Archives: Art Exhibition

 

TOGETHER:

The Work of Paula Ballo Dailey and Brian Dailey

Curated by Juanita Hardy

May 16 – June 24, 2017

 

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday May 19, 7:00-9:00 pm

 

ARTIST & CURATOR TALK

Wednesday, May 31, 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Please join Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery as we celebrate the 2nd installment of an annual show that focuses on an artist, or artists response to living life with cancer.

This year, we are excited to announce a unique exhibition, focusing on the emotionally introspective work of Paula Ballo Dailey, whose untimely death to cancer in 2016 left a void for family, friends and art communities across the country. Paula’s extensive oeuvre of found object / mixed media sculpture, watercolours and selected journal entries will be on display.

This show will also feature selected works of acclaimed mixed media artist and Paula’s loving husband Brian Dailey, whose artworks serve as a response to his tragic loss.

TOGETHER will serve as a testament to the artistic dexterity and thoughtful understanding posessed by both Paula and Brian, while also exploring their lovingly creative marriage and subsequent roles of caregiving provided by one another.

All events are free to the public and white wine will be served. All sale proceeds of from this exhibition have been generously donated to Smith Center for Healing and the Arts & Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery by Brian Dailey.

 

Please contact the Gallery Director HERE for any further information.

 

A special thanks to our Sponsors:

ALCHEMICAL VESSELS 2017

– Opening Reception: Friday, March 17th, 7–9pm
– Special Benefit Event (click HERE to purchase your Benefit ticket): Friday, April 28th, 7–9pm
– Artists’ Closing Reception: Friday, May 5th, 7–9pm

This year not only marks Smith Center for Healing and the Arts’ 20th anniversary, but also the 5th Alchemical Vessels exhibition and benefit. This year’s concept for A-V-5 is The Night’s Journey: 125 artists, chosen by 20 curators, have been asked to create or choose a vessel to tell their story about the cyclical passage from pain to healing – a journey that resonates with all of us. Once again we are offering the opportunity to take home one of these unique artworks and this year we’ve added an additional ticket option based on your feedback. Each ticket sold directly supports our mission as Washington DC’s only independent integrative cancer support organization.

Once again we are offering the opportunity to take home one of these unique artworks and this year we’ve added an additional ticket option based on your feedback. Each ticket sold directly supports our mission as Washington DC’s only independent integrative cancer support organization.

Benefit Details:

Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Friday, 11am–5pm; Saturday, 11am–3pm; and by appointment.

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is located at 1632 U Street, in Northwest DC
Learn more about the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery

Special thanks to our wine sponsor, Monument Fine Wines & Jackson Family Wines: join us at the opening reception to sample fine wines.

 

Featured Curators Include: John M. Adams, Joan Belmar, Adah Rose Bitterbaum, Jim Doran, Nekisha Durrett, Tim Fleschner, Helen Frederick, Judith Heartsong, Phil Hutinet, Jessica Kallista, Kunj, Gloria Nauden, Henry Thaggert, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Dolly Vehlow, Zoma Wallace, Ellyn Weiss, and Nikki Brugnoli Whipkey

Featured Artists Include: Lina Alattar, Jennifer Anderson, Kasse Andrews Weller, Sondra Arkin, Rushern Baker IV, Julia Mae Bancroft, Marilyn Banner, Joan Belmar, Michael Booker, Lenny Campello, Sally Canzoneri, Elana Casey, Mei Mei Chang, Hsin Hsi Chen, Schroeder Cherry, Vachu Chilakamarri, Travis Childers, Mara Clawson, Irene Clouthier, Ellen Cornett, Brian Dailey, Lama Dajani, Richard Dana, Delna Dastur, Anna U Davis, Rachel Debuque, Rex Delafkaran, Nehemiah Dixon III, Jim Doran, Spencer Dormitzer, Sarah Eargle, Mary Early, Cheryl Edwards, Lauren Emeritz, Heloisa Escudero,Lisa Farrell, Gregory Ferrand, Helen Frederick, Mary Freedman, Emily Fussner, Ric Garcia, Mark Garrett, Shaunté Gates, Donovan Gerald, Janis Goodman, Stefan Greene, Matthew Grimes, Adam Hager, Mia Halton, Key Han, Mansoora Hassan, Caroline Hatfield, Sean Hennessey, Jeffery Herrity, Mary Higgins, Leslie Holt, Jackie Hoysted, Aaron Hughes (with Ehren Tool), Melissa Ichiuji, Sarah Irvin, Charles Jean Pierre, Wayson Jones, Jessica Kallista, Sally Kauffman, Don Kimes, JT Kirkland, Micheline Klagsbrun, Catherine Kleeman, Reagan Lake, Kyujin Lee, Liz Lescault, Yue Li, Erin Lisette, Nathan Loda, Steve Loya, Tsedaye Makonnen, Marty Ittner, Jenee Mateer, Carolina Mayorga, Freda Lee McCann, David Morgenstein, Olivia Morrow, Kristine Moss, Minna Nathanson, Nahid Navab, Nasrin Navab, Thien Nguyen,Shanti Norris, Sarah O’Donoghue, Javier Padilla, Anthony Palliparambil, John Paradiso, Nara Park, Judith Peck, Lyric Prince, Susana Raab, Carol Reed, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Jamea Richmond Edwards, Lisa Rosenstein, Kevin Runyon, Jac Rust, Nancy Sausser, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Alma Selimovic, Samantha Sethi, Alexandra Sherman, Ellen Sinel, Anne C Smith, Michael Snowden, Susan Stacks, Hillary Steel, Dafna Steinberg, Anneliese Sullivan, Martin Swift, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, Mars Tokyo, Patricia Underwood, Andrea Uravitch, Mark Walker, Leslie Weinberger, Ellyn Weiss, Josh Whipkey, Millicent Young, and Helen Zughaib

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Us + Them = U.S.

Finding Common Ground in a Divided Nation

A GROUP EXHIBITION

Curated by: Philippa B. Hughes and Deirdre Darden

January 13 – March 4, 2017

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 13, 7:00-9:00pm

Kate DeCiccio, Michael Fischerkeller, Otessa Ghadar,

Aziza Claudia Gibson Hunter, Akemi Maegawa,

Carolina Mayorga, Tsedaye Makonnen, Stan Squirewell

Lisa Marie Thalhammer, T. Thompson,

WorkingmanCollective (w/Colby Caldwell),

and Helen Zughaib

Programming events:

– Friday, January 13, 7:00-9:00pm – Opening reception

– Thursday, February 2 – 6:30-8:30pm, Where Do We Go From Here? A Healing discussion with Shanti Norris – POSTPONED

– Saturday, February 11, 3:30-5:30 pm  Artist and Curator Talk, & LADY LIBERTAD: A Performance by Carolina Mayorga

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is proud to present Us + Them = U.S. Finding Common Ground in a Divided Nation, a powerful visual response confronting the division our country faces. A group of Washington DC area’s most influential artists and activists will examine and investigate our nation’s current political and cultural rift and explore how we can find a collective understanding through contemporary art-making methods.

Founded in 2008, the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, is a nonprofit arts space in Washington, DC dedicated to exhibiting fine art that explores the innate connection between healing and creativity. Art has the rare ability to mend social, psychological, and physical ills by building community, inspiring change, and celebrating life. A rotating exhibition schedule features contemporary, international and national artists addressing a diversity of significant themes, such as spirituality, social change, multiculturalism, health, environmentalism, and community.

This exhibition is free and open to the public, white wine will be served at all events. Please contact Spencer Dormitzer with any inquiries.

 

 

 

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday to Friday: 11am-5pm, Saturday: 11am-3pm, and by appointment.

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is located at 1632 U Street, in Northwest DC
Learn more about the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery

Special thanks to our exclusive sponsors:

CONSIDER YOURSELF ILLUMINATED

A GROUP EXHIBITION

Curated by: ELIZABETH CRISMAN

November 16 – December 21, 2016

CONSIDER YOURSELF ILLUMINATED FEATURED IN THE WASHINGTON POST!

OPENING RECEPTION

Thursday, November 17, 7:00-9:00pm

Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin, Ani Bradberry, Melissa Burley, Tatiana Gulenkina, Robin Schaefer, Jo Ellen Walker

Programming events:

Opening Reception – Thursday, November 17, 7:00-9:00pm

Artist and Curator Talk – Saturday, December 10, 3:30 – 5:30pm

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is proud to present CONSIDER YOURSELF ILLUMINATED: An exquisite group exhibition where art emanates light. Curated by Elizabeth Crisman, this show will celebrate the power and sublety of art that is created to radiate creative responses to the viewer and produce a unique and unexpected gallery atmosphere. This exhibition is FREE and open to the public.

A statement from Curator Elizabeth Crisman: As a means of enlightenment, the work in the exhibition CONSIDER YOURSELF ILLUMINATED lures you in by the light that each piece of artwork emanates. The Washington DC area is one of the busiest metro regions in the country and our lives become hectic and stressful to the point that we don’t take enough time to take care of our mental selves. Whether this is through meditation or introspection, this exhibit aims to make the viewer slow down and ruminate on the light before them. Each artist tackles topics that vary from grief, identity, memory, and time. The six regional artists in this exhibition, Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin, Ani Bradberry, Melissa Burley, Tatiana Gulenkina, Robin Schaefer and Jo Ellen Walker convey these themes through work that was created to be self-illuminated. Whether it is lit from within or reflects, each piece is a delicate balance of light and darkness that brings balance and tranquility to the psyche.

Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin thinks of her work as a navigational device that allows her to make objects and installations that appear as if they have always belonged together. She makes things that have their own visual logic.There are three central ideas to her work. One is containment. She wants to create work that responds to the action of keeping something under control or within limits. The second is making art that questions the speed in which we produce, consume and discard everything around us. The third centers on her interest to explore the non-visual aspects of language.

Anahita (Ani) Bradberry is an artist and art historian based in the DC area. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in modern and contemporary non-Western art with a focus on Japan from American University’s feminist art history program. After completing her MA, she focused on her own artistic process through light installation and the medium of neon sculpture. Interested in challenging predetermined roles in the global contemporary art world, Ani walks the line between artist and critical art writer to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural power of radical creativity.

Melissa Burley has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally in group and solo exhibitions receiving various grants and awards.  Currently, she is a resident artist at the Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland and previously a member of Gallery 10 in Washington DC for six years.  Her work is in private collections as well as collections at Prince Georges Community College and the Maryland Parks and Planning Commission.The foundation of her work is primarily constructed with reclaimed and recycled materials and then illuminated with halogen or LED lighting.  The main base of the frame is built of wood and metal while the interior components consist of lighting, natural and manmade materials.  The combination of these materials and lighting create shadows on the surrounding wall surfaces and floors where the sculpture is displayed.

Tatiana Gulenkina is a Russian-born photographer and visual artist based in Washington, DC. She employs both digital technology and traditional darkroom equipment, as well as video and mixed media. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore in 2011, and since then her work has been featured in the British Journal of Photography, Harper’s Magazine, The Week, Wired, Juxtapoz Magazine, The Calvert Journal, The Photo Review, Tank Magazine, and other publications, as well as exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2014, she was named one of the 30 Under 30 Women Photographers by Photo Boîte Agency and 30 Photographers Under 30 to Watch by Complex Magazine. In 2015 and 2016, she was awarded individual artist grants from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Robin Schaefer’s most recent work is about layering time and memory and my process involves taking stills from old 8mm family films and printing them on thin translucent Japanese paper. The images are then painted and heavily saturated with encaustic wax. The wax works as a means of entombing the image, almost like amber, preserving it into an incandescent form somewhere between the projected image and the digital. The wax also lends to the surface a visceral and skin-like texture, giving it a mysterious physicality. The wax coated sheets are suspended together and illuminated in a simple lightbox. The selected stills conjure her own personal history and she revisits moments of tension or love embedded within her own sense of memory. The end result is a simple, somewhat clumsy moving image that has become a fixed surface, a mnemonic trace of fluid time.

Jo Ellen Walker was born in Washington, DC and is a Virginia-based artist working primarily in encaustic, neon and clay. Her work is influenced by her background as a civil rights attorney. Jo Ellen is particularly interested in mysticism and the spiritual totems in people’s lives that they rely on to navigate their way through life. She is specifically drawn to Greek icons, amulets, and the many monuments of Washington, D.C. These iconic images find their way into her work, and are often layered under beeswax and mixed-media fragments. The fragments are emblematic of the many layers of each person’s life; some hidden, and some that we show to the world.

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday to Friday: 11am-5pm, Saturday: 11am-3pm, and by appointment.

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is located at 1632 U Street, in Northwest DC
Learn more about the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery

Special thanks to our exclusive sponsors:

Programming events:

 Opening Reception – Friday, September 16, 7:00-9:00pm

 Artist & Curator Talk – Saturday, October 15, 3:30 – 5:30pm

 A Night of Two Performances – Thursday, October 20, 6:30-8:30pm

Thrive: performed by Kelly King and Contradiction Dance & Select By The Translated Movement: Performed by Heloisa Escudero

Curated By Nehemiah Dixon III & Spencer Dormitzer

Artists: Ani Bradberry, Hebron Chism, Nicoletta De La Brown, Jim Doran, Nekisha Durett, Rita Elsner, Heloisa Escudero, Emily Fransisco, Adam Griffiths, Key Han, Jeffery Paul Herrity, Tom Hill, Wayson R. Jones, Chandi Kelley, Kelly King, Patrick McDonough, Aaron Mertes, Joseph Orzal, Alma Selimovich

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is proud to present LIFE SOUNDTRACK: PRINCE BOWIE & … Seventeen of Washington DC areas most influential artists have been invited to create a visual remembrance inspired by the recent loss of some of our greatest musical icons and examine the elusive connection between a person and a brilliant stranger.

Throughout time, there has always been a creative connection between artists and musicians, where inspiration and collaboration has flowed between the vocations seamlessly. When an artist leaves this world from one field, the other inevitably shares the pain.

The outpouring of grief from the loss of two of the most influential pioneers in music, Prince and David Bowie, has left a void that will never be filled. The innovation, courage and vulnerability that each musician demonstrated throughout their illustrious careers was ever-present. Contributions to their respective genres of music was palpable, but what set these great icons apart was the ability to transcend musical categories to inspire a larger audience. They were inter-generational, cross-cultural and had the ability to blur gender norms.

Though Prince and Bowie dominated the headlines, the year of 2016 has taken so many other influential musicians as well, such as Merle Haggard, Maurice White, Denise Katrina Matthews (Vanity), Glen Frey and Phife Dawg of Tribe Called Quest, to name a few. This is the reasoning for the ellipsis in the title of the exhibition, to allow the invited artist to tell their personal story and tribute.

These artists will not only celebrate these musical pioneers who transcended their genres, but also explore the ideas of loss and investigate the intimate connection that is made between an artist and a musician who is most likely a stranger. This show will also examine contemporary art-making methods to acknowledge masters in other fields of creativity. This is not to be a simple portrait show of these icons or meditations in purple, but a farther-reaching exploration into personal inspiration.

December 11th – January 6th 2016

Featuring artwork created by frail and vulnerable seniors in AFTA programs throughout the D.C. metro region, curated by Jarvis DuBois. The opening reception will take place on December 11th and the exhibition will run to Wednesday, January 6. All artwork is created during AFTA’s free arts workshops at underserved senior centers. Workshops are led by a dedicated faculty of teaching artists trained in AFTA’s nationally-recognized best practices. Arts for the Aging’s mission combats isolation and spreads joy to seniors who need it most. Support for this exhibition is made possible by the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C., the Rotary Foundation of Washington, D.C., and the Philip L. Graham Fund.

 

July 29 – September 2, 2016
OPENING RECEPTION – Friday July 29 7:00-9:00pm

Curated By Spencer Dormitzer and Dolly Vehlow

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is proud to present OUTSIDE – IN, a group exhibition exploring the dwelling from various points of view.

Inside, outside… Interior, exterior; the world can be portrayed quite differently whether you are looking out or looking in. This amazing exhibition invites you to look at the view of both perspectives from a very unique group of visionary artists.

Participating artists include:

–Carson Murdach investigates the cyclical nature of history so that we can prevent the repetition of past mistakes. Populated with ships, cookie-cutter homes and signs of industry, Carson Murdach’s works narrate cautionary tales of humanity’s pattern of civilization. His drawings dramatically shift from green pastoral beginnings to the thick gray smog that hangs over the careless development of sprawling urbanism. Drawing from the traditions of folk and historic landscape painting, he disrupts an otherwise picturesque scene by inserting naively rendered homes and architecture into the frame. This visual incongruity sheds light on the tension between the built environment and nature.

–Michael Nakoneczny, the internationally renowned, Richmond Va. based artist, by way of Alaska, NYC and Chicago Il. has had a stellar career, creating a solipsistic world that follows his life experiences, trials, prevails and adventures though drawing and sculpture. This will be Michael’s 1st show in the Washington area and we are excited to be the forum for this event.

-Baltimore artist Mars Tokyo has created over 200 minute structures since 2002, titled: Theatres of the 13th Dimension. These treasures are a breathtaking display of technical prowess, precise construction and audacious ideas, all condensed onto tiny stages.

“Art, in all forms, is my passion and my way of life. If I could no longer express myself through art in some manner, I would not exist.” Lee Wheeler

-Virginia native Lee Wheeler’s curious structures in the form of birdhouses move the viewer though an emotional cornucopia of wonderment, nostalgia and uneasiness. Meticulous in their edifice, abandon in their conception, Wheeler’s work will no doubt create a smile for the observer while equally force them to look behind their shoulder.

Lee’s extensive career has put his work in private collections throughout the United States and his most recent project was a 15′ x 525′ mural for the magnificent American Visionary art Museum.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

OUTSIDE-IN FEATURED IN WASHINGTON POST & GREATER GREATER WASHINGTON! 

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Please join Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery Friday, June 3rd from 7:00-9:00pm to celebrate and observe the artistic life of an extraordinary woman, Gretchen Feldman.

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, in partnership with the American Visionary Art Museum and the National Widowers Organization is proud to present this solo exhibition, the first in the Gallery’s annual commitment to present an exhibition commemorating an artist, or artists and their creative response to living with cancer. It is the mission of the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery’s to raise awareness and foster wellness to the artistic arena. This annual show will underscore this important purpose.

Gretchen enjoyed a robust professional and family life with her husband Sam and their two daughters Leigh and Dene. Known for her intellect, as well as her whimsy and wonderful sense of humor, Gretchen’s passion for art history and textiles permeated her life. Gretchen worked professionally in the restoration of textiles for museums in Baltimore, but she always found time to design and make clothes for her children.

In the midst of their productive lives, Gretchen and Sam decided to relocate to Martha’s Vineyard MA. The lush landscape and the majestic ocean views motivated her transition into a new adventure of painting and gardening. This change created an artistic explosion of color and light. Gretchen visited the studio for hours at a time only leaving to “come up for air”. Gretchen generated hundreds of vibrantly colored works – watercolors, gouache and mixed media – in numerous styles, paralleling her desire to explore to her craft.

At the age of 72, Gretchen was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. In the wake of this painful and challenging news, Gretchen’s artistic process helped her to navigate through the intense challenge of cancer. Her artwork – initially an expression of external love and nature – morphed into an internal examination of her journey. Gretchen is no longer with us, but we are fortunate to have her life’s work carry on.

We are proud to feature this artistic display of Gretchen Feldman’s work in Washington DC. We hope you will join us at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts for a reception hosted by the Feldman family.

Open June 3 – July 15

FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd, 7-9pm, OPENING RECEPTION!

-We invite you to join us in the official launch of the show!

TUESDAY, JUNE 14th, 6:30-8:00pm

– Literary reading and question & answer session with author Wendy L. Miller to discuss her book, Sky Above Clouds – Finding our way through creativity, aging and Illnness.

SATURDAY, JUNE 18TH, 3:30-5:30pm

– Turning Grief Into Healing: A panel discussion on loss and life with the Chairman and Founder of the National Widowers Organization and Gretchen’s loving husband, Sam Feldman and Executive Director of The National Widowers Organization Frederick Spero.

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– Opening Reception: Friday, March 18th, 7–9pm
– Special Benefit Event: Friday, April 29th, 7–9pm
– Artists’ Closing Reception: Friday, May 6th, 7–9pm

This inspiring initiative will feature the work of 125 artists, hand-selected by fifteen curators, to engage in a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. The ceramic bowl was originally chosen as the fundamental element of the exhibition to symbolize creating a space where healing can take place—an idea at the heart of Smith Center’s work and mission.

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery has been so proud of utilizing the bowl as the vessel for the past three years and we are just as proud to unveil a new vessel for 2016: The Cigar Box.

The definition of alchemy is to transform something toxic into an illuminated substance, which why we ask each artist to transform a cigar box by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium—taking a box that would be normally filled with a polarizing object as a cigar and creating an alchemical vessel, an original piece of artwork in order to benefit the Smith Center’s cancer support programs. We hope you will join our efforts in realizing this community-building art exhibition and benefit to support our important work with cancer patients, their caregivers, and veterans.

Featured Photos from the 2016 Alchemical Vessels Receptions

 

Initiative Details

Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Friday, 11am–5pm; Saturday, 11am–3pm; and by appointment.

Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is located at 1632 U Street, in Northwest DC

Special thanks to our wine sponsor, Majestic Fine Wines: join us at the opening reception to sample fine wines. All of our specially featured Majestic Fine Wines are available for discount at Calvert Woodley!

 

Featured Curators Include: Holly Bass, Melissa Burley, Deirdre Darden, Phil Davis, Tim Davis, Jeremy Flick, Lisa Gold, Juanita Hardy, Cory Oberndorfer, Anthony Palliparambil, Laura Roulet, Nancy Sausser, Brooke Seidelmann, Jessica Stafford Davis, and Smith Center for Healing and the Arts.

Featured Artists Include: John M. Adams, Delé Akerejah, Najwa Al-Amin, Kwabena Ampofo-anti, Gwendolyn Aqui-Brooks, Eames Armstrong, Rush Baker, Cedric Baker,Marilyn Banner, Holly Bass, Joan Belmar, Leslie Berns, Kristina Bilonick, Julia Bloom, Kim Boggs, Monica Jahan Bose, Anne Bouie, Calder Brannock, Daniel T.Brooking, Patrick Burke, Melissa Burley, Patrick Burns, Adjoa J. Burrowes, Sharon Burton, Sabine Carlson, Mei Mei Chang,Gloria Chapa, Hsin-His Chen, Patterson Clark, Calvin Coleman, Joe Corcoran, Ellen Cornett, Sheila Crider, Elizabeth Crisman, David D’Orio, Joan Danziger, Deirdre Darden, Anna U Davis, Alonzo Davis, Tim Davis, Gregg Deal, JD Deardourff, Kate Deciccio, Elsabe Dixon, Nehemiah Dixon, III, Jim Doran, Spencer Dormizter, Cheryl Edwards, Dana Ellyn, Margo Elsayd, Rita Elsner, Dorothy Fall, Cianne Fragione, Emily Francisco, Jonathan French, Emily Fussner, Shaunte Gates, Bradley Gay, Jenne Glover, Peter Gordon, Adam Griffiths, Julie Guyot-Diangone, Rania Hassan, Jay Hendrick, Jeff Herrity, Francie Hester, Tom Hill, Jessica Maria Hopkins, Susan Hostetler, Aziza Claudia, Gibson Hunter, Gary Irby, Annette Isham, Barbara Januszkiewicz, Charles Jean-Pierre, Wayson R. Jones, Jenny Kanzler, Gloria C. Kirk, Micheline Klagsbrun, Yar Koporulin, Zofie Lang, Elaine Langerman, Khanh Le, Nate Lewis, Nathan Loda, Steve Loya, Laurel Lukaszewski, Dalya Luttwak, Janet Maher, J.W. Mahoney, Ulysses Marshall, Elizabeth Martin Brown, Antonio McAfee, Matthew McLaughlin, David Mordini, Carson Murdach, Diana N’Diaye, Cory Oberndorfer, Anthony Palliparambil Jr., John Paradiso, Michael Pierce, Michael Platt, Judith Pratt, Darien Reece, Alana Reeves, E. Brady Robinson, Robin Schaefer, Matt Sesow, Wendy Sittner, Casey Snyder, Judy Southerland, Pierre Sylvain, Diane Szczepaniak, Khalid Thompson, Andrea Uravitch, Gloria Valdes “Tarasca,” Jessica van Brakle, Sylvie van Helden, Jenny Walton, Ellyn Weiss, Alice Whealin, Rives Wiley, Omolara Williams McCallister, Jordann Wine, Naoko Wowsugi, Fabiola Yursin, Helen Zughaib, and more…

Night and the Desert Know Me

January 15- March 5

View Alhurra Iraqi TV’s coverage of this incredible show: View Segment 1 and Segment 2

Opening Reception: Friday, Friday, January 15, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here 2016 Curators Talk: Tuesday, February 9, 6:30-8:00 p.m. The Night and the Desert Know Me Curator and Artist Talk: Saturday, February 13, 3:30-5:30 p.m. A Picture of the World With You Inside – An Evening of Poetry with Dunya Mikhail: Friday March 4, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Translation Workshop with Kareem James Abu-Zeid: Saturday, March 5, 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Friday, January 15, 2016: Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery proudly presents: The Night and the Desert Know Me, an exhibition in partnership with Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016, a unique cultural festival standing in solidarity with the people of Iraq and celebrating freedom of expression. Coming to DC January–March 2016.The Night and the Desert Know Me promises to be a lush and thoughtful display of artworks created by Iraqi and Western artists, inspired by selected past and present Iraqi poetry. National and regional artists participating in this important exhibition include: Shakir Al-Alousi, Najwa Al Amin, Qais Al Sindy, Ahmed Alkarkhi, Mawada Allak, Joan Belmar, Wafaa Bilal, Spencer Dormitzer, Michael Platt, Phyllis Plattner, Vian Sora and Nasir Thamir.
What is Al-Mutanabbi Street? The project takes its name from and examines al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, a winding street about one thousand feet long, noted for its many bookstores and outdoor bookstalls where people gathered as a great humanitarian center. Named after the famous classical Arab poet Abu at-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi (915–965 CE), it has been a thriving center of Baghdad’s bookselling and publishing for many years. On March 5th, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Al-Mutanabbi Street—the historic center of Baghdad bookselling—booksellers, book buyers, and devotees of reading and of books—and the Shabandar Café where intellectuals met, was gutted and destroyed.
This exhibition, along with the citywide cultural festival Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016, is in proud partnership with: George Mason University’s School of Art and Fenwick Library, Split This Rock, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, McLean Project for the Arts, Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University, Busboys and Poets, Georgetown University, Cultural DC, Smithsonian Libraries, Brentwood Arts Exchange, George Mason University Student Media, and Fourth Estate Newspaper. Made possible in part by grants from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

 

Alhurra Iraqi TV’s Coverage of Night and the Desert Know Me