Atmosphere (August)

Sondra N. Arkin

Sondra N. Arkin is a painter and curator whose forays into other media include printmaking, sculpture and assemblage. Most of her recent work is in encaustic (wax), with which she makes luminous surfaces, saturated with color and punctuated with texture. Arkin’s fields of color are deeply serene and her artistic vocabulary focuses on connections and boundaries. Her current large scale work is in mixed media and wax. The last decade is filled with many solo shows and her work is represented in many private, corporate, and public collections including the U.S. State Department’s Art In Embassies Program, the District of Columbia Art Bank, and public art in Crystal City, VA. In addition to her full time work as a professional artist, she has served as Project Curator for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. As Curator for the District of Columbia City Hall Art Collection, Arkin assembled a remarkable collection of art that includes many of the finest artists who have lived in the nation’s capitol. As the largest public collection of regional art on display in Washington, DC, it constitutes a unique resource and hangs permanently in the John A. Wilson Building. She has curated many independent projects, regularly programs alternative arts spaces, and is deeply involved in the Washington, DC and Rehoboth, DE arts community. She is a founding member of the Mid City Artists, and former President of the Board of Directors for Artomatic and Board Member of the Millennium Arts Salon. She currently serves on the Board for Arts Enables, in addition to serving on the Artists' Council of the Washington Project for the Arts. Previously she was President and Founder of ProMarket, Inc., Mid-Atlantic’s largest high-tech marketing agency. She was nominated for a 2005 Mayor's Arts Award as Outstanding Emerging Artist, and nominated for a 2006 Mayor's Arts Award for Service in the Arts. She is a recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities' Artist Fellowship Program grant for 2014 and 2015.