Over the River, Project for Arkansas River, State of Colorado is on view at the Phillips Collection as part of the current exhibit documenting Christo and Jeanne-Claude's upcoming environmental installation in Colorado. Image copyright the artist. Arguably the most well-known husband and wife duo in today’s art world is Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the pair who wrapped the Reichstag and draped Central Park. They’re at it again, and this time, Colorado’s Arkansas River is the......

Ansel Adams, Saint Francis Church Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, c. 1929 Gelatin silver print, 13 5/16 x 17 9/16 inches Collection Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities, which opened at the Smithsonian American Art Museum last week, shows that works of art can indeed converse with each other. With photographs by Adams and paintings by O'Keeffe, Natural Affinities......

Plastic Anvil, image courtesy the Hamiltonian Gallery We are super pleased to welcome the Hamiltonian Gallery officially into the D.C. art scene. After over a year of construction at their 1352 1353 U Street location and a few inevitable delays, the new venue will open to the public with a grand opening reception this Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. Hamiltonian focuses on emerging and mid-career artists, choosing ten for two-year So Hamiltonian Fellowships,......

Image of work by Langley Spurlock and John Martin Tarrat at Studio Gallery It's First Friday tonight, though many of the Dupont galleries seem to be showing the same exhibit as last month. Enjoy a brisk fall walk to see them again, and find at least one new show at Studio Gallery. Artist Langley Spurlock and poet John Martin Tarrat bring a little art nerdism in Secrets of the Elements 2: The Unfinished Universe,......

Mandara, Image courtesy of Lino Tagliapietra, Inc. Photo by Russell Johnson October at the Museums brings much photographic portraiture with a dash of holiday activity at the end of the month. Get your calendar out now so you don't miss a thing. >> Opening October 3, Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Glass is the first exhibition to thoroughly examine the art of Lino Tagliapietra, a master of glass blowing. Explore 140......

Yesterday, DCist got the chance to preview the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's new Sant Ocean Hall, which opens to the public this Saturday. Our photographer, Meaghan Gay, said "It really is a very cool space. I am kind of a museum freak, and this blows away the Natural History museum in NY, or the one in Vienna for that matter. This is a totally interactive space, with video touch screens all around." The musuem......

We can't get enough arts listings around here, so we're happy to see the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington launch CultureCapital.com this week. Check it out for listings of visual and performance arts and entertainment all over the region, mostly from the bigger venues in town. You can sign up for their mailing list for weekly deals, as well. >> Of course the big art news this week is that Conner Contemporary is coming back......

Michael Scoggins' Heller, June 26, 2008. Copyright the artist; image courtesy Project 4 Gallery. Some hometown art pride was announced today: the Lunder Conservation Center, run by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, just received the biennial Keck Award from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. The award goes to an "individual or group who has contributed most toward promoting public understanding and appreciation of the......

This weekend, you shouldn't even need to leave your own neighborhood to find some new art just waiting to be admired. Fourteenth Street NW has the big coordinated openings, but a number of places from H Street to Alexandria will be having gallery openings and festivals (which, hopefully, won't be rained on). 14th Street NW: Saturday >> After a fascinating eight-week photography series this summer, the Randall Scott Gallery almost seems to cap it off......

Maro Vandorou's photographs will be on display at Hillyer Art Space. Arts lovers, we hope you've cleared your calendar for the next two weekends. The 2008-2009 season kicks off en masse with nearly every gallery in the region opening new exhibits. Both Dupont and the 7th Street corridor are coordinating openings this weekend, so let's see what they've got: Dupont Circle: This weekend is First Friday, and it looks like the consortium of galleries......

This month the area's museums are chock full of celebrations, openings, anniversaries and festivals. Enough to keep your dance card filled and your brain active. >> The Natural History Museum describes the ocean as "a huge, awesome realm -- sometimes mysterious but always amazing." Their interpretation of the "awesome realm" will be shown in the long awaited opening of the Sant Ocean Hall on September 27. The exhibit represents the largest renovation in the......

>> Conner Contemporary has exciting news: instead of the previously predicted December 2008 opening, their 7000 sq. ft. newly renovated space at 1358-60 Florida Avenue, NE will hold their inaugural opening on September 27. We'll bring you more about the space and the first show later next month. >> He's no Stephen Colbert, but he did win about a zillion gold medals, made Mark Spitz cry in his mustache, and had us worrying about......

>> Artist J.J. McCracken will engage in a series of performances at Project 4 over the next week. Living Sculpture incorporates figures, spheres, and lots of clay in a way that ponders expectations and movement in life. See one of two performances tonight, 7 p.m. or 8:15 p.m., or next Friday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. >> A new video work opens in Hirshhorn's Black Box next Monday. British duo Ruth Jarman and Joseph Gerhardt,......

View Larger Map When Joan Wages, President of the National Women's History Museum, was successful at moving the Suffrage statue to the Capitol rotunda from the depths of the basement, it served as a metaphor for women's history. She wanted to bring the accomplishments and contributions of women into the light and placed in full view for all to see and learn. Founded in 1996, the National Women's History Museum, a private organization, is currently......

Photograph of work by Nikolas Schiller courtesy Civilian Art Projects >> Civilian Art Projects has some entertainment for you on Friday. From 7 to 9 p.m., they open Quart Bag, an exhibit featuring 32 ounces of creativity from each of the 100 artists in this community art show. All works are $100 or less and, Civilian jokes, "FAA approved." Afterwards, head to Comet Ping Pong, which will have beer and pizza specials, while The......

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil exhibit photo courtesy of John Steiner, Smithsonian Institution. With August's abrupt arrival, summer session is almost over. Even if you’ve been done with school for ages, you may still want to keep that brain sharp, if only to make yourself sound interesting at parties. While most of the area’s galleries are a bit out-of-commission, the museums are still packing in the events. >> Recently opened on July 18......

>> Project 4 presents to you the childhood of Gina Tibott. She dug up the backyard of the home she grew up in, for a (gruesome?) rediscovery of her deceased pets. Using her archeology training, she carefully retrieved the bones and proceeded to photograph this lost culture. No opening reception, so see the remnants for yourself at during regular gallery hours, Wed. - Fri. 2 - 6 p.m., Sat. 12 - 6 p.m. and......

Not many exhibit openings this week, but that doesn't stop the galleries from throwing big parties for any reason they can find. Keep reading for derby arm wrestling, two concerts from our three star alums, DJs, poetry readings, and of course, tons of (mostly) free alcohol. >> Head over to Hillyer Art Space on Friday night for the Barrelhouse Magazine Roller Derby Issue launch party, "License to Brawl". From 6 to 10 p.m. you can......

Elena del Rivero's [Swi:t] Home: A Chant, 2001–2006, installation of found papers mended, burnt, embroidered, and stitched to five rolls of muslin. Courtesy of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the artist. (c) Elena del Rivero. If the scant number of press releases in our inbox is any indication, we have officially reached the start of summer in the art scene. Take some time to battle the tourists and see what's hanging......

With so many museums in D.C., it's easy to overlook the wealth of fun and interesting events that are happening at them. Here's a round-up of some of the notable events and exhibits going on in July, including a look at baseball in D.C., a hip-hop happy hour and a chance to finally see what's living in your refrigerator. >> As we noted last week, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is running through July 6; this......

The second Transformers movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is apparently filming in Washington right now, because people keep sending us celebrity gossip reports that actor Shia LaBeouf allegedly set off a smoke alarm inside a bathroom at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum over the weekend when he tried to sneak a cigarette inside the building. The story seems to have come entirely from the National Enquirer, however, so we should probably take......

For 25 years, the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium has been holding its annual Museum Walk Weekend to celebrate the two neighborhoods' abundance of cultural centers. This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., they celebrate the event's 25th anniversary by providing free entrance to eight museums, as well as live music, food, demonstrations, walking tours, and other activities to encourage us all to indulge in our city's excellent......

We're continuing to bring you a monthly round-up of the most interesting events and exhibits at area museums, and this month, there's something to please photography fans, animation addicts, ocean lovers and more. At the Natural History Museum, check out Ocean Views, where a collection of photographers have captured their vision of the sea (June 11). Forget Q and Basil: Check out what the real life spies of the CIA have come up with in......

>> At Randall Scott, see the new photographic exhibit by Sarah Wilmer. The young Brooklyn artist was named as one of the 30 under 30 to watch by PDN Magazine last year; in the accompanying profile she describes her work as "dark and weird." Wilmer creates worlds -- often faiery, dream-like worlds, populated with pale, beautiful people doing mysterious tasks (pictured right). See them at the reception on Saturday, 7 to 9 p.m. >> Transformer......

Crafty Bastards participants may have a higher calling now. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has just announced the creation of a Curator of Craft position, after an $800,000 donation was made by Lloyd Herman, founder of the Renwick Gallery. Other patrons inspired by the gift have ponied up more funds to support the new role, amounting to $1.2 million so far. Herman encouraged, "Whatever their means, I hope that artists, collectors and all others......

>> Artomatic continues this week. Join them tonight for an art collecting discussion sponsored by Pink Line at 7 p.m., or on Friday for Meet the Artists Night, from 7 to 10 p.m., or perhaps feel more at home during Blogger's Night in the 12th floor lounge on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. Read through the other hundred or so events going on this weekend on Artomatic's calendar. And don't forget to check out......

Graphic designers: Back away from the computer and head to the Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. In the sixty displayed postered portraits, one can see an evolution of graphic design and advertising, with each era screaming its identity through fonts, colors and graphic techniques, as well as the obvious context of the featured face. Keeping true to the NPG’s mission, all 60 posters are about Americans or American films, however......

If you happen to be on the mailing list for Artomatic, precisely 3,000 emails have told you that the five-week, eight-floor exhibition opens on Friday. Keep an eye out tomorrow, as we'll be headed to the pre-opening walk-through and will have a preview of the whole shebang for you in the afternoon. The gates officially open at noon at Capital Plaza I, 1200 First St NE, near the New York Avenue Metro. All events and......

The National Portrait Gallery recently opened a pair of shows, Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer and Edward Steichen: Portraits, which combine to weave a single portrait of American cultural life in the early decades of the twentieth century. Though Steichen is the much better known photographer, Ben-Yusuf’s work is equally compelling, and together the two exhibitions portray a range of politicians, actors, writers, musicians and other important figures, giving us a glimpse back into......

As spring and summer roll in, D.C.’s museums offer a great way to get out of the heat and boost your brain power. And, after spending most of your free time relaxing at outdoor happy hours, who couldn’t use a brain boost? DCist has gathered some of May’s best museum exhibits and events. While some of the exhibits are long term, now’s as good a time as any to check them out, as we'll have......