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
An Embarrassment of Riches by Carolee Jakes
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
Desolation by Chris Corson
Brickhead Love by Gary Anthes
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
Magpie’s Mischief by Iza Thomas
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
Animal House by Jennifer Duncan
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.