Andrea Way
Velvet Pools, 2017
ink on paper
30 x 22 1/2 in.
Since 1980, Andrea Way has utilized a system called Rule-Based Drawing to create her multifaceted drawings using a diverse array of media. Originally put forward by the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt in 1969 through the phrase “Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically”, the premise of Rule-Based Art is for an artist to come up with a set of simple rules that determine how a work of art is to be created and then follow those rules to their logical endpoint. In Way’s case, she extrapolates patterns from the world around her and overlays them one atop the other using a small number of rules to resolve the question of how to make each of her marks on the paper’s surface.
Way begins each drawing with a distinct pattern and lets the boundaries of the paper determine the direction of her lines. As the layers accumulate, they both reveal and sometimes conceal the record of her activity. Her intricate mosaic-like fields, small circles, and subtle contours recall labyrinthine paths and cellular arrangements. Inspired by the natural world, Way’s drawings exemplify a balance between methodical precision and spontaneous fortuity.
Born in the San Francisco Bay Area and now working in Washington, D.C., Andrea Way received her B.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1971. Way has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. In 2012, her mid-career retrospective Andrea Way: Retrospective 1982–2012 was held at American University Museum in the Katzen Arts Center in Washington D.C.
Andrea Way’s work can be found in the public collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Achenbach Foundation, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, CA; Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; and the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., among others.
Born
1949
San Francisco, CA
Education
1971
B.A. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Grants
2007
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc.
Solo Exhibitions
2018
A Delicate Crossing, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2015
Off the Grid: Recent Works on Paper, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2014
The 365 Calendar Drawings, The Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely, MD
2013
Retrospective 1982–2012, American University Museum, Washington, DC
Venetian Dream, Curator’s Office, Washington, DC
Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011
Venetian Dream, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2008
The 365 Paintings of 2007, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005
Drawings, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
New Work, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2004
Recent Works on Paper, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
2003
Recent Works on Paper, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2001
New Paintings: Triple Treasure, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2000
New Paintings, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
1998
New Work: Gravity Pools, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
1995
David Adamson Gallery, Washington, DC
1994
In Black and White, Nancy Drysdale Gallery, Washington, DC
1993
Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
1991
Retrospective 1981–91, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
1989
Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Fendrick Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
1986
Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
1985
Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC
1983
Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC
1982
Barbara Kornblatt Gallery, Washington, DC
1980
Barbara Fiedler Gallery, Washington, DC
Group Exhibitions
2026
The Bruce and Joan Weber Collection, American University at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, DC Curated by Laura Roulet (forthcoming)
Contemporary Women of Abstraction, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025
The Language of Patterns, Pazo Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
Women Artists of the DMV (Curated by F. Lenny Campello), American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Centre, Washington, DC
Drawn to Drawing, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2024
Art On Paper, Pier 36, New York, NY
The DMV Collects, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC
Cosmological Topographies, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023
The Barlow Gilotty Collection, American University at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, D.C. Curated by Vivienne Lassman
2022
FRAMED, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2020
30th Anniversary Exhibition, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; exhibition catalog
2014
12th National Drawing Invitational: Outside the Lines, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, Pierogi XX, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Abstract Drawings, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
(space): Constructing the Intangible, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2011
Multiplicity, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Subjective/Objective, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Paper/Mylar/Vellum, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2008
Horror Vacui, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
Modern Art. Modern Lives. Then + Now, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Pattern Recognition, Adamson Gallery, Washington DC
Rembrandt to Thiebaud: A decade of collecting workings on paper, Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of California, San Francisco, CA
2007
Works on Paper, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2005
Good Vibrations, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2004
Concentrics, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
200 Drawings from the Pierogi Flat Files, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
2002
25th Anniversary Exhibition, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
2001
Interplay, American Physical Society, American Center for Physics, College Park, MD, Sarah Tanguy, curator
1996
Drawings: Realism to Abstraction, Contemporary Survey of the Bay Area, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
1995
Irrational Landscapes: Mapping the Unconscious Psyche and Non-Terrestrial Spaces, Binghamton State University, Binghamton, NY, and traveling to New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY
1993
NNDG, Emerson Gallery, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA
Cryptics, School 33, Baltimore, MD
1992
Drawn in the 90’s, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, Joshua Smith, curator
Prints Washington ’92, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1991
Recent Acquisitions, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
High Density Abstraction, Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
42nd Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Second Bharat Bhavan International Biennial of Prints, Roopankar Museum of Arts, Bhopal, India (invitational)
Collaboration: Prints as Process, Brody’s Gallery and Gallery K, Washington, DC
1990
Bones, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
Fendrick at Foster, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, WI
Drawing the Line, Fendrick Gallery, New York, NY
1989
Tools in Art: Tools as Art, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
Lines of Vision: Drawings by Contemporary Women, Hillwood Art Gallery, Long Island University, Brookville, NY
1988
Transcendence, Baumgartner Gallery, Washington, DC
Alphanumeric, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
1987
On Paper, Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington, DC
1986
Drawings, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC
Drawn Out, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (catalogue)
1985
The Washington Show, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Art Selections 28, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
1984
Labor Intensive Abstraction, Clocktower Gallery, New York, NY
1982
Juried Painting Show, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA, Jane Livingston, juror
1980
Elements in Art: Form, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA, Louis Andre, curator (catalogue)
Paper: A Group of Changing Uses and Concepts, Gallery 10, Washington, DC
1979
Elements in Art: Texture, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA, David Tannous, curator (catalogue)
Public Collections
Achenbach Foundation, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
The Artery Organization, Bethesda, MD
City Art Collection, John A. Wilson Building, Washington, DC
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Continental Corporation, Richmond, VA
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Crowell & Moring, Washington, DC
Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
KPMG Peat Marwick, Washington, DC
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Inc., Washington, DC
Quick, Finan and Associates, Washington, DC
Sallie Mae Corporation, Washington, DC
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Southeast Banking Corporation, Miami, FL
The Washington Post, Washington, DC
Selected Bibliography
Allen, Jane Addams, “Drawing on the Intellect,” The Washington Times, 11 November 1986.
Baker, Kenneth, “Abstract Painting with a Twist,” San Francisco Chronicle, 6 November 1991.
Cameron, Dan, “Is There Hope for Art in Washington?,” New Art Examiner, March 1988: pp. 33-37.
Cohen, Jean Lawler, “Formal Abstraction,” Museum and Arts Washington, September/October 1989.
Dawson, Jessica, “Andrea Way at Marsha Mateyka,” The Washington Post, 22 November 2001, p. C5.
Dorman, Mark, “Collaboration: Prints as Process,” New Art Examiner, April 1991: p. 40.
Eskin, Otho, “Andrea Way: New Drawings, Brody’s Gallery,” Washington Review, December 1987/January 1988: p. 23.
Forgey, Benjamin, “A Gentle, Funny Tour in No-Man’s Land,” The Washington Star, May 1980.
Garber, Elaine, “Andrea Way, Triple Treasure,” Washington Review, Spring 2002: p. 12.
Gibson, Eric, “Corcoran Puts Painting to Test as Viable Form,” The Washington Times, 6 September 1991, p. E2.
_____, “On Display: Finding Quiet Beauty Along Irregular Lines,” The Washington Times, 24 October 1991, p. M8.
Howard, Beth, “Recommends,” Museum and Arts Washington, November/December 1986: p. 15.
Huberman, Bernardo A., “An Ecology of Machines,” The Sciences, July/August 1989: p. 38 (illus.).
Kessler, Pamela, “Drawn Out: Getting a Line on Seven Artists,” The Washington Post, 5 December 1986, Weekend, p. 61.
Lewis, Jo Ann, “Andrea Way at Fendrick Gallery,” The Washington Post, 27 April 1985.
_____, “Andrea Way’s Rules of Intuition,” The Washington Post, 10 October 1987.
_____, “The Visual Launching Pad,” The Washington Post, 17 October 1987, p. D2.
_____, “Auras of Abstraction,” The Washington Post, 9 January 1988, p. D2.
_____, “Acquisitions,” The Washington Post, 25 October 1991, pp. B1, B8.
Mahoney, J.W., “Transcendence at Baumgartner,” Art in America, April 1988: pp. 213-14.
_____, “Andrea Way at Brody’s,” Art in America, April 1990: p. 274.
McCoy, Mary, “Alfred de Credico/Andrea Way,” New Art Examiner, June 1985: p. 51.
_____, “Andrea Way, Brody’s Gallery,” New Art Examiner, Summer 1986: p. 51.
McWilliams, Martha, “Shaping Up,” City Paper, April 1993.
Phillips, Stephen, “Recent Works on Paper,” exhibition catalogue, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2004.
Posner, Helaine, “Andrea Way: Drawings: The Standard Bearer,” exhibition catalogue, Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC, 1989.
_____, Print Collector’s Newsletter, vol. XXI, no.4, September/October 1990.
Protzman, Ferdinand, “Musical Geometric Abstraction,” The Washington Post, 30 September 1995, p. D2.
_____, “The Force is With Her,” The Washington Post, 17 September 1998, p. D5.
_____, “The Inviting Depths of Andrea Way’s Pools,” The Washington Post, 23 March 2000, p. C5.
Raynor, Vivien, “Art Selections 28, The Drawing Center,” The New York Times, 3 February 1985.
Richard, Paul, “Whimsical Way with Patterns,” The Washington Post, 5 April 1986.
_____, “Spectrum of Superlatives,” The Washington Post, 29 November 1986, p. D14.
_____, “Abstract and Personal, At the Corcoran Biennial, a Passionate Bow to the Past,” The Washington Post, 6 September 1991, pp. F1, F6.
Rifkin, Ned, “Drawn Out,” exhibition catalogue, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1986.
Risatti, Howard, “Reviews: Washington, DC,” Artforum, January 1990: p. 146.
Russell, John, “Memorable Images in an Anthology of Drawing,” The New York Times, July 1992, p. 5J.
Schmerler, Sarah, “Seeing Brooklyn in the Details,” Art on Paper, May/June 2003: pp. 48-51.
Shannon, Joe, “Andrea Way at Marsha Mateyka,” Art in America, October 2002: p. 168.
Sultan, Terrie, “42nd Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting,” exhibition catalogue, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1991.
Tannous, David, “Report from Washington, DC,” Art in America, Summer 1982.
_____, “Andrea Way: Retrospective 1982–2012,” exhibition catalogue (interview with artist), American University Museum, Washington, DC, 2013.
Thorson, Alice, “Galleries,” The Washington Times, 11 November 1986.
_____, “Galleries: Two Approaches to the Group Show,” The Washington Times, 30 July 1987.
_____, “Brushing the Surface,” City Paper, 26 September 1991.
Van Wagner, Judy C., Lines of Vision: Drawings by Contemporary Women, Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1989.
Welzenbach, Michael, “A Way with Patterns,” The Washington Post, 7 October 1989, p. C2.
_____, “Galleries: Andrea Way at Brody’s Gallery,” The Washington Post, 19 October 1991, p. D1.
Wilson, Janet, “Heavenly Hodgepodge: At the Hirshhorn, Trotting out the Recent Acquisitions,” The Washington Post, 25 October 1991, pp. B1, B8.
_____, “The Euclidian Rainbow,” The Washington Post, 17 April 1993, p. C2.
