Wayne Laws, “Rainbow Sky", Acrylic at Gallery 57 West (Courtesy Photo)

Art is front and center in Annapolis in June. This week is officially Annapolis Arts Week, so if you want to immerse yourself in the finest and most diverse art this region has to offer, clear your schedules and come on out.

This is the best month to add high-quality works to your curated collections, and for beginning collectors to make that first move. A wise unknown once said, “Art is never an extravagance”. I would add that today, right now, viewing the world as others see it and seeking joy through art is an absolute necessity. Let’s get joyous!

Paint Annapolis! MFA at Circle Gallery and the Pop Up Gallery at 4 Church Circle presents our historic town’s annual premier plein air event “Paint Annapolis” with a jam-packed week of activity and events.

As the focal point for Annapolis Arts Week, artists will be painting on the streets today through Friday, and exhibiting their work at two galleries through June 25. Come out and watch the next addition to your collection as it is being created, and you’ll have a story to go with that painting forever. Artists at all skill levels – from student to pro – can join in as well; you are encouraged to register as a public painter.

The Paint Annapolis kick-off event is the “Dueling Brushes” quick draw, that starts at 9 a.m., today at City Dock. Awards will be announced at 1 p.m. “Nocturne” painting begins Wednesday during Dinner Under the Stars and will go through dawn Thursday. “Art on the Avenue” with a street party is on Maryland Avenue from 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday. Tickets are available to the private Collector’s Reception at the Pop Up Gallery from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday. There will be a public reception at the Pop Up Gallery from 5 to 7 p.m., Saturday. Join them for “Muffins & Mimosas” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 12 at both galleries. There will be a closing reception from 6 to 8 p.m. June 15 at 4 Church Circle.

The Juried Artists’ work will be on display in Circle Gallery through Jun 25. Visit mdfedart.com/paintannapolis for more details and artist registration.

MFA at 49 West presents artwork by Glen Strachan and Fern Loos Beau. Beau is a psychologist and artist who loves to paint people – portraits, figures in motion, large-scale works with movement. Recently, as she has begun to travel after COVID-19, she has enjoyed painting scenes from her travels. Glenn Strachan has been taking photographs since age 7. The exhibit will be up through Aug. 3. Join them for a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., today.

The Lisa Masson Studio Gallery features new works by Masson inspired by living and sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. Nothing says June like a flush of blue and lavender hydrangeas, and she is offering a colorful hydrangea series of fine art giclée prints as well as classic sailboat prints that capture intricate rigging, gleaming wood masts and crisp white sails. Stop by and explore these new works and others in the gallery from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday.

Jo Fleming Contemporary Art presents “On the Water” with summer in mind. Dynamic sailboat paintings by Allen Bentley, serene coastal water reflections and wetlands by Geo McElroy and mysterious liquid pour landscapes by Matt Nance fill the gallery. Whales and sails created by Gil Gildea add another dimension to the show. Opening reception, Artists Talk and a Pour demonstration by Nance will take place from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday.

McBride Gallery is pleased to present The International Guild of Realism’s 16th annual exhibition “Realism: Contemporary to Traditional.” The show, which opens Friday and runs through July 24, displays 100 paintings, juried from a record number of entries. Paintings range in size from 8 by 10 inches to 48 by 60. The term realism ranges from the classical, based upon traditional, academic-style painting, to the contemporary, where cutting-edge techniques are used to comment on today’s world. Donald Clapper, chairperson for the exhibition, said, “The International Guild of Realism is proud to present nationally recognized artists in this 16th annual show. Our members come from across North America and beyond to exhibit their finest works of art. We are very pleased to hold our exhibit in the beautiful city of Annapolis and look forward to holding another future event there!” Join them for a reception to meet the artists from 1 to 4 p.m. on June 12, with awards presented at 2 p.m.

Gallery 57 West will feature art talks by two Annapolis Arts Alliance members, Anthony Shays and Wayne Laws at 5:30 p.m. on June 14. Shays has been a photographer for more than 65 years. He loves color and his strength is capturing the beauty in almost everything he sees. Laws enjoys painting scenic images. As these paintings are a source of happiness, he tries to paint daily, sometimes working on several paintings at a time.

The Galleries of Quiet Waters Park present “Spark…Spirit…Soul” by Working Artists Forum from Easton. What sparks the spirit and awakens the soul to create art? Discover sparks while viewing the exhibit in the visitors center through June 26. Forum members represent all fine arts mediums of original art. Their images represent views from the Chesapeake Bay to the ocean by artists that hale predominately from the Eastern Shore. Each month, members gather for group critiques, demonstrations and technical discussions at the Academy Art Museum in Easton. In addition, an important goal is pro bono work in the community including yearly donations to art classes in area schools. Opening June 29 at the galleries will be the Maryland Society of Portrait Painters in the Willow Gallery, and photographer Anne Delano Weathersby, and ceramicist Nancy Jakubowski will exhibit in the Garden Gallery.

MFA at Paul’s Homewood Café continues the exhibit of MFA artists Tracy Barwick and Sandy Cohen. Both self-taught artists, Barwick and Cohen have been very successful in their chosen media. Barwick is a multimedia artist, specializing in intricate bead work and abstracts, with a simple artistic narrative personifying emotions, beliefs, and social concepts through ethnic patterns, shadings, and mediums across the full spectrum of color. Cohen briefly learned to paint at an early age, and then decided to start drawing and painting portraits as a way to capture her grandchildren as they were growing up. She is now an accomplished portrait artist. Their show will be up through the end of July.

In the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport exhibit “Portraits,” artists were encouraged to get creative and tell the viewers a story of a person through their art. This exhibit will be on display until July 18 and is located between Concourse C and D in departures (pre-security) near Departure Door 10 and the UPS Store. View the online gallery at https://www.acaac.org/bwi-exhibit-33-portraits/

The Arts Council of Anne Arundel County and What’s Up? Media exhibit “Into the Garden”encouraged artists to explore and bring a garden or elements of a garden to life through their art. This exhibit will be on display until Aug. 15 and is located on the second floor of the What’s Up? Media office building at 201 Defense Highway in Annapolis. View the online gallery at https://www.acaac.org/whats-up-media-exhibit-15-into-the-garden/

West Annapolis Artworks is showcasing Carole Falk as their spring featured artist. Falk’s love of Asian art landed her a position as a docent at the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Museum of Asian Art. Carole’s Asian grounding shows through in her contemporary abstracts. Her work will be on display through June 30.

MFA Circle Gallery’s sixth biennial “Fiber Options: Material Explorations” exhibition opens June 29 and explores the possibilities of fiber in creative endeavors. Fiber art incorporates both natural and synthetic fibers and textiles showcasing the beauty of form over function that can be created through an artists’ touch. Whether sewn, sculpted, woven, or decorated, see what these artists have done with fiber through July 30 at Circle Gallery. Join them on Zoom from 5 to 5 p.m., July 10 for the Virtual Awards Ceremony with juror Hillary Waters Fayle, director of the Fiber Program at Virginia Commonwealth University. There will be an in-person reception at Circle Gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. on July 30.

Maryland Hall is hosting an exhibition by Openshaw artist-in-residence Kennedy Trusty. Trusty’s “SELF DESTRUCTION” captures in a beautiful, ironic way the artist’s true essence of her emotions when perfectionist tendencies lead to self-destruction. Opened last month, the show is on display through the summer. Visitors can also try to catch Trusty at work in her studio on the third floor, where she’s currently in residency. The program provides accessible space to up-and-coming artists while educating the public in the process of the creation of art through a diversity of forms.

Closing this month on June 24 is “Women in the Arts – A Dialogue between Nature & Environment” featuring Yumi Hogan and Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki. More and more, as contemporary art becomes more global and artists look both east and west, the ideas that bind artists like Hogan and Valyraki together are found in a shared love of the natural world. This partnership is the second installation of this exhibition, with the first being featured in Athens, Greece in 2019.

Patrice Drago is a painter and writer in Annapolis, MD. Website: www.patricedrago.com. This column is written in cooperation with the Annapolis Gallery Association. Contact Patrice at art@patricedrago.com.