ART GALLERY

"My drawing has a planet and a community like the title. I have buildings, people, houses, shops, and a playground like a community. It also has sun, clouds, grass, trees, roads, and other stuff in a community. Be kind to others even if they are different. We care for the community."

"I drew people all around the Earth because the people are welcome all around the Earth. Also, it looks like a community. I drew animals because people really like animals, especially my mom who likes cats. Also, they are a part of our community. So, they should be welcome too with a home."

I wanted to create a drawing to show different skin color people coming together to form one earth. I wanted to draw different colored people being kind to each other. I also wanted to show that we can all come together as one to help each other. We are all different but we can make a difference when we come together. It will be a better world if we can all be kind to one another.

[My artwork shows] a place to live, mountains, trees, water, animals, and technology which a community needs. And there is only one planet with all these things. It is Earth.

[My artwork shows] friendship, working together for the planet, and helping each other.

I write on behalf of my nine-year-old son, Tanush. For him, at a very young age he has been conscious of our environment, planet, and ecology—drawn to learning about animals and their habitats. He has been aware of human impact on wildlife and the planet, and he has driven us to reduce our footprint by lowering household plastic consumption, composting, and gardening. He is an artist at heart. This piece was inspired since it places our planet in the center and we are simply caretakers of it. "We" also come in many forms. Being one of the few non-white children in his class, he is aware of the differences and the commonalities that bring us together. I hope sharing his story inspires others, too.

- Jahanavi Gauthaman

I believe in one planet, one community. Community is where you feel united. In my artwork I express my hope for peace and love as a reality, welcoming and celebrating diversity and giving encouragement and support to each other across our community.

In my artwork, I express peace, love, hope, empathy, kindness, and unity as a reality all across the globe, amongst all communities and people of the world.

When I thought about my community, I saw different color skin and hair. I felt skin has a bigger impact on the image we remember about a person. I created a puzzle which has several pieces in different colors. It represents different skin color people who are connected to show that they are equal and united to form a successful community.

When I was creating this project, I realized that a lot of people like to work alone, which is completely fine. But I think that it’s better to work together than alone. You may be wondering why there are so many positivity notes on it. Well, those are so you remember it’s ok to work alone but sometime it’s better to work together.

This painting shows various hands holding the world. To me this is the strength of community keeping our world together. I chose a different color for each hand to reflect the differences within our personalities, culture, and who we are. I added a quote at the top of the painting that stuck out to me because it shows that in a community it is our job to make sure everyone belongs and matters.

I was thinking that there is a community on another planet and one person who is stuck on this lonely planet doesn’t know it until the community on the other planet comes over and saves them from the loneliness. The world was full of happiness and music. The other world was full of darkness and silence. The person who was taken from the dark, silent world and was put into a world that is happy and musical. I created this piece to show that even when you feel alone there are others waiting to help you.

The flock of turkeys are a group/community that is working together. They show how all communities should work together for a common goal. Everything on this planet is interconnected. What happens to one happens to all. All communities should work together to make the world a better place.

This remarkable tree of character is unique for several reasons. It has been rooted in our community ever since we moved to our beautiful home in Loudoun County, and for years, it has nourished the surrounding wildlife of both birds and bees alike. It is also the perfect place for contemplating under the comforting shadows of leaves in late summer evenings. Another one of the tree's unique qualities is its seemingly infinite number of branches sprouting an uncountable number of leaves. This quality illustrates how this tree's presence gives both courage and pride to all who pass by its magic.

Everyone has eyes, even those who are blind. The human eye, whether able or unable, is a tool of consumption. The consumption of light or darkness, its surroundings, or nothing at all. The media consumed can make or break a day, year, or life. Consume carefully.

Nature is a form of community: a community of plants, flowers, trees, water, and many more things. The artwork is about showing positivity in community by the bright colors and inviting mood. We all share this planet and need each other to thrive in nature. Nature celebrates each of its components; we should do the same when celebrating each other.

We live on one planet and in one community. Food insecurity has been a prevailing global issue. It's unfair that there is unequal distribution of food, and that the wealthy communities may take advantage of it while less advantaged communities face world hunger. In school, I have witnessed many perfectly unboxed lunches being thrown away, and this happens through other schools in America, too. To help our community from world hunger, we must take action in our lives and find ways to equally share our plates for a greater purpose. In this digital illustration, I portrayed the solidarity of people who have taken action to share their harvest.

In the making of this animation, my entire goal was to be able to represent a diverse set of characters. To do this, I did research on six different places in the world, each from a different continent. By including people from different backgrounds and cultures, it emphasizes the connections across the planet and how they are able to create a community. To further show the community, I had everybody hold the earth. I also wanted to have a lot of nice and bright colors to evoke feelings of happiness and togetherness.

I’ve used oil pastels on mixed-media paper to create this artwork of two happy children, laughing and playing outdoors in nature. I made this because I feel we are losing our human connections to gadgets and living in a virtual world. Due to this, the epidemic of loneliness is affecting people of all ages around the world. We must reach out to help people, share a meal, and play board games. We must have appreciation for all cultures, cuisine, music, and art. There is hope when we build a community that fosters friendship and peace. Our planet is our one common home, and we are all one big community.

This piece was inspired by my love of music and the opportunity to create something to express that love. I used to play trumpet and the band was an amazing and caring community. My art piece shows how music is worldwide and helps bring us all together. I show this by surrounding the world with musical instruments that you would find in a symphony. This is also shown by wrapping music notes around the world like a belt holding everything together. Music is a big part of what keeps communities together and I tried to convey its importance in my artwork. My hope is that people find my artwork inspiring.

I personified Virginia and Loudoun County by using the people from the Virginia state flag and the Loudoun County coat of arms. Virginia takes on an overlooking and supportive role in helping Loudoun County do their part to make their country and in part the whole world a better place, shown through them planting a sprout. We have one community here under Loudoun County and Virginia as a whole. Each part that our community falls under has a part in helping the whole world. There are countless communities on Earth, and even though Loudoun County makes up a small part of the world we can still do a little to try and help Earth.

This artwork is what I imagine when I think about our planet. The planet Earth serves as a home for every species that is known in existence and to me that represents a mother in a way. This artwork shows Nature in the perspective of a mother since it’s a home for every life form. I created this piece with this idea of a mother figure but also added components of nature in it. We only have one mother, we only have one home, which is earth.

When creating this piece, I decided to show different people in similar positions in a circle of sorts. I wanted to make parallels between the four characters, that even though they are different people with different backgrounds and lives, they are all on the same earth and community. I used Procreate to create this drawing and solely used that while brainstorming and sketching, as well as drawing the rest of my work. While making this piece, I tried focusing on patterns and rhythm and making the overall artwork flow together with the four characters similarly positioned. This piece was therapeutic for me as everyone in the picture is calm and peaceful.

I attempted to portray the effect of misinformation and mass media on the public and the political decisions made by our representatives. I used some buzz words used by newspaper headlines to show this topic’s relative standing in the media. The cartoon style of Earth is meant to highlight the fact that many believe that global warming is either not real or insignificant. The fan shows that even though there are some efforts to combat this climate change, ultimately the denial and skepticism of our faults that led to global warming needs to be addressed before we can go anywhere with our policies. Global warming is a topic that needs to be addressed before it worsens any further; it’s not too late to combat it.

Students were asked to choose landmarks from around the world, then do research on the ones chosen. After sketching out their landmarks, students worked to create a stamp of their landmark using foam. After creating at least three prints, the best one was chosen for each student. The final projects were then organized as a collage, representing the concept that while we all come from different places, and have different backgrounds, we are all connected by those things that hold meaning to us in culture or in environment.

- Aryn Garfield, VDL Teacher

Using a grid I placed in the middle a chakana, an Andean cross that symbolizes a bridge between the universe and life. The vertical lines in warm colors simulate a textile that symbolizes energy from the sun and the earth. The horizontal lines in the same style symbolize water and fields where our communities develop.

Some rocks at the bottom of the painting have the purpose to recall how our first communities in our planet started their structures. The angles on the rock are my heritage from Peru, my native country, representing a portion of the Incas’ famous Rock of the Twelve Angles. On the four corners I placed some gold leaves, a precious metal, spread around the artwork. I beaded a quipu using a macrame technique. Quipus are knots used by the Inca Empire to count and tell stories: our communities’ past traditions on our precious planet.

We all come back to Mother Nature in the end, we should take the time to care for our planet and enjoy what we have while we can.

‘Space’ belongs to an extended body of work in which I use the image of a flag to showcase different interpretations that familiar objects may present. The color selection for ‘Space’ reflects a sense of loneliness and coldness, organized by the geometry of the flag into a unifying image. Darker tones juxtapose brighter accents of color to harmonize the visual representation of what I expect the universe to feel like. The balance between connections of color separated by distance, light, and darkness establish a rhythm across the surface of the flag and dialogue with the idea of one plant, one community, but perhaps zooming out further to accept the place of this planet among a larger community in our galaxy.

The creation of the photographic composite image "Harmony" for One Planet, One Community was an imaginative process that aimed to encapsulate the consonance between nature and human civilization. I began by sourcing several high-quality photographs from my portfolio depicting a regional countryside landscape and a couple of meaningful communities around the world. These images were carefully selected to represent the rich tapestry of cultures and environments that make up our global community.

I merged these elements using advanced digital editing techniques, seamlessly blending urban and rural scenes to convey a sense of unity. Through the juxtaposition of bustling cityscapes, serene countryside, and a celestial texture, the image aimed to symbolize the interconnectedness of all people and the shared responsibility for our planet. The creative process also involved enhancing colors and textures to evoke a dreamlike atmosphere, inviting viewers to reflect on the beauty of coexistence.

Attention to detail was paramount, ensuring that each element in the composite contributed to the overall narrative of a harmonious and sustainable world. The resulting image serves as a visual representation of the One Planet, One Community initiative, conveying a message of interconnectedness, cultural diversity, and the collective effort required to safeguard our shared home.

“Shadows of the Sun” depicts a traditional landscape. The branches in front represent the obstacles that hold us back, specifically those in regards to taking care of our Earth itself. This work specifically speaks to the theme in the fact that it speaks about how coming together can help us save and better enjoy our world.

Throughout history, quilts have embodied a range of themes from practical and commemorative to civic or political, blending necessity with artistic expression and personal concerns. By reflecting the lives of the people who create them, quilts are a record of the social and cultural history of the artists.

While traditional quilts are made of cloth, the Atlantic quilts I am presenting are digital reclassifications using open-source R code of a freely available LANDSAT image covering the geography of Virginia Beach (VA) to the north and Cape Hatteras Natural Seashore (NC) to the south. From natural disasters, biodiversity and ecological health to food security, energy, and water resources, the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey LANDSAT Program has since 1972 provided the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s data in existence.

Quilts speak of our love, our resilience and our dependence on the surrounding environment, our responsibility to future generations, and to a more general necessity for security, warmth, and comfort in the face of adversity. My digital quilts are a representation of love for coastal areas and also an intangible expression of the same protection, security, and wellbeing which we should provide to the Atlantic coast.

Astronauts have remarked how serene our world looks from above the atmosphere. We are one unified orb spinning through space. This conceptual work depicts a solar storm approaching Earth. Like mischievous Loki, our Sun cycles through periods of energetic and quiet coronal activity beyond human control. When a flare hits our planet, it can affect us all. Some will see the breathtaking aurora borealis light up the night sky. Others will experience interruptions in electronics. Together, we take it as it comes.

Winter seizes movement, freezing us in place, and yet footprints in the snow reveal you were here not long ago. Today is for the silly geese, misty sky, snowy trees, and You and Me in 360.

Preservation of our landscape and natural views is vitally important. Protecting our open spaces for future generations is a subject I often think about as I drive through our county: not just for the sake of beauty but also for the incredible positive health benefits of being outside in nature.

Ever since childhood, nature has been my sanctuary where I catch my breath and meditate on the spiritual bond I experience when I’m totally immersed in its beauty. It’s this deep personal connection and the childlike wonder of our natural world that I wish to share with others to motivate them to cherish and preserve the environment that I hold so dear to my heart. My work, created using encaustic (beeswax mixed with natural damar resin), depicts the fragility of our planet and relays the message that by healing the environment, we heal ourselves. It explores the powerful, fundamental needs—mental, spiritual, and physical—human beings share with our planet and how reconnecting with nature can give a broader sense of community and of life itself. This geologically inspired landscape depicts the beauty of a magnificent ridge of stone, like a cathedral steeple reaching to the heavens. The title is taken from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.