My Heart Leaps Up

Summer All Members Exhibit

Curated by Suzanne Goldberg

July 16th - August 9th, 2025

Our theme is derived from the opening lines of a poem by William Wordsworth:

My heart leaps up when I behold 
   A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began; 
So is it now I am a man; 
So be it when I shall grow old, 
   Or let me die!
 

The poem expresses a belief that life is not worth living if one loses a sense of delight in nature’s beauty. 

In this show, Studio Gallery members reveal what brings each of them great joy or a sense of wonder. Their inspirations are deeply personal and diverse:  landscapes, urban scenes, water, trees, flowers, architecture, people, animals, bursts of color, and more. Our artists express their joy through paint, ink, photography, sculpture, collage, and other media.

Beverly Logan

“My heart leaps up when I see these trees in a forest.”

Cheryl Ann Bearss

“I spent ten days this June Plein Air painting in Provence.  It was so beautiful and peaceful - like a retreat”

Carolee Jakes

Eleanor Kotlarik Wang

“In my art-making, a sense of quiet wonder overtakes me when diverse objects come together in a surprising harmony. Over the last few years, I have been using buttons and threads leftover from my grandmother’s tailoring days, and sewing them into various painted surfaces. The action of hand stitching is meditative for me. The work comes together organically, piece by piece with a bit of serendipity as I find joy in introducing other found objects into the developing composition.

Gary Anthes

“Only the natural world can make my ‘heart leap up.’”

Gordon Binder

“THE JOY OF NATURE: sublime, awe-inspiring, picturesque, historical, peaceful, relaxing…all these and more. Whether mountain or desert scenes, forests, oceanside, beaches, I find natural settings and landscapes at their finest inspiring subjects for drawings and paintings, ever so. And it’s becoming more important that we protect nature and the diversity of life. We depend on healthy, productive natural systems for our health and the economy.”

Cindy Grisdela

“Summer has always been a special time to me. Growing up as a child in Florida, there were wonderful days spent at the lake or on the beach. The days are long and the pace of life seems to slow down for a bit.”

Irene Pantelis

Ivan Puplampu

“This piece was inspired by a friend's drag performance—an art form that deeply moved me. The elegance, power, and beauty of the moment stirred something in me, and I felt compelled to capture it on canvas. It’s a celebration of performance art, queerness, and the joy of witnessing self-expression in its boldest form.”

Zora Pauk

“6 frozen mice were purchased for the making of this piece, each costing around 2 dollars… I cast them in silicone and then in mortar, and I buried their little bodies in the earth. This process was extremely delicate and distressing and there were several points during my work on this piece where my heart was racing so fast and I was so uncomfortable that I had to stop, however, after my completion of this work I felt immensely grateful and indebted to the mice that I immortalized.”

Iza Thomas

“Tea and coffee give me joy every day. Drinking my favorite cup of coffee (in the morning) or tea (in the afternoon) gives me an opportunity to take a little break from trials and tribulations of a busy day.”

Jo Levine

“I find joy in noticing and photographing the beauty in things that others might overlook -- such as these withering tulip leaves or this toppled lily that's falling apart.”

Jennifer Duncan

Judy Bonderman

“
“The flowers that bloom in the spring, Tra la,
Breathe promise of merry sunshine —“
“As we merrily dance and we sing,
Tra la,
We welcome the hope that they bring,
Tra la,
Of a summer of roses and wine,
Of a summer of roses and wine.
And that's what we mean when we say that a thing
Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring.
Tra la la la la,
Tra la la la la,
The flowers that bloom in the spring.”
The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan

Leslie Harris

“The Blue Edge of Autumn
A walk through Rock Creek Park in late summer was the inspiration for The Blue Edge of Autumn. The creeks were flowing and the last of the summer wildflowerswere reaching for the sun. But deep in the wood, the trees told another story. The leaves started to change color. Large trees, felled by summer storms, lay across the trail, There was a promise for renewal in their tangle of roots. My heart leapt up.

Late Summer Blues
By late summer, my garden has become a tangle of spent flowers, persistent weeds and a few late bloomers that might last until October. My heart leapt up when I saw the bounty of seed pods waiting to reseed the garden next spring.”

Leslie Kiefer

“Both of these images were made in places that are dear to my heart:  Kenilworth Gardens and the C&O Canal in the winter.  I spend many happy days escaping the trials of my own life and the world around me to experience the beauty of these places.”

Lisa Battle

“‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is a quote from a poem by English romantic poet William Wordsworth, in which he experiences a sudden, joyous feeling when seeing a rainbow. My abstract ceramic sculptures also capture fleeting moments, inspired by an awe of nature. In my work, I celebrate the primal forces of nature—earth, water and fire—and the inevitable cycles of change. The pieces I selected for this exhibition for me also echo the joy of dance, when an instant of fleeting beauty quickly passes in the inescapable flow of time.”

Robert Cwiok

Sabiha Iqbal

“Two paintings expressing joy and wonder through colors, lines and form. Expressive gestures add to the sense of movement.”

Suzanne Goldberg

Wayne Paige

“By imagining the animal’s point of view, I have created a visual story of figures and animals inhabiting a mythical landscape of mountains, waterways, and woodlands. Noting the given theme, “My heart leaps up,” the paintings project an interconnection between nature and humans. Abstracted figures are levitating within a sun-drenched pointillistic setting. With all taking place in a post-bucolic environment, components of mystery, spirituality, and intrigue are added for emphasis, along with elements of conflict, dreams, and humor.”

Suliman Abdullah