Rulei Bu and Students at the Arts Barn

With Kentlands Mansion closed for renovations until mid-August, the City of Gaithersburg hosted only one opening reception at the Arts Barn on Tuesday, August 9, 2011.

, several of his students, their families and friends gathered in the Arts Barn Gallery Tuesday evening to celebrate the opening of the artist's first joint show with his young protegees.

He usually starts them off with drawing in small classes of five to seven kids. Once their technique improves, they move on to acrylic and oil paint.

The show at the Arts Barn, "Rulei Bu and Students," features paintings by ten of his more advanced students alongside twenty of his own pieces until September 25, 2011.

The son of a painter and university art instructor, Bu was trained as an oil painter in Shanghai, China. He loves to paint urban environments and is attracted to historic buildings, he said.

In discussing "Annapolis City Dock," which foregrounds sail boats against the backdrop of old city buildings and the cupola of the State House, the artist pointed out the horizontality of the water and the hint of movement against the verticality of the cityscape. Painted in 2009, the painting captures a radiant blue fall sky and golden light grazing the city docks.

When talking about "Georgetown Autumn," Bu harkens to history again.

"The trolley bus reminded me of Georgetown. I wanted to show the daily life there as the sun shines on the buildings, and they cast shadows onto the streets. I think the light really captures the atmosphere of this moment on Wisconsin Avenue near the M Street intersection," he said.

His fascination with urban architecture has rubbed off on his students as well.

Jenna Chen, a rising sophomore at Quince Orchard High School who has been studying with Bu since she was seven years old, selected a photo from her sister's travel photographs and painted "Streets of San Juan," a view down an alley in the Puerto Rican capital.

"I liked the composition - the way the light breaks the dramatic darkness. This is my third architectural painting," said Chen won First Place with a sunset scene in last year's Montgomery County Fair art exhibition. She started painting with oils two years ago.

A rising sophomore at Clarksburg High School in Clarksburg, Kaiwen Wang challenged himself by taking on a Frank Gehry creation. On a school field trip to MIT's (Massachussetts Institute of Technology) campus, he was struck by the Stata Center, a Gehry building with practically no right angles and an irregular facade.

"While at Clemente Middle School [in Germantown], we went on this field trip. The Stata Center was one of the places we visited, and I thought it looked cool from the outside, so I took a picture," said Wang who only started painting one year ago.

Rising junior at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Felice Liu ventured into the depths of the human psyche with her pice "Encroaching Fear." In preparation for the AP Art Exam, she decided to do a painting about fear, "and this one centers on nightmares," she said.

"The hands have unrealistic colors because the image is surreal and other-worldly. It contrasts fear and real life," said the young artist who referred to the girl in the painting as a "representation of all girls and boys who have nightmares."

Liu has been studying with Bu since she was nine years old.

Siqi Yuan painted "Sunday Afternoon" while taking a stroll in the Rio Washingtonian Center, she said.

"It's outside Uncle Julio's. I took lots of shots to get it just right. This is the first dog I've painted. I love dogs. I wish I had one. Usually I like to paint landscapes, old buildings and rural scenes."

Yuan is a rising senior at Poolesville High School in Poolesville, and she has been studying with Rulei Bu for just under five years. She believes that art will remain a hobby past graduation.

Another of Bu's students is fascinated by the animal kingdom. She chose to paint a Black-browed Barbet, which according to the artist, is native to tropical zones in Asia.

"I liked how colorful it was," said Megan Chao who is a veteran at painting birds. Chao is a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring and has been studying with Bu for five years. She has been painting in oils for the past two years.

"I like how we can just paint at leisure in his classes, and he just walks around and critiques us," said Chao, also works in watercolor and pencil.

Still lifes are another of Rulei Bu's own staples. His student Cynthia Liu followed in her teacher's footsteps with "Serene Graces," a still life she set up with objects she found around Bu's house.

"I thought the rose provided a good contrast to the somewhat dull background," said Liu who started studying with Bu when she was in first grade. She is a rising 8th grader in the Science Program at Clemente Middle School in Germantown.

Also part of the exhibition are the works of Anna Jiang, Yingying Shi, Judy Chen and Kelsey Yang.

To learn more about the Arts Barn, click here.