>> Avoid the mall and take advantage of the numerous venues for purchasing handmade arts and crafts here in D.C., including Gateway Georgia Avenue’s 2nd Annual Holiday ArtWalk tomorrow night in Silver Spring. Local artists will have paintings, prints, photos, quilts and more available for sale for $15-$300. Even if you’re only browsing, you can enjoy free empanadas from Los Arrieros or wine and finger food at The Graphic Workshop, Pyramid Atlantic and Kari Minnick Glass Studio. Festivities last from 7-9 p.m. Other arts-related shopping opportunities of the week include the Arts Market at the Ellipse in Arlington (closing Saturday) and the final weekend of Western Market in Adams Morgan for the season (Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.).
>> Sick of shopping, or lucky enough to be finished? Stop by the Penn Quarter Open House from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday or the Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown on Friday. New exhibits include “New Charcoal Drawings” by DC Art News’ Lenny Campello at Fraser Gallery.
(Read Michael O’Sullivan’s review here).
>> Also closing this week are two exhibitions on view at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. “Claude Raguet Hirst: Transforming the American Still Life” includes 30 trompe l’oeil (illusionist) paintings and “Transitory Patterns: Florida Women Artists” features paintings and photographs by several contemporary artists, including Marnet Larsen’s “Walk on a Windy Day” (at left).
>> In case you missed it: Famed British enviromentalist sculptor Andy Goldsworthy has just begun his first D.C. project. Read about the site-specific work “Roof,” his take on the symbolic domes of Washington, here.
