ASHBURN, VA—Two concurrent exhibits in the George Washington University Virginia Campus Regional Artist Series create a powerful representation of the African American experience. |

An artist reception is scheduled on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Neo Realist Sherry Zvares Sanábria brings to the GW Virginia Campus her luminous and haunting paintings from the series Unforgotten: Slave Quarters and Other African American Sites. This moving exhibition consists of some of her recent works exploring and recording sites throughout the country that played significant roles in the lives of African Americans during the time of slavery and after. The 16 images in the exhibit represent remaining slave quarters and related sites in five states and the District of Columbia.  The Sanábria show will be on display from January 7 through March 23, 2009.

Complementing the Sanábria exhibit, Honoring and Commemorating Black Leadership is a selection of the artwork chosen or commissioned by the US Postal Service to honor distinguished African-American educators, scientists, explorers, athletes, musicians, writers, civil rights activists, war heroes, and more. The George Washington University received permission to reproduce more than 35 of the high quality art reproductions, created by different artists. The works range from Frederick Douglass and Mary McLeod Bethune to Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Malcolm X. The selection, limited here only by space, represents just a portion of the more than 110 African American artist images available from the USPS. This exhibit will be on display from January 22 through March 23, 2009.

Born in Washington, DC, Sherry Zvares Sanábria is an artist of national and international reputation. For most of her career the focus of her paintings has been those spaces and locales where people have experienced profound moments in their lives, places that seem to hold the spirits of those who inhabited them.

During her professional life she has had 27 one-person exhibitions at public and private spaces, and her work has been included in over 40 group exhibitions. Ms. Sanábria’s works are included in the collections of museums and other public spaces, as well as in corporate and private collections including The Phillips Collection, The Washington Post Company, Washington Convention Center, AARP, KPMG Peat Marwick, American University, The George Washington University, The Vice President of the United States Residence Foundation, all in Washington, DC; Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, MD; The McGraw Hill Publishers, New York; The Charles E. Smith Company, Philip Morris USA, VA; Benchmark Capital, Menlo Park, CA, and private collections in the United States, England, France and Austria.

She received a BA from The George Washington University, and earned an MFA from The American University.

The GW Virginia Campus is the university’s research and technology campus, with nearly a dozen research centers of excellence and laboratories, and offers more than 20 graduate degree and certificate programs. The 100-acre campus is located in the Dulles business and technology corridor in the University Center on Route 7 in Ashburn.

The free reception is scheduled on Saturday, January 24, from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Building 2 ground floor and first floor areas and is open to the community. Building 2 is located at 44983 Knoll Square in the University Center. Please RSVP to Corporate and Community Relations, reservations@va.gwu.edu or call 703-726-3650.

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