Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

The Promise of Dawn

Thierry Guillemin

with Soundscapes by Jim Metzner

Curated by Gaby Mizes

March 27th - April 20th, 2024

In these new paintings Thierry Guillemin explores the wonders of early morning light. 
He invited his friend Jim Metzner to contribute original dawn soundscapes that will be played in the gallery during the show.  
In this unique and immersive collaboration, Thierry and Jim pay homage to the magic of dawn, a powerful symbol of awakening and new possibilities.

Thierry has been a member of Studio Gallery since 2005. Originally an abstract painter, he found in this current series of large realistic paintings a new path to address essential aspects of his life experience, time, awareness, and interconnectedness, that he feels people eagerly respond to. 
“What I find is that the same desire for sincerity can continue to be the guiding force of my work even though the form has changed so radically in appearance”.

For the past 40 years, Jim Metzner has recorded soundscapes all over the world, lately as a Fulbright Specialist in Media and Communication.  
Many of Jim's recordings have appeared on his radio program and podcast, Pulse of the Planet. His archive is now reposited in the Library of Congress. 
"I'm a huge fan of Thierry's art and am honored to have some of my recordings included in his exhibition, The Promise of Dawn". 

A special limited and signed edition of Jim’s dawn recording will be made available with each painting and can also be purchased separately.
Dawn 1 (44:00) is the soundscape heard in the exhibition, recorded at various locations in the northeastern US. 
Dawn 2 (8:51) is a quieter soundscape, recorded at a wetlands in upstate New York. 
Dawn 3 (23:48) was recorded in Australia, New Zealand, Sierra Nevada and the Northeast."

For more information about Jim's work, visit jimmetznerproductions.com.
Thierry’s website can be visited at www.thierryguillemin.com.

In the Lower Gallery

The Colors of Fruit

Elizabeth McNeil Harris

Curated by Gaby Mizes

March 27th - April 20th, 2024

Drawings and musings on the beauty of familiar (and delicious) objects.

“TEARS ENOUGH TO DROWN ME BUT I SWIM”

Iza Thomas

Curated by Gaby Mizes

March 27th - April 20th, 2024

Women, I think, exist in two worlds at the same time. The first one is the everyday world with lovers and children, friendship, and daily routine. This world is also one where the never-ending obligations and expectations heaped on women are taken for granted and the invisibility of our existence is a fact of life. The second parallel world --our interior world-- is where we nevertheless dance towards the light. It is where we get our resiliency, our strength, and our grace to manage and go on in the face of the indifferent gods. I use magical realism to depict both of these worlds.

The mannequins in my paintings and the props come from sudden lucky finds in dusty antique shops and online auction houses. They convey the sense of being real and not real simultaneously, the way women feel often.

And yet the everyday earth has its joys. My husband wrote the poems that accompany my paintings so art can bring us together. He is always there through the trials and tribulations of creating a painting. He helps me out of difficult moments that I find myself in. As a result, he is able to capture in words the message that I want to convey through my brush.

So that is what I am trying to express in these series of paintings, our resilience and our strength. This is best captured in the line that I use as the title for my exhibit from the poem Defining Worlds by G.Y. Baxter: “Tears enough to drown me but I swim.”

In the Garden Gallery

Woman│Artist
A Studio Gallery Staff Exhibit

Atiya Dorsey, Lydia Embry, Halley Sun Stubis, Samantha Van Heest

Curated by Halley Sun Stubis

March 27th - April 20th, 2024

Images (left to right): She Is Always Emptying by Lydia Embry, 归来 (Returning Anew) by Halley Sun Stubis, A Sweet Magnolia and Her Southern Tree by Atiya Dorsey (from the Anemoia Series), and two peaches, eaten consecutively by Samantha Van Heest.

Woman│Artist features four Studio Gallery staff members, including
Director Halley Sun Stubis, Curator and Fellows Manager Atiya Dorsey, and former
gallery associates Lydia Embry and Samantha Van Heest.

As women artists, this exhibit explores the role of womanhood (and by extension, girlhood) in their identities. What does it mean to be a woman artist, and how does gender mold our experiences and ways of creation? Through Woman│Artist, Dorsey, Embry, Stubis, and Van Heest touch on the narrative intimacies often intertwined in the overarching experience of womanhood. This exhibit features paintings, photographic collages, and mixed-media works.

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

MEANING and REPETITION

William Bowser · Bob Burgess · Kimberley Bursic
· Jennifer Duncan · Pam Frederick · Alan Lipton · Joan Mayfield

Curated by Veronica Szalus

February 28th - March 23rd, 2024

The latest show of the Premier Associate Artists at Studio Gallery explores the themes of “Meaning” and “Repetition.”

As one of the main principles of art making, repetition plays out in each of these artists work in different ways which in turn either creates the meaning of the artwork or supports the concept by the reoccurrence of certain elements.

For Joan Mayfield, repetition in her work is inspired by the language of nature with repeated patterns found in the spirals of tree rings, the meandering of water, and the branching of shrubs and trees. Her collages celebrate the path forged by water as it rushes by.  Using cardboard, tarpaper, plaster and found papers, Mayfield includes the cycle of reuse into the meaning of her sculptures. 

Repetition shows itself in subject matter akin to Morandi’s still life paintings of bottles, Monet’s Haystack paintings, or Eva Hesse’s “Repetition Nineteen III” cast cylinders in Pam Frederick’s work.  Frederick plays with this idea of repetition in her collages of Vessels made from found wallpapers representing the forms again and again. 

Jennifer Duncan’s pieces take an up-close look at her subject matter; tumbleweeds, to communicate the spread of an intriguing invasive species. Her layering of the silhouette of the plants, with the intertwining branches provides a framework for the artist to express visual texture and explore color.

Bob Burgess’ photographs repeatedly capture the environment he finds himself in. Training his sensibilities to surprise and discovery, he grabs the moment and pins it down on film. His photographs are a portrait of the artist in that moment.

Kim Bursic’s prints use the repetitive techniques of the printing process with the recurrence of shapes to create a series of art. Using the sunken ships of Mallows Bay Ship Graveyard as inspiration, Bursic represents the structures and watery scape as it turns from a vessel into solid scape. 

William Bowser’s kübel or “bucket” shape is a theme he repeats. His series of built objects in clay (Kübel) refer to both his ancestral name and it’s meaning in German (bucket). His structures require two openings like a window, that also reference two handles of a bucket. Bowser’s sculptures hold all of these messages in containment and utility. 

Al Lipton’s paintings are a contemplation on forms and structures from his surroundings. Inspired by the built environment, he repeatedly uses bright colors and slashing marks to depict what is around him.

Together, these artists’ work offers a stimulating array of explorations of what they find meaningful by using the process of repetition. 

In the Lower Gallery

pivot/echo

Robert Cwiok

Curated by Helen Frederick

February 28th - March 23rd, 2024

“Planets move in ellipses with the Sun as one focus.” - Johannes Kepler

pivot: “a fixed point supporting something which turns or balances.”
echo: “repetitive structures ordering a visual field.”

Our universe exists within a phenomena of cycles. My visual work has never been far from the influence of the grid. For me a grid is a device upon which to build a composition, a construction, and where to express visual pathways. In the process of working on the Conceal Reveal Series I found the passages that resulted within the 2 inch squares enticing. (For example, see Conceal Reveal No. 50.5.) While an overall composition anchors the visual field, I found that by isolating the squares I began seeing other possibilities. The works on view here is a result of enlarging these passages into their own compositions, statements of color, and surface.

Influence of the Earth

Kathryn Camicia

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

February 28th - March 23rd, 2024

“Resign yourself to the influence of the earth”. Thoreau

Contemplating Grasses

Jo Levine

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

February 28th - March 23rd, 2024

Jo Levine’s show, “Contemplating Grasses,” features photographs of ornamental and wild grasses. Because grass plants survive from year to year and send out seeds for new plants, even though individual blades of grass die off each season, she sees grasses as visual metaphors for both mortality and the persistence of life.

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

HEAL
A Fellows Group Show

Olivia Bruce · Amity Chan · Skyler Henry · Omari Wilson

Curated by Atiya Dorsey

January 31st - February 24th, 2024

The show Heal is a group exhibition of the 2024 Studio Gallery DC fellows as they unpack individual identity centered healing practices through the process of making and collective opportunities to come together. The exhibition showcases two dimensional work that occurred within the fellowship thereby capturing the present evolution of their artistic practices. Each artist is undergoing their own metamorphosis, rewriting societal tropes to make room for themselves and room for others to exist exactly as they are in the collective. The process of rewriting can be seen as a process of facilitating healing.

In The Lower Gallery

I focus on making my paintings more about the emotions they evoke than the specific figures represented.  Using brushstroke, palette, and application, I strive to capture psychological aspects of my models. Although I paint with certain emotions in mind, I appreciate that viewers will respond to works in their own personal ways.

Most importantly, I want people to appreciate the use, power, and subtleties of paint.  

Figments of the Untamed.
Wayne Paige

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

January 31st - February 24th, 2024

Since 1997 I have retreated to a life inside an imaginary inkwell- a black and white graphic world of duality sprinkled with social commentary and Dreamscape imagery. Recent events from the pandemic to economic and social upheaval caused the well to nearly overflow and had me swimming frantically within. While trying to absorb this sensory overload and then apply it to my art, a decision was made. It was time to take a step back (way back), dig a little deeper and draw more upon personal experiences and inspirations especially from my mid 1950’s childhood in Chicago.

Animal Kingdom was a pet store a short walk from where I lived and provided a wealth of insight to an eight-year-old who enjoyed drawing animals. It was more than the typical pet store. Initially, it opened as a conventional pet shop selling puppies, kittens, and fish, but over time the shop expanded, and more non-traditional and exotic animals were added. Later, dogs, cats and goldfish were joined by monkeys, tigers, and exotic birds. I imagined them in the wild, uncaged, untamed and drew them as such.

Until recently, my ink drawings included mountains, waterways, and woodlands populated by bipedal beings engaged in unforeseen events. However, after a seventy- plus year hiatus, the animals of my youth returned. They, along with spiritual entities had taken over the landscape, replacing the bipedal beings with squirrels, foxes, and a whole host of other creatures both imagined and real. By tapping into my childhood memory, the content of my work expanded and yet remained consistent with the overall focus of my previous work which is creating art that embraces conflict, dreams, and absurdity.

In The Garden Gallery

WHAT HUMAN RIGHT IS THE RIGHT TO FOOD?
Iwan Bagus

Curated by Miriam Keeler

January 31st - February 24th, 2024

New work by Iwan Bagus
First series
Net proceeds will be donated to Human Rights Watch

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes, in the context of an adequate standard of living, that: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” – Human Rights Declaration of Human Rights, article 25.

Grief
Suzanne Goldberg

Curated by Miriam Keeler

January 31st - February 24th, 2024

These were done as someone dear to me was leaving. 

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Diasporic Connections
An Outreach Exhibit

Bakari Akinyele · Chuckwunonso Angel Dureke · Chidinma Dureke · Kluse · Lew · Maurice James Jr.

Curated by Atiya Dorsey

January 3rd - January 27th, 2024

To many, the District of Columbia is known for its magnetic pull home; however, it is not solely a place inhabited by those who were born or voluntarily moved here. It is also occupied by those who were forced to be here, making the city an inherently diasporic space. Those who make up this latter group are often rendered silent when archiving DC’s history. Despite this, diaspora communities have helped mold the city into what it is today, pushing us to take note of the archival voids that are left unfilled to this day. 

To honor these communities and their own stories, artists offer social commentary on migration through various mediums. Regardless of where the featured artists’ lineages begin, they all meet and come into dialogue with one another through this exhibition and along DC’s permeable borders.

Curator Atiya Dorsey not only presents an exhibition that serves as a space for us all to co-exist along these borders, but she also actively encourages featured artists to help us move beyond them.

RSVP required: click here
BGIAS (Black Girls in Art Spaces) Curator Talk with Atiya Dorsey:
Saturday, January 27
1-3 pm

Emergence
An Outreach Exhibit

Patricia Baca · Mark Burchick · Trevon Jakaar Coleman · Marie B. Gauthiez · Alexis Irby · Dan Ortiz Leizman · Lindsay Mueller · Patricia Edwine-Poku · Julia Reising · Jill Stauffer · Margaret Walker · Julia Zhang

Curated by Irene Pantelis

January 3rd - January 27th, 2024

Studio Gallery is proud to present recent works by students pursuing Masters in Fine Art degrees from universities in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore region. The exhibition has no overarching theme. Instead, it is intended as a window into the vision and aesthetics of these emerging artists.

Winter Break

December 17th, 2023 - January 2nd, 2024

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Winter All Members Exhibit

Our Common Humanity

Curated by Lois Kampinsky and Sabiha Iqbal

Coordinated by Lynda Andrews-Barry

Featuring artworks selected from our
historic cooperative of 60+ local artists

November 22nd - December 16th, 2023

We face challenges on many levels, from environmental threats, to global conflicts. Only by remembering our common humanity can we heal the world and move toward joy.

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Of Water Too Are the Grasses

Irene Pantelis

Curated by Aneta Georgievska-Shine

October 25th - November 18th, 2023

The works in this show were inspired by lawns and weeds, like the ones found in my suburban neighborhood in Maryland. As I began to look more carefully at these ordinary bits of nature, my drawings unearthed a connection with childhood memories of long summers in the countryside of Uruguay, immersed in the native grasslands of the pampas. The works also brought to my mind the increasing scarcity of underground water that all grasses need to thrive, the proliferation of toxins in our soil, and the promise of the simple grass as a viable tool for capturing carbon dioxide. As I drew these grassy subjects from North and South, water became a catalyst in my process. Brushing on a clear grid of tap water on the paper, I wove ink and other marks in and out of the fluid foundation. I allowed these tenuous streams to trickle on, making connections, disrupting, pooling together, creating barriers. Within my clumps of grass, water underwent many changes, like a mirror, taking on all manner of tones and viscosities from its surroundings, even evaporating into thin air.

In the Lower Gallery

Microcosm-Macrocosm 

A group photography exhibit featuring

Suliman Abdullah · Lynda Andrews-Barry · Gary Anthes · Iwan Bagus · Lisa Battle · Bob Burgess · Suzanne Goldberg · Harriet Lesser · Jo Levine · Beverly Logan · Steven Marks · Susan Raines

Curated by Carolee Jakes and coordinated by Lynda Andrews-Barry

October 25th - November 18th, 2023

Visual artists tell stories. Some stories are clear to the viewer: a portrait, a landscape, a still life. Other stories are abstract with color, shape and form directing viewers to new experiences. All come from the artists’ perspectives on the world.  

 “Microcosm-Macrocosm” is an exhibition in which artists examine their work from their story-telling perspective. Do they see the world in a single leaf or in an overview of a forest? Do they look deep or wide to see the universe?  Do they work large or small? Like the artists, viewers of this show have their own perspectives. Yet, as they experience each work of art, how do they expand or contract their way of seeing? 

This exhibition invites artists and viewers to look beyond their usual perspectives and welcome seeing the other side of the coin.

-Beverly Logan

Art All Night 2023 at Studio Gallery

Saturday, September 30th from 7 pm - 12 am
2108 R Street NW, Washington D.C., 20008

Studio Gallery is delighted to participate in Dupont Circle's Art All Night 2023!

Exhibits by solo artist Langley Spurlock, duo artists Kathryn Camicia and Sabiha Iqbal, and Garden Gallery artists Lisa Battle and Amy Davis, will be available for viewing all evening. Please join us for a fun-filled night of artist talks and activities centered around our historic cooperative of 50+ local artists! We hope to see you there.

Art All Night Events at Studio Gallery

Upstairs

7-10 pm: Meet artist Langley Spurlock

7-10 pm: Studio Gallery raffle

*Please note that the upper gallery will close at 10 pm*

Downstairs

7-10 pm: Meet artists Kathryn Camicia and Sabiha Iqbal

8 pm: Artist talk with Sabiha Iqbal

10 pm: Round robin discussion featuring artists Suliman Abdullah, Elizabeth Curren, and new Fellowship artists Olivia Bruce, Mallory Kimmel, and Omari Wilson

All Night: Artworks $100 and under for sale

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Astronomia
SOLAR CIRCUS

By Langley Spurlock and John Martin Tarrat

Curated by William Carroll

September 27th - October 21st, 2023

Neptune, where diamonds rain. Mercury, where a day is longer than a year. Ceres, the asteroid where water bubbles. Here comes the sun, and there goes our disappearing Moon. Eight planets, seven dwarfs, a clockwork comet and the orphan child of another sun . . . all in the theater of vanishing horizons.

Using aluminum and pigment prints, a touch of neon and LED, with a lot of help from NASA, artist and writer take a small tour of a very large neighborhood. To see what happened. And what happens next.

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 30th
4-6 pm

First Friday
Friday, October 6th
6-8 pm

Meet the Artists Reception
Saturday, October 14th
4-6 pm (Artists’ Talk 5 pm)

Third Thursday
Thursday, October 19th
5-6 pm

Closing Reception
Saturday, October 21st
3-5 pm

Uncertain Beauty

By Kathryn Camicia

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

September 27th - October 21st, 2023

What does art offer?  Hope, new perspectives and experiences.  We are still moving.

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 30th
4-6 pm

First Friday
Friday, October 6th
6-8 pm

Third Thursday
Thursday, October 19th
5-6 pm

Closing Reception
Saturday, October 21st
3-5 pm

A Moment of Vision

By Sabiha Iqbal

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

September 27th - October 21st, 2023

This body of work is ekphrastic based on the poetry of my mother Ada Jafarey who was a distinguished poet of Pakistan, having published many books on poetry and her autobiography. Born in 1924 in India, she rose to become a prominent figure in contemporary literature in Pakistan. She was a feminist, a leader and innovator. Her poetry was strong commentary on the social, political, and cultural events of her times. She was also very sensitive to the beauty of nature around her. My paintings draw upon her vivid imagery of plants and flower, skies, which belie a depth of thoughts and feelings about her world and humanity at large. The language of poetry is universal, so to me the feelings and thought about the political and social times she lived in, capture our world at present perfectly.

I have included larger oil canvases, which invoke the beauty of our world, while the smaller paper collages focus on the humanity which exists in joy and grief, hope and despair. My colors and brushstrokes depict the range of human emotions.

A few lines of poetry accompany each painting.

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 30th
4-6 pm
Artist’s Talk
5:15 pm

First Friday
Friday, October 6th
6-8 pm

Third Thursday
Thursday, October 19th
5-6 pm

Closing Reception
Saturday, October 21st
3-5 pm

Twilight

By Lisa Battle

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

September 27th - October 21st, 2023

In this exhibition, I explore the liminal time when the world is in transition from day to night. Liminality is a region of blurred boundaries that always contains an element of fluidity. I am particularly conscious of this transition as we move into autumn, when night comes on faster each day, and the light wanes. A liminal space can feel uncomfortable, and make us question our perception. The three-dimensional wall sculptures and pedestal pieces in this show reflect the idea of fluidity and transition. Atmospheric firing techniques such as pit firing and raku are used to create smoky, dark surfaces that evoke twilight. 

First Friday
Friday, October 6th
6-8 pm

Time to Say Goodbye

By Amy Davis

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

September 27th - October 21st, 2023

Whether saying it to the vacation we don’t want to end, or to a person we know we’ll never see again, a goodbye can hold many different meanings. Sometimes we are happy to say them, sometimes we wish we didn’t have to. Time to Say Goodbye by Amy Davis explores the many ways that a goodbye can look and feel.

First Friday
Friday, October 6th
6-8 pm

Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

The Seven Sisters: An Exploration of Time and Place

By Carolee Jakes and Ellie Jakes

Curated by Gaby Mizes

August 30th - September 23rd, 2023

The Seven Sisters, more formally called the Pleiades, is an open star cluster. Perhaps because of its relative proximity to earth, it has been noted by cultures around the world for centuries. It is mentioned in the Bible multiple times, and has featured in the legends of Australian aborigines, Ancient Chinese, and Native American cultures, as well as the Greek Myth that gives this show its name, almost always as a group of sisters. This show celebrates their presence as part of the universal experience of life on earth. At the same time, it recognizes the individuality of our personal perspectives. Though the stars remain the same, the legends themselves are specific to each culture.

The sound installation in the front room of the gallery includes seven globes that represent each of the seven sisters. A thread of music plays through each globe and interacts with threads of music coming from the other globes to create shifting harmonies. The music you hear is determined by both time and place. Each thread cycles through its melody independently, so that the complete composition repeats itself rarely during the show. Where you stand determines which globes you will hear, which will dominate, which will be quiet or inaudible. The woodblock prints in the rest of the gallery, and the prints from which the globes were made, are all expressions of the constant passing of time and the shifting experiences of who and where we are.

This show is a collaboration between Ellie Jakes, who composed the music and engineered the sound, and Carolee Jakes who created the prints and built the globes. The show is curated by Gaby Mizes.

First Friday:
Friday, September 1st
6-8 pm

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 9th
4-6 pm

Third Thursday:
Thursday, September 21st
5-6 pm

Closing Reception:
Saturday, September 23rd
4-6pm

For more information on Third Thursdays, visit our “Community Events” page here.

In The Lower Gallery

Figure and Ground

By Chris Corson and Gary Anthes

Curated by Gaby Mizes

August 30th - September 23rd, 2023

Photographs by Gary Anthes.

In Figure and Ground, the human form speaks through the eyes and hands of photographer Gary Anthes and sculptor Chris Corson. Their works find humanity in unexpected places and ways — in evocative imagery; hinting at secrets; opening doors to interior life.  

Anthes’s photographs of three-dimensional human forms – statues, masks, mannequins, and theater props often in ambiguous settings – are by turns tragic, joyous, humorous, or somberly enigmatic. “The qualities of mystery and transience drive much of my work,” he says.

Corson’s stories begin as shapeless wet clay and, weeks or months later, emerge as enduring ceramic figures that are at once vulnerable, introspective. “But I think they also capture strength and resilience — all universal components of the human spirit,” Corson says.

The artists invite you to ponder their work and make up your own stories. As the 17th-century French playwright Jean-Baptiste Racine said, “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 9th
4-6 pm

First Friday:
Friday, September 1st
6-8 pm

Third Thursday:
Thursday, September 21st
5-6 pm

Closing Reception:
Saturday, September 23rd
4-6pm

For more information on Third Thursdays, visit our “Community Events” page here.

In The Garden Gallery

Magpies and Mannequins

By Iza Thomas

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

August 30th - September 23rd, 2023

I saw a lot of magpies when I was growing up in Leszno, Poland more than here in the US. The myth of magpies has always appealed to me, the glinting flash of precious jewelry unearthed for some special occasion: pearls, rubies, gold, silver and the glittering eyes of the thief catching the flash and watching, watching for an opportunity. I did find out later that the stories of magpies stealing jewelry is not true and that they do not make it a habit of stealing shiny objects and I was disappointed because the world needs a little danger from the likes of magpies. 

My other obsession are mannequins and dolls and hatboxes, all the overlooked elements of a girl's life, where hopes and joys and sorrows somehow permeate indifferent elements. I try to show this in my paintings, things with living memories that animate them and bring them to life to show our place in this world.

This exhibit is about the juxtaposition of magpies stealing dreams and the mannequins embodying different but similarly hopeful dreams.

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 9th
4-6 pm

First Friday:
Friday, September 1st
6-8 pm

Third Thursday:
Thursday, September 21st
5-6 pm

Closing Reception:
Saturday, September 23rd
4-6pm

For more information on Third Thursdays, visit our “Community Events” page here.

Jots and Tittles

By Jennifer Duncan

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

August 30th - September 23rd, 2023

Using hand-painted and printed paper and cardboard, I have pieced together disjointed memories from my unusual upbringing to construct small assembled vignettes. Just a single vintage photo of the exterior of the 1904 Arlington, Virginia farmhouse I grew up in survives today, but my mind effortlessly conjures up vivid visual snapshots of the exterior of the historic home and garden, as well as of the décor inside and of everyday objects and events. These fragments are signified by the broken abstract shapes of the paper collage pieces.

My childhood was not ordinary. It was the 60’s, and my parents were loudly progressive and politically active in Virginia. My father, who trained as a lawyer upon returning from military service, was generous to a fault, and met all the stereotypes of a non-conforming bohemian. A descendant of J.M. Barrie, the Scottish writer who created Peter Pan, he was in many ways similarly ill-suited to adult life, and to parenting. He bought a lime-green Cutlass Supreme convertible rather than a traditional family car, and thrived on making our world one of fun and frequent surprises – often to my mother’s dismay. While my mom worked hard as a school teacher to keep us all housed, educated and clothed, my father – when he was home – sang and danced and brought all creatures great and small into our world.

The walls of the house seemed permeable as the boundaries between indoors and outdoors were often blurred. We ate, slept and played on the deep porch that wrapped around three sides of the house, and in the woods on our property. We dug, as I imagined children who lived there before us had, in the small dirt room in our basement. And we spent untold hours high up on the roof looking out over Arlington’s Four Mile Run Valley. Wild animals often joined us inside the house, and we always had an array of domestic pets – usually surprise gifts from my father – outside in pens or on leads.

The woods featured a human scale octagonal-shaped “fort” built as part of the artist John Grazier’s coursework at the Corcoran School of Art. My father came to know the teenage Grazier when he had occasion to get him out of jail, and John then became a regular fixture around our house. Among various other things, he served as a slow, ineffective painter of the house (think Eldin in Murphy Brown), and as the builder of our fort.

Peonies are a recurrent theme through these assemblages. The house was, for many years, a peony farm. Flowers grown on the property were sold at Blackistone Florist in Washington, DC. Images of the 100- year-old oak trees, hollies and peonies that bordered the property still inhabit an important place in my brain, and in my heart. And I still feel calmed by visions of the large painting of a graceful Victorian-era lady picking lilies that hung on the wall across from my seat at the dining room table.

Returning home from school, I remember each day holding some new surprise. My father bartered legal services for goods. We obtained antique furniture and carpets, valuable artwork, yardwork, and food, often instead of money he was owed. Once I came home to find dozens of jars of honey and oysters on the kitchen counter. We couldn’t always pay the mortgage, but there was at times a “gracious sufficiency” of foods to eat.

We had to quickly sell and leave our home when I turned 18 following a series of unfortunate events. This sudden disruption of life as I knew it left me nostalgic about the beauty and quirks of growing up in the house, and memories of how our family functioned differently than others I knew. These collages are my attempt to share some of those reminiscences.

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 9th
4-6 pm

First Friday:
Friday, September 1st
6-8 pm

Third Thursday:
Friday, September 21st
5-6 pm
Closing Reception:
Saturday, September 23rd
4-6pm

For more information on Third Thursdays, visit our “Community Events” page here.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Summer Break

August 13th-29th, 2023

Shop from the comfort of your home for works by members of our artist cooperative through our online store. Please note that shipping will be delayed at this time, but we will resume our normal functions when we reopen.

View works from our previous exhibitions using our digital exhibition catalogues.

Consider joining our artist cooperative. We accept artist members on a rolling basis. You can now get all of the relevant information and apply online through our prospective artist page.

See you soon!

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

See You Soon

Summer All Members Exhibit

Curated by Susan Raines and Lois Kampinsky

July 19th - August 12th, 2023

The phrase “see you soon” seems to offer many possibilities. A casual farewell between people, the phrase “see you soon” assumes a next meeting. It presupposes that there is a return, a plan, a belief that things will happen as we expect. Besides being an assurance, it can also be an invitation, a wish, a leap of faith, a longing, a hope that we will be there in the future and witness what has become. With bright colors, or perhaps, dark hues, artists in this exhibition imbue the phrase with their own personal interpretation and nuanced meaning as they navigate our times. -Irene Pantelis

This all members exhibit features artworks taken from our historic cooperative of 50+ local artists. We hope you will join us!

Third Thursday Collaboration:
Thursday, July 20th
5-8 pm

Studio Gallery will once again be collaborating with IA&A at Hillyer, The Phillips Collection, and ADA Gallery for a night of wonderful local art!

Join IA&A at Hillyer for their extended hours from 5-8 pm, as well as an artist talk with David Allen Harris and Lyric Prince Harris at 6:30 pm! David Allen Harris and Lyric Prince Harris will talk about the Wa PaPo project and the theme of their exhibition, The Three Sisters. The artists will address how their project explores “the spell of the sensuous and how body and color can be combined to create stories with or without words.”

Stop by The Phillips Collection to explore the new dynamic exhibition Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, which centers around Stewart’s sensitive and spontaneous approach to portraying world cultures and Black life in many forms—
including music, art, travel, food, and dance.

ADA Art Gallery is currently featuring the solo exhibition of works by Ellen Sinel, titled The Magic of Trees. Her work is influenced by the places she’s been and events in her life, and grows naturally through gradual change, passing discreetly from one phase into another. ADA Art Gallery is an extension of ADA University’s Art Program. ADA Art Gallery aims to promote cultural awareness and advance cultural ties between the United States and Azerbaijan. Find them on the corner of R & 21st Street NW, at Gallery Row 1627 21st Street NW!

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

 What We See

Beverly Logan

Curated by Mary Welch Higgins

June 21st - July 15th, 2023

Beverly Logan’s work addresses an increasingly troubling twenty-first century question: what can we believe?

 Are we so overwhelmed with fake news, artificial intelligence and social media that we can no longer decide what is real? 

 Logan’s work interacts with this dilemma by offering images that at first appear straightforward. Yet, something is off.  Trees grow out of city streets; a meadow juts up against a village sidewalk; New Yorkers teeter on the steps of a subway entrance.

By combining fragments of photographs Logan has taken over the past forty years, she creates stories that although based on reality are not. Moreover, once the composites become etched in our memories the conundrum of what is real and what isn’t persists. 

Logan invites you to take the time to first look at the images and then to see them.

In The Lower Gallery

 Urban|3.0

Pam Frederick and Veronica Szalus

Curated by Craig Cahoon

June 21st - July 15th, 2023

Pam Frederick and Veronica Szalus are launching their third installation revolving around the urban environment. This is a continuation of a theme that began with their first project, Urban|Remix in 2022. Their collaboration explores a dynamic combination of free-formed organic shapes, color, dissected images, and dimensional intersections. Using graphics printed on present-day cardboard packaging for consumer goods, windows are built into what we consume, transforming this action from individual moments to a collective collage exploding with color that examines how and what we consume.

Frederick’s seven-foot-long sculptural mural, Somewhere in the City, is composed of found cardboard with cut-outs, papers and mixed media to create a 3-D effect.

In Urban|3.0, Veronica Szalus dramatically deconstructs large-scale cardboard boxes in way-up to create a dimensional dialogue in curved forms that radiate from the floor to the ceiling.

Frederick and Szalus’ work riffs in a call and response to these discarded materials and consumer waste challenges. Throughout the exhibit, the artists invite the viewer to consider the interconnectedness among urban consumption through re-contextualized consumable packaging that surround us and through a re-purposed cycle allows the viewer to become a witness to materials that can sometimes even seem to consume us.

In The Garden Gallery

 Pond Reflections

Susan Raines

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

June 21st - July 15th, 2023

I have a log cabin in Rappahannock County, Virginia, that sits on a small pond. The cabin was built about 40 years ago from the trees that were cut down to build the cabin.

When my husband and I first bought the cabin 21 years ago, I was disappointed that there was no view of the Blue Ridge mountains. But I soon came to realize that there was always something happening in and around the pond and it was even better than having a view.

Because I have not been able to travel much during Covid, I began photographing the pond as it was a good subject close at hand. The pond reflections change with the seasons and many times during each day with the light and the wind.

First Friday:
Friday, July 7
6-8 pm

 From the Heart

Halley Sun Stubis

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

June 21st - July 15th, 2023

Asian American artist Halley Sun Stubis paints from the heart in this exhibit, showing artworks that depict scenes rich with symbolism and explore topics such as family history, emotions, and spiritualism. Varying shades of blue and lavender bring a sense of mystery and sentimentality throughout the works, and a spotlight is put on portraiture and elements of the natural world. Dreamlike in nature, “From the Heart” is a love letter to the beautifully mysterious aspects of humanity going back many generations.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

After Tradition

Freda Lee-McCann

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

May 24 - June 17, 2023

I have always painted Chinese landscapes. Sometimes I have introduced new elements into the classical paintings - stronger colors, adding collages of my own calligraphy and my paintings, or less traditional textures. Over time my landscapes have become less traditional, but still the classical landscape was there.

In this body of work, the landscapes are no longer the main focus, the collages are. The landscape starts at the middle ground, then recedes into the distance, while the collage is in the foreground. There is a transparent layer of written poetry between the landscape and the collage. The poetry is written in very light tone, not necessarily to be read by the viewers. This gives the landscape a feeling and a memory. The collage pieces are bolder than the landscape - they are abstract shapes from the calligraphy of a poem, often the characters are not recognizable.

The poem that ties all the paintings together was written by Zhu Yun-Ming a 16 th century poet during the Ming dynasty. He was a scholar and calligrapher, known for his ‘wild’ cursive script inspired by the Tang dynasty master Zhang Xu. I fell in love with his simple poem and wild calligraphy. Unlike the carefully executed and graceful characters of classical calligraphy, Zhang’s characters are written with thick and rounded brushstrokes that project an unrefined strength. The poem is simple, and says that in the fifth month of the year, he was alone in his modest home watching the petals of the cherry blossoms fall in the evening wind. It feels contemplative and introspective. I resonated with his sentiment, and loved his wild cursive script, and I appreciate the breaking with tradition.

In The Lower Gallery

In the Garden Gallery

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Almost Forgotten

Eleanor Kotlarik Wang

Curated by Gaby Mizes

April 26 - May 20, 2023

Vintage piano and violin scores were recovered from the estate of the artist’s mother.  They became the stimulus for an exploration that unites nature and melody in abstract visual expressions.  The paintings evoke harmony and movement that seem to float through time onto canvases that are full of color, rhythm and energy. This exhibit is a nostalgic visual reflection about music, nature, memory and emotions. Also featuring sculptures by Beth Eltinge.

*Studio Gallery’s Third Thursday events this May are in conjunction with the
IA&A at Hillyer and the Phillips Collection. Find more information below.
We encourage you to visit all three spaces for a special evening of art!

In The Lower Gallery

Anchors of the Heart

Micheline Klagsbrun

Curated by Aneta Georgievska-Shine

April 26 - May 20, 2023

Blue Bloods

North American Horseshoe Crabs

Elizabeth Curren

Curated by Judy Southerland

April 26 - May 20, 2023

In the Garden Gallery

Sculptures by Giorgi Dolidze and Victoria Hanks

Curated by Miriam Keeler and Kimberley Bursic
April 26 - May 20, 2023

View sculptures by artist members Giorgi Dolidze and Victoria Hanks in this special Garden Gallery exhibit. Both Dolidze and Hanks use the medium of sculpture to explore life and psychology. Giorgi Dolidze uses paint, plaster, metal and clay to create images that are an exploration of the human self and the fluidity of the human form. His work centers on the experience of life in today’s society and how it affects the human psyche as well as the physical. Initially stemming from an interest in the physical and textural properties of animal bodies and then later the sentient experiences of those animals, Victoria Hanks’ work focuses on using animal personalities to act out very human experiences. Sometimes somewhat cartoonish but with some pathos or angst, she tries to put on an animal mask, so to speak, to act out the fears and emotions common to people.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Petrichor:

the scent of the earth after a warm rain

Lynda Andrews-Barry

Curated by Gaby Mizes

March 29 – April 22, 2023

The word “Petrichor” describes the scent of The Earth after a warm rain: it is the essence that reminds us of our deep connection to Our Planet. Petrichor investigates the effects of entropy on our environment by displaying its physical vulnerabilities to underscore the delicate nature of our surrounding ecosystems. Through referencing the natural processes of dissolution, Petrichor reflects aspects of an existence on the edge of potential demise. The possibility of a future with only remnants of The Earth is real. Petrichor predicts the future of our natural world to be a manmade place where fabricated tableaux memorialize the once common but now extinct. The intent of Petrichor is to raise awareness about the impact of our actions on our personal environments and beyond. With the looming reality of the Earth’s imminent collapse, Petrichor encourages conversations that will animate citizens to engage emotionally to internalize an environmental ethic, and ultimately, truly feel the exigencies of our generation.

First Friday:
Friday, April 7th
5:30-8 pm

Studio Gallery’s April First Friday events are in conjunction with the IA&A at Hillyer and the Washington Studio School’s First Friday. For more information on our neighbors’ events, click below! We encourage you to attend all of these exciting events; see you there!

In The Lower Gallery

Portals & Passages

Lisa Battle

Curated by Martina Sestakova

March 29 – April 22, 2023

In the Garden Gallery

Paintings by Andrew Acquadro and Sabiha Iqbal

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn

March 29 – April 22, 2023

Andrew Acquadro and Sabiha Iqbal present paintings in the Garden Gallery. Both Acquadro and Iqbal take inspiration from the beauty and complexity of everyday life. Acquadro creates artworks based on his time on the tennis court, his family, the amazing places he has traveled, and even items he sees and hears every day. Through art, he focuses on transforming these images into simple yet abstract designs that are pleasing to the eye, and to the soul. Iqbal draws her inspiration from our shifting world landscape and current events. A newspaper headline, a line from a poem, or a book are all reasons for her to pick up her brush. Iqbal’s paintings celebrate the connectedness and interdependence of human beings and nature against a backdrop of political and social complexities and tensions of our time.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Ink on a Coffee Stirrer: Female figures in ink and charcoal

Elizabeth McNeil Harris

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

March 1 - 25, 2023

In The Lower Gallery

ELEMENTS: New Work by Premier Associates 

A Premier Associate Group Show

Curated by Veronica Szalus

March 1 - 25, 2023

Four natural ELEMENTS -- earth, fire, air and water – were thought by the ancient Greeks to be the building blocks of all matter on earth. In Hinduism’s sacred literature, the inward essence of everything in the cosmos is rooted in just five essential ELEMENTS – earth, water, fire, air and space. Today, Scientists believe that all things consist of some combination of approximately 100 simple chemical ELEMENTS that make up the Periodic Table. While visual art is often considered to be the product of seven foundational ELEMENTS: line, color, shape, form, value, space and texture.  In this exhibit, seven artists offer their individual creative celebrations of and reflections on ELEMENTS of various sorts and in various forms.

Drawing from the classical elements of nature, the colors and forms in Bowser’s pastel paintings create a sense of mystery and foreboding. A few basic geometric shapes constitute the nucleus from which the structure of his compositions gradually emerge from murky surrounds. His Kübel (“simple bucket”) sculptures explore themes of threat and protection using high gloss reds and greens against a deep matte black surface.

Burgess seeks and translates the geometry and chaos in nature in his captivating close range photographic images. Discomfortingly intimate views of specimens offer a window through which we enter and plumb the depths of these natural elements along with the artist. 

The visual texture of leaves and patterns of light in Duncan’s paintings are among the elements that guide the viewer on a lively excursion around the surface of the canvas. Lush, wooded landscapes, often characterized by obscured or camouflaged objects create a longing to push back the branches for an unobstructed view, and a sense of intrigue as the viewer navigates their way.

Pam Frederick and Joan Mayfield use disparate geometric and organic shapes and colors as the foundational components of their abstract compositions. Discarded ephemera and forgotten wallpapers are the elements Frederick combines to depict simplified mixed media still life representations. Mayfield fuses unrelated found objects, pieces of cardboard and wooden frames to assemble three-dimensional low relief sculptures.

And Bursic’s mixed media paintings speak to an inward space. Using the elements of shape, color and texture, she draws the viewer into a visually disjointed conversation. The prints illustrate the essence of disruption and interruption by combining and fusing two separate series of art together, locking them in a flow of conflict and cohesion. 

Finally, bold colors and simple forms are the essential visual elements of Lipton’s abstract paintings, starting with a drawing and then incorporating a heroic-like figure interacting with and engaging in the drama of the canvas. Lipton says, “Everyone needs heroes, and often we are our own best heroes." 

Our relationships with and understandings of critical formative ELEMENTS such as these are complex and mysterious. But they sustain our lives and are a source of wonder and beauty.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Reimagining Landscapes

An All Members Sculpture Show

Curated by Atiya Dorsey

February 1 - 25, 2023

“We each have a unique relationship with the terrains that have shaped us and fostered our growth. What types of landscapes have inspired you as an artist? Through this question, artists reimagine their worlds for others.” -Atiya Dorsey

This special All Members Exhibit will showcase works ranging in form, color, and pattern taken from our historic artist cooperative of 60+ members. We hope you will join us!

In The Lower Gallery

New and Nostalgic

A Fellows Group Show

Curated by Iwan Bagus

February 1 - 25, 2023

Studio Gallery Fellows present New but Nostalgic, curated by Iwan Bagus.  

Fellows Sarah Matthews, Camilla King, and Suliman Abdullah showcase new bodies of work with sentimental value. These novel pieces will reflect personal remembrance and recollection while being displayed to the public for the first time. 

In the Garden Gallery:

New Works by Suzanne Goldberg and Alan Lipton

Curated by Deborah Coburn and Miriam Keeler

February 1 - 25, 2023

Studio Gallery artists Suzanne Goldberg and Al Lipton will be displaying their works in the Garden Gallery, located on the lower level of the gallery. Goldberg and Lipton are both painters working with abstraction, shape, and form. 

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

(re)Visions

A New Members Exhibit

Coordinated by Lynda Andrews-Barry and Beverly Logan

January 4 - January 28, 2023

In The Lower Gallery

Coffee

An Outreach Show

Curated by Atiya Dorsey

January 4 - January 28, 2023

Nia Keturah Calhoun│Ruth Fikeru│Eden Hambric│Haley Lewis│Kima Deneuve Oudit│ Yetunde Sapp│Munirah Smith-Gray│Kyna Uwaeme│Redeat Wondemu

Often associated with the Earth, the color brown grounds us by providing a safe space to exist within. What happens when this color no longer serves as a mark of safety and stability for those whom it shares its pigments with? Coffee–a color study–gives Black women artists an opportunity to explore the deeper meaning behind the color Brown.

By analyzing the color brown’s capacity to signify stability and reliability, these artists challenge the way others traditionally see and understand things. Through this, they manage to change how people interpret the color’s meaning and they also help to shape perspectives on the presence of Black and brown people in everyday spaces. 

Through this exhibition, curator Atiya Dorsey supports artists in redefining the spaces they are in by giving them room to solidify their presence through shades of brown that transform from pigments of colors to unerasable stains of coffee—imprints that not only serve as a declaration of space, but that also represent their unique, permanent marks on this world.

Opening Reception:

Saturday, January 7th

3-5 pm

Winter Break 2022

December 18th, 2022 - January 3rd, 2023

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Myth and Memory

A Winter All Members Exhibit

Curated by Carolee Jakes and Sabiha Iqbal, coordinated by Lynda Andrews-Barry

November 23 - December 17, 2022

We form memories continuously throughout our lives, consolidating them over time into broad understandings of the world around us. Collectively they become our sacred stories, parts of us, indeed what defines us. The combined memories of a group or culture – often mixtures of fact and fantasy – become the lessons and the wisdom of that group, sometimes in the form of legends or myths. Myths can be suffused by the supernatural, the unreal. But they are real to us in important ways. They establish and perpetuate cherished traditions, traditions that will nourish us throughout life and on into the next generation. -Gary Anthes

This Winter All Members Exhibit will showcase works taken from our collective of 60+ local artists. We hope you will join us!

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Looking + Letting Go

Harriet Lesser

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

October 26 - November 19, 2022

All of us have come through the Covid years differently. Reexamining communication and experiencing loss has been part of getting to a new place. In some ways I think the pandemic peeled layers off of my approach to artwork, rules, and expectations in general. This summer, I dared to take a trip to Finland and Norway with a friend. Changing focus and seeing clearly, I was in awe of 4,000-foot fjords formed by slow but unstoppable glaciers. I began to examine what was ordinary and close by. I saw the artwork pressed into the sidewalks in Bergen- beautiful, though the tiles and carvings were right underfoot, the elements changing the colors by the minute with clouds and rain. I thought about architectural narratives and the mystery of the ordinary. I kept wondering about time, focus, and ineffable changes. Working with mixed media, reworked photo transfer, and release agents on paper, I discovered new elements of looking closely. It was fascinating to deconstruct an image and put it back together differently (actually, I’ve felt like a mixed media creation myself, wearing a mask or not). I have played with experiments as well- new ways of using materials, and new ways of searching for imagery and containing curiosity. 

Some of these works are done in collaboration with another artist, Abbe Stahl Steinglass. We refer to them as being done by the Third Artist. Abbe and I work simultaneously on the same piece, four hands and two minds inventing at once and as one. We agreed to let go and trust. We have created 26 works together to date.

Reception:

Saturday, October 29th

4-6 PM

In The Lower Gallery

Themes and Variations

A Group Photography Show

Curated by Carolee Jakes

October 26 - November 19, 2022

Twelve artists explore how pictures work in combination in Studio Gallery’s last annual photography show, Themes & Variations.

The show, which traditionally was part of D.C.’s FotoWeek, will inaugurate a new and provocative annual series of media-based shows featuring Gallery artists. Themes & Variations will be curated by Carolee Jakes, one of Studio Gallery’s most distinguished painters and mixed-media artists, and will be co-directed by Jo Levine, Gary Anthes, and Steven Marks, who co-curated the FotoWeek exhibitions, including Narrative: Contemporary Photography and the Art of Storytelling, which the D.C. City Paper named as one of its five best photo exhibits of 2018.

Describing the arc of Themes & Variations, Jakes said, “The photographer Jerry L. Thompson, an expert on Walker Evans, has written, ‘A photographer responds to a world of things which he at once sees, experiences, and understands. . . In addition, he is bedeviled by connections his mind is making between what he sees and what he knows… To be a good artist means to devise a personal strategy for reconciling the elements of this rich assault.’

“The work chosen for this show illustrates how these photographers see the world around them,” she added. “Each artist has their own theme from which they find inspiration and each variation of that theme is like a piece of the puzzle that describes their way of ‘reconciling the elements’.”

Anthes also noted, “Themes & Variations will demonstrate that single photographs, no matter how well-executed, can't effectively tell a story or illustrate an idea. But small groups, even just two, can show the spatial, temporal, or emotional depth necessary to do those things". 

Participating photographers include: Suliman Abdullah, Lisa Allen, Lynda Andrews-Barry, Gary Anthes, Bob Burgess, Elizabeth Curren, Andrea Kraus, Beverly Logan, Jo Levine, Steven Marks, Susan Raines, and Langley Spurlock.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Letting Go

Kathryn Camicia

September 28 - October 22, 2022

Letting go can offer many ways to experience change, loss, relief, trauma. It opens the possibility of the new, the different, the reconfigured. Art can be a portal to that.

Closing Reception:

Saturday, October 22nd

4-6 PM

In the Lower Gallery

Out and About

Gordon Binder and Susan Raines

Out and About opens September 28 through October 22, 2022 at Studio Gallery, 2108 R Street, NW – curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum. Binder is showing figurative work, paintings and drawings of people out and about in venues chiefly here in D.C., where he’s lived for 50 years. Susan Raines is showing black and white photographs of people in various locations out and about in bars, parks, and other public places going about their lives. Studio Gallery is a 60-year old nonprofit cooperative gallery with about 60 members; Binder serves as treasurer.

Binder’s website is www.BinderRawsonArtworks.com.

Raines’ website is www.susanrainesphotography.com.

In the Garden Gallery

New Works

by Suzanne Yurdin and Joan Mayfield

New works by Suzanne Yurdin and Joan Mayfield in the Garden Gallery.

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Face masks are optional at this time. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Dark Chocolate, Bitter History

Lois Kampinsky

Curated by Mira Hecht

Years ago, Lois Kampinsky was part of a research and writing team that created “Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage” for Mars, Inc. and the University of California. She then used many of the facts to underlie her written and painted fictional account of the chocolate trade in 18 th century Spain and France—one that alludes to the real and very dark world that supported the refined atmosphere of drinking chocolate.

In the Lower Gallery

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

In the Garden Gallery

Curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler

Thank you for visiting the Studio Gallery website! We are currently closed for our two-week Summer break. We will reopen on August 31st, 2022 with all new exhibitions! In the meantime, there are plenty of ways to stay in touch!

Shop from the comfort of your home for works by members of our artist cooperative through our online store. Please note that shipping will be delayed at this time, but we will resume our normal functions when we reopen.

View works from our previous exhibitions using our digital exhibition catalogues.

Consider joining our artist cooperative. We accept artist members on a rolling basis. You can now get all of the relevant information and apply online through our prospective artist page.

See you soon!

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Face masks are optional at this time. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

My Muse

All Members Exhibition

As artists, we often wonder where our ideas come from. Sometimes they pop into our heads at 3AM or while we’re doing the dishes. A lucky few of us have muses. Maybe not the beautiful, angelic, goddesses of mythology, but someone who encourages us to dig deeper, explore further, move beyond the simplistic, the obvious. Today they might be called mentors.

 Studio Gallery’s Summer Group Show asks members to reflect on and share the genesis of their work. Who or what inspires them? Where do they find new ideas? Is it the shape of a vase or a rainy day? Does a news event or the state of the world bring out one’s fury, love, compassion, desire? How do these feelings find expression in our art?

We hope this exhibition not only invites members to share their work but also the muses – in whatever form – who inspired them, so that we – the viewers –  ponder our own muses in our art and in our lives. 

Studio Gallery is open to the public from Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Face masks are optional at this time. To schedule a visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Acceptance: the Good, the Bad, the Human

Chris Corson

In the Lower Gallery

Urban | Remix

Pam Frederick + Veronica Szalus

Veronica Szalus and Pam Frederick have once again come together to form a dialog around the urban environment. This time, their exhibiting work is centered around a fluid, continually shifting landscape encapsulated in architecture that is all encompassing of an ever-living pulse from everything and everyone who inhabits it.

Throughout the exhibit, the artists invite the viewer to consider the interconnectedness among urban development, the environment, social interaction and challenges, reconstruction and decay, as well as the metaphorical distance between memory and documentation of events and moments that occur within such environments.

Pam Frederick’s photo collages show the vibrancy of city scenes, storefronts, and social justice themes. The two photo collages, “I can’t fucking breathe” and “Did We Forget? So Soon?” are the same photos taken of a wall in Fells Point one year apart. The first photo denounces the police brutality against George Floyd, the Black Community, and other people of color. The second photo, shows the same wall with its powerful images and vital messages, all but erased.

Frederick’s process combines photos and a build-up of papered and painted layers, resulting in edge-to-edge compositions. Her technique shows the layered complexity of the subject matter being presented, which extends beyond a surface level conversation and composition.

In Urban | Remix, Veronica Szalus dramatically deconstructs a technology from the past, the cassette, to initiate a conversation that is still relevant today surrounding city life including environmental and social challenges. Szalus explores the interplay between cassette tapes to create wall-to-wall, and ceiling-to-floor constructs embracing the environmental factors of light, movement, and time. Her work contemplates the transition of these factors, including technology and innovation and its effect on environmental and social factors. Yet it also shows how matters of humanity and injustice as portrayed in Frederick’s work, can evolve at a different pace, and how that can influence the society surrounding us today.

The artists challenge each other to create an intentional setting, where their work encourages viewers to pay attention to what’s important through being an active participant in one’s environment and using communication as a powerful tool of expression. Frederick and Szalus’ work ricochets in a call and response to these issues, neighborhoods, moments, and people. The result is visually engaging, inspiring thought-provoking conversation, and allowing the viewer to consider the constant transformation and change that occur at the intersections of these social and environmental factors - here, in our own world.

In the Garden Gallery

Avian Apocalypse

Sally Kauffman

The paintings in the exhibition, Avian Apocalypse, are part of an ongoing series titled Jeopardy, in which Kauffman lends her voice to at-risk, endangered and extinct species. Scientists warn of an impending avian apocalypse: birds are under threat of extinction due to climate change. Rising global temperatures and loss of habitat is forcing them to move further north.

Elsewhere depicts vulnerable birds in the District of Columbia searching for habitat and climate conditions elsewhere. Collision Course focuses on the plight of local migratory birds colliding with buildings at nighttime. Our opportunity to change our behavior to sustain their longevity is rapidly disappearing. Already gone, Vanquished memorializes extinct American species.

Studio Gallery is open to the general public for walk-ins on Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Face masks are optional at this time. Please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734 for inquiries or appointments.

For No Good Reason

Deborah Addison Coburn

No concept, no cause, just painting.

After surviving two years of pandemic and political pandemonium, the artist has concluded that the joy of doing something is reason enough to do it. So Deborah Addison Coburn has combined watercoloresque washes with decorative iconography to create her latest paintings, unapologetically devoid of message.

Reception:

Saturday, June 11th

3-5 pm

In the Lower Gallery

Closer to Home

Thierry Guillemin

In the Garden Gallery

Studio Gallery is open to the general public for walk-ins on Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are now optional, as per DC guidelines. Please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734 for inquiries or appointments.

Crossings

Micheline Klagsbrun

Klagsbrun’s latest exhibition expands on her acclaimed vision of Night Boats as shown in 2021. Wall-hung mixed-media work will be displayed together with a new fleet of Night Boat sculptures, addressing the notion of a fraught crossing from one place to another. The works are patched together from a variety of media and found objects, seemingly fragile yet in fact resilient, representing perilous voyages into the unknown. 

“The discovery of a ship’s log recording my father’s 1941 escape to the UK from Lisbon, and the tragic history of that ship, were the original inspiration for Night Boats. My Polish-born parents were refugees living in Belgium when World War II uprooted their large families once again and scattered them all over the globe. With the Night Boats series I revisit those family memories of dislocation and migration. At the same time, this work echoes the ongoing plight of refugees and asylum seekers everywhere, a tragic constant in our daily news.” 

-Micheline Klagsbrun, March 2022

Crossings also alludes to more symbolic voyages into the unknown: the journey of the soul through the Underworld and all the journeys we take when we close our eyes at night. Physical gaps in the work, that appear to be filled with light or with stormy darkness, are spanned by delicate threads and illusions. This powerfully evocative work is both timely and timeless.

Reception:

Saturday, May 7

3-6 pm

Artist Talk:

Saturday, May 7 at 5 pm

In the Lower Gallery

In the Garden Gallery

A lineage of Three - Love, Joy, and Compassion

Suliman Abdullah

The art of seeing wits, personality, individualistic attributes, and multi-talents across three generations is a beautiful thing to witness, because of its rarity. It is a conceptual idea that Suliman Abdullah sees as art. Having profound conversations, finding common interests within family stories passed down from generation to generation, and sharing family values, is an amazing thing to discover among someone you hold dear to you.  The artist was honored to photograph his girlfriend (Lalebela Moore), her mother (Savon Smith ), and her grandmother (Suwon Smith) also known as Mema. 

Seeing them interact with each other gives you a warm welcoming connection.  Not only do you see the love they have for one another, but you are intrigued to know more of their story. Their love for one another is astounding and a gift to witness. It transcends over to others around them, and to their broader communities. Their loving, positive energy is a beacon of hope for all to value and carries daily. Seeing these photos, the artist hopes you can resonate with the connection you have with someone in your life and hopes that you are inspired to look back at your family “forest” and find commonalities and shared values in those connections. 

As an artist, Suliman is always striving to find a connection between his own story and things that he resonates with while making it meaningful for himself and for all art patrons. The connection between our environment, our loved ones, and our past and present is something he tried to convey within his art in this exhibit.

Reception:

Saturday, April 30

2-5 pm