First Friday is Back!

Washington Center of ADA University, ADA Art Gallery is an extension of ADA University’s Art Program.  This Friday, the Art Gallery will feature works by Ellen Sinel. Her paintings are influenced by the places she’s been and events in her life – growing naturally through progressive change, passing discreetly from one phase into another.  The ADA Art Gallery promotes cultural awareness and advance cultural ties between the United States and Azerbaijan. Find the ADA Art Gallery on the corner of R Street & 21st Street NW.

Drawing inspiration from Dupont Circle, painter Maggie O’Neill shows her “Dreaming in Color” on the café of the Doyle’s Dupont Circle hotel.  The show is an immersive oasis of creativity and lush floral design by Brightly Ever After.  Linger on the terrace at the Doyle and be transported to a whimsical wonderland awash in color. The mesmerizing floral wall enchants you with its kaleidoscope of sunset hues. And the Foggy Bottom Whomp Stompers will be playing on the patio from 6:00-8:00 for your jazzy pleasure.  The Dupont Circle hotel is located at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue NW; café on 19^th Street, NW.

Heurich House Museum features local makers & artisans during its Mini Markt at 1921 biergarten from 4:00-8:00 pm. The Mini Markt program provides small maker businesses with an accessible in-person sales platform and gives DC residents an opportunity to learn about their small business community. This month the Markt will feature women-owned businesses, IndiModa and Buttercups Bakeshop. The biergarten bar, called 1921, is located with the museum’s exhibit HOME/BREWED, which features 1,000 objects from the historic Heurich brewery. Tour guests will also get to access our new exhibit, Working Title, (please note: in order to go inside the Heurich House, guests must pre-purchase tickets for house tours on the website). Working Title reframes the Heurich family home as a central juncture for the people who lived and worked there (1894-1956) – men and women, immigrant and natural-born, Black and white, rich and lower-income. The Heurich House Museum is located at 1307 New Hampshire Avenue NW.

During First Friday from 6:00-8:00 pm, IA&A at Hillyer will have an opening reception for three new solo artists: Hillyer will have an opening reception for three new solo artists:  Walter Rindone, Tales from the Deep Dark Web; Elaine M. Erne, They See All; and Andrew Hladky, Memories fade, soil deepens.  IA&A at Hillyer is Dupont Circle’s largest gallery, located in 9 Hillyer Court, NW – behind the Phillips Collection.  To learn more, visit www.athillyer.org.

MEI Art Gallery is showing the final night of their current exhibit, Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalities.  Come and bid farewell to the works of 12 artists from the Middle East and South Asia who examine the impact of urbanization, conflict and the climate crisis on environments in the Middle East. Through multimedia, installation, photography, drawing and painting, their artworks explore ways to better care for the environment in the face of ecological challenges.  Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalities is curated by Maya El Khalil and presented with Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF). Featured artists: Sarah Abu Abdallah, Abbas Akhavan, Moza Almatrooshi, Sarah Almehairi, Nadia Bseiso, Marianne Fahmy, Abdulnasser Gharem, Ali Kazim, Mohamed Mahdy, Maha Nasrallah, Filwa Nazer and Christian Sleiman. The MEI Art Gallery is located at 1763 N Street NW.

The Pen Arts Gallery will be featuring “Emergence,” an exhibition of art works from internationally known and award-winning artists from the D.C. Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Inc., a non-profit organization that has been supporting professional women in the arts for 126 years. The show is eclectic in subject matter and mediums. Artist and Pen Arts Gallery curator, Timoteo Murphy, will be in attendance to welcome guests and respond to questions.  All artwork in the Pen Arts Gallery will be for sale.  To become a member, visit www.nlapw.org or visit 1300 17th Street NW.

Barbara Bennett is pleased to host an art reception at Q Street Fine Art on June 2nd from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM.  The gallery will feature the art of painter Rafael Gallardo and also the acquired artwork from Latin American artists such as Antoni Tapies in the private collection since 1966.  Q Street Fine Art Gallery has relocated to 1 Saint Matthew’s Court NW – in the carriage house behind the Cathedral.  Call Q Street Fine Art Gallery has relocated to 1 Saint Matthew’s Court NW – behind the cathedral. Telephone 202 255 2893.

The Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC) invites you to join us for the soft opening of Pearls of Wonder: a digital era. The multi-sensory exhibition featuring the work of five Qatari artists who explore the country’s rich and involved history of pearl diving and its related traditions and culture through a contemporary lens. Through video, audio, and VR, the exhibition evokes a time when Qatar was the most important pearl producer in the world, harkening back to a time when the tradition of pearl diving and its subsequent trade shaped the economic trajectory of the region.  Pearls of Wonder is curated by Dr. Bahaaeldin Abudaya, Curator of Contemporary Art, Qatar Museums and features artists Alanoud Al-Buainain, Maryam Al-Homaid, Saida Al-Khulaifi, May Saleh Almannai, and Mohammed Faraj Al-Suwaidi.  QAIC is a fully accessible building with ramp access and elevator access to every floor. Qatar America Institute for Culture is located at 1319 18th Street, NW.

The Slow Down Market is hosting an exhibit with artist Martina Sestakova and invites you to discover her abstract paintings inspired by words and their role in our lives. Born in the Czech Republic and residing in Kensington, MD, Martina is fascinated by how the meaning of words may be captured in colors, shapes, and textures.  The evening will be filled with wine and fun conversations about art and the joy it brings to our lives.  Laiik and the Slow Down Market are located at 1710 Connecticut Avenue NW – just up the steps.

Studio Gallery presents After Tradition, a solo exhibit by artist Freda Lee-McCann, located on the upper floor of the gallery. This exhibit, curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum, was inspired by the beauty of Chinese landscapes and the artist’s admiration for 16th century poet, Zhu Yun-Ming’s calligraphy. On the lower level, Society of Solitude, by Cheryl Ann Bearss (curated by Mira Hecht) and Mishpocha (Family) by Deborah Addison Coburn (curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum) are on display. Society of Solitude is a series of paintings depicting solitary trees inhabiting a space in the society of neighboring flora and fauna reflecting our lived experiences of isolation and community. Mishpocha is a collection of watercolor pieces, made soon after the artist inherited her parent’s old family photo albums. In the Garden Gallery, Around the Edge by Wayne Paige and Morocco: Colors and Shapes by Joyce McCarten (both curated by Deborah Addison Coburn and Miriam Keeler) are being showcased. Around the Edge is inspired by the artist’s personal perceptions of contemporary life and the reality of encroachment. Studio Gallery is Washington D.C.’s longest running artist cooperative located at 2108 R Street NW.

Washington Studio School is pleased to present Shape Shifts, a solo exhibition featuring work by WSS Masters Certificate Program graduate Lee Butler. Experience the linocuts, monotypes, and dry-point prints of Lee Butler and try your hand at creating a monoprint of your own this June First Friday Art Walk. Defying clear distinctions between abstraction and representation, Butler’s work instead evolves organically, mark-by-mark, the image dancing between the recognizable and the abstract. The show includes plein air oil paintings, thoughtful interior explorations, and exciting, gestural monotype prints.   The Washington Studio School is located at 2129 S Street NW.