BWS Highlights Newsletter • October 2025

It’s here! The 2025 Mid-Atlantic Exhibition opens Friday, October 10 at the Arts Barn and Kentlands Mansion Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The opening reception and awards presentation for the exhibition will take place on Sunday, November 9, 2025, 1:30-3:30 pm. The exhibition features the works of 99 watermedia artists from the Mid-Atlantic region, including many of your fellow Baltimore Watercolor Society artists.

Joel Popadics (AWS, ASMA) is our juror. You can learn more about Joel in the ‘Light, Atmosphere, Greens! An Evening with a Master’ workshop article below.

Here are some tips for planning your visit to the exhibition.
The exhibition is in two gallery buildings, the Kentlands Mansion (south) and the Arts Barn (north) separated by the quiet Kent Square Road. The gallery location does not lend itself to a simple set of driving directions, so it is recommended that you let your GPS do the work, using the following address:
320 Kent Square Road
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878

In general, Interstate-270 gets you to the Gaithersburg region from Washington, DC or Frederick, Maryland. Maryland 200 (toll) which continues to I-370 may be used from Columbia, Maryland. For some visiting from Virginia, the US-15 crossing into Maryland may be a better option than the I-495 crossing on the Capital Beltway.

There is plenty of on-street parking on the quiet streets around the gallery. Both gallery buildings as well as the path between the buildings are fully handicapped accessible.

The two facilities have different hours:
• Kentlands Mansion: Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm.
• Arts Barn: Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 pm and also for classes, activities and events.
So the overlap hours of Tues-Fri, 1-4pm are the simplest times to visit. If a visitor would like to come at a time both buildings are not officially open, they may email artgalleries@gaithersburgmd.gov for an appointment and one of the gallery managers will be happy to meet them.

Both facilities will be open for the November 9 reception. The awards ceremony will be held in the auditorium on the second floor of the Arts Barn. The gallery is a few blocks away from the Kentlands shopping area (along Kentlands Blvd off the Great Seneca Highway) with many good restaurant options, for those wishing to make a day of it.

The exhibition will remain open through Sunday, January 11, 2026.

Additional information is available on the Mid-Atlantic Exhibition web page. Don’t hesitate to email questions to midatlanticexhibit@baltimorewatercolorsociety.org, or text or phone me at 667-786-2105.

In this Google Maps view facing west along Kent Square Road, the Arts Barn is on the right and the rear of the Kentlands Mansion is on the left.

Light, Atmosphere, Greens! An Evening with a Master

The Baltimore Watercolor Society is excited to feature a demonstration with nationally award winning artist Joel Popadics on October 8, 2025, from 7-9 p.m. at the Hawthorn Center in Columbia, MD. Register now at https://baltimorewatercolorsociety.org/event-6301139.

Popadics will focus on several key elements for success:

• Light. Popadics’ landscapes are luminous and compelling thanks to mastery of value and his ability to capture and define light and shadow.
• Atmosphere. Not as widely understood as light, conveying atmosphere skillfully is also essential to good painting. Popadics is known for his ability to bring out “the allure of fog and mist” and also the changes in color and other elements revealing the effects of atmosphere over distance in any weather.
• Greens. The most notoriously “difficult color,” green typically dominates landscapes. Avoiding monotony and achieving natural hues, neither overly intense nor muddy, is a challenge, one that Popadics has studied in depth. He draws on the legacy of Frank Vincent DuMond, the great American Impressionist, teacher, creator of the prismatic palette, of whom it was said “As one might speak of Velazquez's blacks, one must speak of DuMond’s greens.”

SUBJECT:
A Vermont Pastoral Landscape
Join acclaimed watercolorist Joel Popadics for an immersive demonstration where you’ll unlock the secrets to painting luminous landscapes with confidence. Renowned for his traditional approach and mastery of greens, Joel's techniques are deeply rooted in the legacy of Frank Vincent DuMond (1865–1951) - a celebrated American Impressionist whose distinctive color theories and use of green have influenced generations of artists. Many painters struggle with green, but Joel’s method makes it approachable and intuitive, allowing artists of all levels to mix natural, harmonious hues that bring landscapes to life.

• $30 for BWS members (Signature Artists, Associates, and Students)
• $35 for non-BWS members
• Class size limited to 50 people

The Hawthorn Center is located in the community of Hickory Ridge in Columbia, Maryland:
6175 Sunny Spring Rd., Columbia, MD 21044-5623 
(410) 730-7327

DEMONSTRATION HOURS:
Date: October 8th, 2025 (Wednesday), from 7:00 – 9:00 pm
(building opens at 6:30 pm)
Please leave by 9:15 pm. We are charged extra if we have not cleared out and cleaned up by 9:30.

BIOGRAPHY:
Joel Popadics’ paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums across the United States, including the National Academy of Design in NYC; the San Francisco and the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT.
His paintings are in public and private collections most notably, the Art for Healing Program at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, NJ, the National Museum of Watercolor “Alfredo Guati Rojo” in Mexico City, Mexico, and the United Methodist Church in Ridgewood, NJ. Mr. Popadics is the recipient of numerous national awards and has been featured many times in AMERICAN ARTIST, THE ARTIST'S MAGAZINE, WATERCOLOR ARTIST, and WATERCOLOR MAGIC MAGAZINES.
Popadics is an advocate of watercolor and has dedicated his career to the advancement and appreciation of the medium. He is President of the prestigious American Watercolor Society (AWS) in New York City and a Past-President of the New Jersey Water Color Society.
He received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is represented in some of the finest galleries in the Northeast. He resides in Wayne, NJ with his wife Patricia and their two sons.

For more information about Joel and his art, visit his website at www.watercolorpop.com.

“A workshop can do wonders for your art and spirit. A few days of intense painting can help to overcome creative blocks and ruts or simply take your skills to the next level. If you have ever attended one of my workshops, you know that I provide individual instruction in addition to live demonstrations where I teach you my process and techniques. Best of all, it’s fun and encouraging to paint with others in a group!” ~ Joel Popadics

From the Archives: The 1960 Exhibition

by Jim Sandford, Mid-Atlantic Exhibition Chair

For now, we set aside examination of the roots of the 1885 origins of the Baltimore Water Color Club (BWCC, the precursor to BWS). We will return to this subject at a future date.

Let’s look at something completely different. BWCC’s 56h Annual Exhibition took place November 6-27, 1960 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where BWCC had been holding exhibitions since 1925. It was to be the second to last time the exhibition would be hosted at the BMA.

Preparations for the exhibition began early in the year, with an agreement communicated by an Assistant Director of the museum in March, 1960. The tepid nature of this letter might be a signal that BWCC’s relationship with BMA is waning. (The name Baltimore Watercolor Society would not come into official use until 1977. Perhaps a typo, or slip of the keyboard, but a prescient one. I’m making a note to look for similar uses of the name creeping in during that era.)

The reference to the 55th Annual Exhibition is certainly a typo. There is general agreement that the 1960 exhibition would be the 56th Annual Exhibition.

The process of selection of the exhibition’s jurors lasted into October (today’s Mid-Atlantic Juror selections require as much as 18 months advanced planning, the best candidates’ calendars filling well in advance).

Andrew Wyeth (who had been the exhibition’s juror in 1942) was originally invited, but declined, citing the distance from his home in Maine. The original of his rejection letter to BWCC’s President James G. A. Murphy (President 1960-1962) remains in safe keeping in the BWS archives.

Either as two thirds of the original plan or as a backup plan, the exhibition settled on two other jurors:

• Eliot O’Hara (1890-1969) from Washington D.C.

• Baltimore’s R. McGill Mackall (1889 -1982) who had served as BWCC President in 1947 and 1948, as the club came back from its wartime hiatus.

Murphy’s confirmation letters to O’Hara and Mackall provide context for the minimalist and undated Wyeth letter. These presumably draft letters came from the BWCC Archive stored at the BMA.

The exhibition opens as planned on Nov 6, with announcements running in that day’s Baltimore Sun.

The exhibition pamphlet names 68 paintings, including one by juror O’Hara and one by BWCC President Murphy, in the exhibition. It does not appear that an exhibition catalog was created that year. The only images of paintings in the exhibition that I have been able to find are those lined up against the wall in the photo from the November 6 Sun.

A Google search of O’Hara’s work suggests that he liked to paint gulls. Although not the Perimeter of Gulls painting that appeared in the exhibition, his painting Gulls is typical of his gull work.

(Gulls, Eliot O’Hara, 13x19.5”, Watercolor, undated, from an auction listing on Invaluable.com)

There were routine notices of the exhibition published in the arts calendars, but, amazingly, I have found no reviews in the Sun before, during or after the November 1960 exhibition. The Sun was actively publishing its regular “Art Notes” column, which included reviews of other exhibitions happening at the time, but nothing covering the BWCC’s 56th Annual Exhibition.

The signals are not good. By 1960, BWCC’s post-war renaissance seems to be in some jeopardy, with the BMA and art critics losing interest. More to come on this in the future.

But take heart, we know that any downward trend did not last. Today’s BWS is strong, getting ready to celebrate its 140th anniversary, and getting ready to present its 2025 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition.

BWS Seeks Student Members!

Do you know of a young art student who could benefit from joining the BWS?

If they are between the ages of 16 and 25 and are interested in art or are pursuing an art degree or certificate, they are eligible to join BWS for the discounted membership fee of only $20.

Benefits of student membership include: BWS social activities, programs, and workshops, plus receipt of the monthly newsletter. Students may also participate in those BWS exhibits that include student members.

Let’s encourage our student artists in their pursuit of the watercolor medium! We look forward to their participation and, as with all members, their fresh ideas on possible activities and directions for BWS.

Support BWS Sponsors

American Frame Alliance Discount

The more members spend, the more BWS will receive in merchandise certificates to be used for a Mid-Atlantic Award.

Please be sure to log into American Frame to sign up. 

STEP 1:
Before purchasing a frame at American Frame, each BWS member should go to the American Frame Alliance discount website at https://learn.americanframe.com/alliance-discount, register by filling out the form "Sign up to Receive your Discount," select Baltimore Watercolor Society in the drop-down list of “Arts Club or Organization” and press "submit."

STEP 2:
You will receive a reusable discount code as well as earn credit for your purchases for BWS. Be sure to check ‘Agree to Terms and Conditions.’ Once your American Frame account is linked to the Alliance Program, all of your orders will benefit BWS, even if you choose another discount to use for that order (e.g., free shipping). 

If you are having trouble, American Frame’s phone number is 1-800-537-0944.

American Frame is a second-generation, woman-owned, family-run company, dedicated to serving artists like yourself since 1973. Our mission is to provide excellence in custom framing products, fine art printing and related services while advancing a socially responsible company that gives back to the arts. As such, we are proud to be counted among the list of donors to the BWS Mid-Atlantic Regional Exhibition. If you need design assistance or have questions about the website, we are here to help. We offer free samples, phone support, as well as face-to-face ‘zoom style’ consultations via our Virtual Showroom. Our goal is to serve you in the way that makes you most comfortable.

Membership

Welcome New Associate Members

Chris Engnoth, Herndon, VA
Teri Kamm, Ellicott City, MD
Jeannie Limpert, Bethesda, MD

Other Art Organizations’ Events and Opportunities