There is a moment most mornings when the sun peeks above the trees, and the homes of Waterview Cluster transform from soft pink to bright yellow to neutral white. Although I never considered myself a morning person, this has become my favorite time of day. Yesterday I decided to take my tripod to the lake and document the spectacle. Watch Lake…

I am blessed to have two very different kids with two very different talents. One is extremely imaginative and has been drawing recognizable people since age 2 and the other is a linguist and a realist. In an effort to push child #2 out of his comfort zone, I went in search of an arts program…

You are probably privy to the fabulous productions at CenterStage in the Reston Community Center due to their beautiful program arriving at your door each season. But chances are you haven’t heard of their inaugural Parents Time Out program. This year, CenterStage has chosen four of it’s performances to offer complete childcare for the entirety of the show for children…

Now that the days are getting chillier, it’s the perfect time to discuss some of the softest and coziest winter accessories I’ve encountered. Meet Jerilyn Paladino, a regular vendor at the Reston Market on Saturdays at Lake Anne Plaza. She operates a company called The Alpaca Girl, which specializes in stylish, handmade garments made of alpaca wool…

An art professor taught me years ago that we should look at art without reading labels. Don’t let captions tell you how to respond to artwork, he said. I see the merit of that viewpoint, but personally I prefer to hear what an artist has to say about his or her inspiration. To me, artists’…

Modern Reston has been featuring some of the talented artists at the Reston Market. Next in our series is painter Mina Karimi. Mina is a DC-based painter with a bold, colorful style of painting mixed with silkscreened photographs. She creates artwork that highlights several local landmarks, such as DC  street scenes, logos, and maps. Her style is…

I know it sounds far-fetched, but sometimes (just sometimes) we need to look beyond Reston’s boundaries and explore our neighboring towns. Herndon, just a couple miles up the road, has a burgeoning art scene and an October packed with events. We visited the hub of their artist community, ArtSpace Herndon, to see the current exhibit and to chat…

It was a street party of nonstop entertainment at Lake Anne on Saturday. Big crowds turned out in the warm weather for the Reston Multicultural Festival. This annual festival is hosted by the Reston Community Center as a celebration of the cultural diversity within our community. The Plaza and surrounding areas were filled with music, food, and…

The colorful dancers and newly naturalized citizens get much of the attention at the annual Reston Multicultural Festival. Tucked inside Lake Anne’s Reston Community Center, though, is one of the quieter gems of the festival – an exhibit called “Art Mirrors Culture.” This exhibit features local artists’ response to the question, “How does art mirror culture in…