works. “For me, the delight of being an artist is that I get to spend hour after hour contemplating beauty,” Cathleen says.
In addition to receiving awards in local and regional juried shows, Cathleen’s work has been exhibited in the Salmagundi Club (NYC), Virginia Watercolor Society shows, and The Centerpiece (Raleigh, NC) as part of the Eastern Regional Exhibition of the Oil Painters of America. She is a member of Oil Painters of America and the Portrait Society of America.
Matt Tymowski
Dr. Matt Tymowski is a full-time emergency physician and professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University. His paintings are rigorously classical realism, reflecting the traditions of the Dutch and old-world masters. His art serves to balance the intense demands of his medical career.
With meticulous attention to detail, and use of light and shadow, Matt brings a sense of depth and realism to his still life, portraiture, and landscape paintings. Working primarily in oils, he also turns to gouache and watercolor when painting en plein air.
Matt’s still life work draws upon vibrant and luminous floral bouquets in the tradition of Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), and Osias Beert (1580-1623). He explores the interplay of light, texture, and movement in petals and leaves, capturing their striking brilliance and delicate impermanence. His floral works celebrate the intensity of nature’s palette while honoring the traditions of classical still life painting.
Carolyn Marshall Wright
Water colorist Carolyn Marshall Wright works in a variety of water media, allowing the medium itself to shape the outcome of her paintings. For this exhibit, she has focused on acrylic, working in an impressionistic style that borders on abstraction. Carolyn’s process of creating is one of intense personal vision, as she responds to emotions evoked by the world around us. Her paintings celebrate memory, experiences and the joys of the extraordinary moments of ordinary life. Her work is infused with both strength and a sense of playfulness, evidenced by expressive mark-making and bold use of color.
Carolyn exhibits frequently in juried shows in the Mid-Atlantic region, where her paintings have received numerous awards. Her work has been profiled in Artist’s Magazine (May 2020, “Finding Spontaneity in Still Life”) and in Watercolor Artist magazine (August 2020, “Falling Down and Painting Again”). Her painting “Tuesday Morning Interior” was chosen as one of the winning works for “Best of Acrylic 2020” by Artists Magazine. She is a signature member of the Virginia Watercolor Society, and a member and past president of Potomac Valley Watercolorists, and recently became a member of Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC.