Events

Oil on canvas floral portrait by Brianna Camp of Fairfax, Va.

Tropical is topical amidst the haze of August as artists creatively expand with the heat, composing offerings that embrace steamy and embody equatorial chic.

Consider beyond what’s hot and what’s not and revel in splashy colors and exotic combinations framed by a fringe of foliage. Hues are cued by dense, lush greens, deep blues and rich earthiness. Sinewy flourishes ring servers alongside plump vases. Pottery finishes reflect the red-brown clay turf of a rainforest floor.

Fruity flavors abound with ripe yellows, deep orange blended to glorious salmon, blood red beside opulent carmine, showing startling colors. Tickle all the senses with heady finds in decorative forms, ornamental wearables and functional tableware.

Find playful decor that enriches an exotic staycation with prints of elephants beneath banana leaves, saturated flora in oils and indigo eco-prints heady with vegetal exuberance. Dip into glass art echoing seascapes, reefs and rainbows.

Sprigged, splashed statement stoneware vase by Brian Grow of Alexandria, Va.

Indigo feather eco-print original card by Elke Seefeldt of Arlington, Va.

Toast the toastiness with stoneware woodfired drinkware and demicups for shots. Sangria is sunsational in mugs of ocean blue and aquamarine topped with an obligatory umbrella. Opt for iced, whether it be coffee, tea or cider in thown, altered tumblers. Glazes like floating blue, matcha and carribean sea green reflect tropical inspiration.

Primitive finishes and forms parrot tribal style, offering an edgy quality to pottery and abstracts. Feverish imagination drums up sculptural representations as figural forms bop to a beat or stand as guardians.

Birds and butterflies alight and fish drift onto dishware, canvases and prints. Frogs rest on foliage, dragonflies sit obelisk and landscapes turn magical with rainbows. Vases and wall tiles are alive with sprig relief details that prickle with personality. There are monkeys hanging on porcelain jewelry, tigers on dishes and compelling oil portraiture steeped in a gem palette.

Coconut-inspired two-tone crystalline glaze vase by Bikki Stricker of Falls Church, Va.

Green Crackle kilnformed glass vessel by Sandi Martina of Woodbridge, Va.

3-D gallery Fire On Studio 22 offers various treatments of glass and pottery and more on the first floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday August 8 for the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s  Late Night August event. The gallery’s “Tropical” show runs August 1 through 31, 2025.

Bring home an original from potters Brian Grow @b.d.grow Scott Kaye @scottkayepottery Bikki Stricker @cerambik Elke Seefeldt @rayelke Tracie Griffith Tso @traciegriffithtso and glass artist Sandi Martina @sandimartina_glass. Fire On is pleased to welcome back visiting artist Brianna Camp @bripaints from August through October.