valerie theberge: mosaic artist

Last night my host for the DC internship had a gathering of neighbors and friends over for a ‘Welcome To The Neighborhood’ party.

Among the first to arrive were Valerie Theberge and her husband, Shahin Shikhaliyev. Valerie, a mosaic artist and Shahin, an oil painter are engaging, interesting, easy to talk to and the parents of  22 month old Sayid.

Valerie and Sayid share a moment last night as Shahin looks on in the background

Using glass mosaics, mirror and stained glass, Valerie creates bold, sweeping expressions of joy, full of color and curves that tug the corners of your mouth up in a smile without your knowledge or consent.  Stunning.

Emerge

Part of the appeal for me is seeing that many of these artworks live in surprising places like a corrections facility or an underpass on the road.

Emerge, detail

Valerie often collaborates with Shahin on large scale public art commissions – check out this blog documenting one of their projects. More images of completed projects here.

Flow

Valerie and Shahin working on Flow

Many thanks to Anne and to everyone who came by to say hello (and the black bean soup, the guacamole, the most incredible tortilla chips I’ve ever had, brownies do-die-for, great company. . . just a few of the things to be thankful for last night).  It was a pleasure to meet all of you!

More to come about my host and the incredible wealth of artists in this area as the weeks unfold, so stay tuned!

If you are in the area on Saturday February 19th, Shahin will be wrapping up his Artist in Residence program at the Gateway Art Center with a talk about his work and residency at the 39th Street Gallery in Brentwood, MD.