Second Fridays through October
The Art Center’s signature evening series features eclectic art and activities. In among three floors of open artists’ studios, find gallery receptions, stimulating artist talks, pop-up performances, hands-on projects, lively music, and more.
Celebrate the opening of Habitats in Target Gallery. This group exhibition that explores the relationship between humans and nature, creating a dialogue on the impact that we make on the earth and our environments. Gallery talk is at 8 pm.
Pre-registration Requested
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Receptions
Target Gallery:Habitats
RECEPTION: 7–10 pm
ARTIST TALK: 8 pm
This group exhibition that explores the relationship between humans and nature creating a dialogue on the impact that we make on the earth and our environments. Juror: Ellyn Weiss, DC-based artist and curator.
Site 2: Art Enables
RECEPTION: 7 – 9 pm
Art Enables is a gallery and vocational program creating opportunities for artists with disabilities to make, market, and earn income from their original and compelling work. Stop by Site 2 to view a collection of works created by artists from the greater DC/Virginia/Maryland community. Curated by Allie Frazier, Gallery Director of Art Enables.
Mason Arts Project Studio (Studio 8): Zia Palmer and Katana Lippart
RECEPTION: 7 – 10 pm
ARTIST TALK: 9 pm
Stop by the Mason Arts Project Studio (MAPS) to view the latest art projects created by students of George Mason University’s School of Art. This ongoing collaboration will highlight projects by current MFA candidates, recent GMU graduates, and School of Art faculty to facilitate open dialogue and community growth in the greater DC Metro Area creative arts scene.
Hands-On Projects
“Sometimes I Dream in Laos” by Kim Sandara
Post-Grad Studio 319: You’re Not Alone
Queer stories of the DMV Community
Led by Kim Sandara, Summer Post-Grad Resident
Kim Sandara is a queer, Laotian/Vietnamese artist based in Northern Virginia. She is currently working on a graphic novel on her coming out story. Share queer stories in a safe and welcoming space. All are welcome to share, queer and ally stories alike. Descriptions can take on any tone/mood the storyteller wants to convey. Anonymous stories will be collected to circulate in the community.
Grand Hall: The Work of Veronica Melendez
Grand Hall: The Work of Veronica MelendezCurator Gabrielle Tillenburg will be on hand to talk about the summer installation artworks of Veronica Melendez, an artist focused on the Latinx experience in the greater DC Metro area. Alongside answering questions about the artworks, Tillenburg will provide an interactive activity for folks to write responses based on prompts highlighting cornerstore bodegas and the relationships they form with local communities.
3rd Floor Landing: Circle of Energy Communal Spirit Stick
3rd Floor Landing: Circle of Energy Communal Spirit StickLed by Donna Lee Gallo and Pamela E. Underhill
Circle of Energy is an installation featuring healing sticks by Donna Lee Gallo and talking sticks by Pamela E. Underhill. Visitors are invited to work together to create one large spirit stick that will represent all of the community that attends the >Late Shift. The finished stick will be added to the artwork to represent the “togetherness” of everyone working as one to create a peaceful and beautiful spirit stick.
Studio 5: Rainbow Swirls with The Omi Collective
Studio 5: Rainbow Swirls with The Omi Collective provides artist-inspired fashion and design products to consumers seeking unique, authentic, and artful items to inspire, and add to, their personal style. They maintain mindful and conscious support for the artists who create them. Stop by Studio 5 for hands-on projects with the artists and see their brand-new mural design on the studio floor. Swirl through curated color, sound, and aroma–luring you through the mystical heart journey down the rainbow path – a dreamscape filled with Naomi Christianson’s Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids, Michael Fischerkeller’s cosmic truths, and Fierce Sonia’s fractal queens. There will a lounge with squishy cushions for you to get lost in a collaborative art canvas, try on love adornments with Naomi’s upscaled artful denim, deep dive into your hearts path with a tarot reading with Sanam Emami, or swirl into healing aroma with creatrix Essential Botany’s self love potion station.
Grand Hall: Paper and Plastic Creatures and Habitats Mural
Grand Hall: Paper and Plastic Creatures and Habitats MuralLed by Natalie Ledesma
Developed by the Art Center’s public programs intern and GMU School of Art student Natalie Ledesma, this projects invites visitors to take paper and plastic recyclable materials and create an animal all of their own. This project will bring awareness of the dangers of pollution the materials cause to the environments. Then, join other visitors to create a long mural in the main hall and draw about the importance of homes or habitats.
Meet and Greet
Grand Hall: The Mason Mural Brigade
Developed at George Mason University, The Mason Mural Brigade commissions original, large-scale, and multimedia works of art by professional and student artists for the GMU campus and the greater community. They strive for a community where visual art is a source of information and fosters a more tolerant community. Through these mural experiences, they form an understanding of how individual voices and creative visions can influence societies.
