Sesow at Oceanview, Deleware Gallery

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Stone’s Breath gallery brings Washington art scene to shore

Wave Photo by John Duffy SOFT STONE —"Michael Breathe’s stone carvings combine lifellke accuracy and soft curves in

this hand, the second i

a series.

By John Duffy Staff Reporter

If you talk to any artist who has”

studied extensively the human fig. ure, itis the hands that are perhaps the most difficult part of the body to render.

Bones, tendons, lines in the skin, not to mention having so many different configurations a hand can perform.

“They are so complex, there is so much going on,” says Michael Breathe, proprietor and resident antst at Stone's Breath in Ocean View. “I figured if I could master the hands, then everything else ‘would come easily,” he reasoned.

Breathe’s gallery, which he co- ‘owns with his wife Namia (whose work is also on display), had its soft-opening on Memorial Day weekend, and its first artists” reception on June 8.

In addition to Michael's sculp- ture and Narnia’s watercolor abstractions, works by. photogra- pher Lisa G. Traynham, ceramicist Margaret Boozer, whimsical pop- artist Dan Hicks, and self-taught painter Matt Sesow.

The Breathes moved to Ocean

View from Manassas, Va. just)

four months ago, and openei

Stone's Breath with the aim of ;

bringing Washington D.C. art to the lower Delaware shore.

And though Michael's stone carving has evolved to include all human forms, the hands are a sub- Ject he frequently returns to, Two examples of his.“digital” mastery were on display Saturday, at the grand opening exhibition at Stone's Breath; a pair of languidly crossed hands (a5 in a dancer's ose), and a second piece consist-

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A pair of paintings on display at Stone’s Breath “Friend or Foe,” shows an example of this, Two faces, each with one orange and one blue eye, are otherwise nearly identical. Sesow describes the ‘work to mean that we don’t often know who our enemies are, and the truths are often below the sur- face. He completed the paintings con Sept. 10 of last year.

‘A computer programmer: by training, Sesow only began paint- ing in 1994 as a way to impress a woman he was dating who ran with an arty crowd. Soon, his painting took on a form of therapy. Sesow had lost his arm when struck by an airplane as an 8-year- ‘old boy in Nebraska.

‘When he began to paint at age 28, his work offered him the chance (or more accurately, forced hhim) to examine the repercussions of his accident. “I really had no business playing near an airfield,” he told Brutarian, a Washington D.C. art and film ‘zine,

Stone's Breath is open 10 a.m.- 6 pam. Thursdays through Mon- days. Michael Breathe expects to host a reception featuring new artists in a few weeks. Patrons should call 537-6929 for informa- tion on new arrivals to the gallery.

Reach John Duffy at 537-1881, ext. 106, or jduffy@smgpo.gan- nett.com.