McLean Project for the Arts to Debut Fall Solo Exhibitions September 17 at Berlage Center for Arts & Education
Exhibits include works by Freya Grand, Ian Husting, and Sally Veach
 
McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) will open its 2026 Fall Solo Exhibitions on September 17, 2026 with a 7pm Opening Exhibition Reception at the new Berlage Center for Arts & Education. The three featured exhibits include FOREST, featuring work by Freya Grand; Afterlight, featuring work by Ian Husting, and Hubris and the Sublime, featuring work by Sally Veach. The fall exhibitions run through November 14, 2026.
 
FOREST, by Freya Grand
“The act of standing alone in the silence of a remote place—both as a human being and as a painter—is essential. It resets my senses as well as fueling my work,” said Freya Grand, in explaining the artistic process behind her exhibition, FOREST. As the holders of ancient mysteries—the dark forest, the haunted forest, the forest in the spring, the winter forest—forests evoke mystery, conjuring descriptions stemming from childhood tales and cultural myth. Grand’s exhibition explores the manner in which forests reveal both the signs of environmental degradation and also the means of hope for the future, as humans learn more about the miraculous natural processes that they perform. 
 
Afterlight, by Ian Husting
What holds when a home breaks? How do we live through grief without losing our capacity for wonder? Ian Husting’s Afterlight explores these and other questions, bringing together six mixed-media works exploring loss and displacement, imagination and renewal. The series draws from Husting’s experience of late childhood, which was shaped by instability, while also responding to the emotional and material conditions of the present: fractured communities, ecological threat, and uncertain times. The exhibition unfolds in two movements. Three wall-mounted reliefs show harm and decay. Three freestanding sculptures reach toward regrowth. Together, the work asks how a damaged structure can become shelter again, and how memory can carry us forward.
 
Hubris and the Sublime, by Sally Veach
In an era marked by ecological precarity, Sally Veach’s Hubris and the Sublime investigates humanity’s historical drive to control nature’s indomitable power. This exhibition explores how the philosophical concept of the Sublime – that overwhelming sense of awe and terror before nature’s magnitude – finds renewed urgency as climate anxiety intensifies. Working with 18th-century images from the foundation’s rare book library, Veach explores human nature by substituting historic botanical illustrations for the  chintz textile patterns. Incorporating layers painted after Hudson River School paintings of Arctic scenes the work in the exhibition evokes a warning about illusions of control over the power of the natural world.
 
In addition to the September 17 Opening Exhibition Reception, a Tea & Talk presented by The Mather and lead by MPA Artistic Director Nancy Sausser is scheduled for September 30, 2026, at 11am. Additionally, an Artist Talk is scheduled for October 29, 2026, at 7pm. Both events will take place at the MPA Berlage Center for Arts & Education, open for visitors daily from 8am-9pm, and located at 6910 Fleetwood Road, McLean, VA. 
 
MPA’s 2026 Fall Solo Exhibitions are sponsored by the O’Shaughnessy Hurst Memorial Foundation.     

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About MPA
MPA Exhibits, Educates and Inspires
McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) is one of the mid-Atlantic region’s most respected contemporary visual arts organizations. MPA provides high-quality art exhibitions showcasing the work of established and emerging artists, educational programs, art classes, MPAartfest, summer art camps, and ArtReach, an award-winning program serving students in grades K – 12, seniors, and individuals with special needs. For more information, visit www.mpaart.org.