If you’ve been complaining that Memorial Day weekend wiped out your wallet, D.C. art venues heard your pleas for something a little less draining on your finances. This weekend the city is chock full of free activities, from private gallery openings to neighborhood wide social events. Put on your walking shoes and check out the following:
>> It’s time again for the annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk Weekend. Held on the first full weekend in June, eight area museums are opening their doors on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission and activities for all ages. See the complete schedule of activities here, like live Latino and Caribbean music at the Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center, toy vendor Ben Sherman demonstrating his delightful playthings at The Phillips Collection, and hands-on activities in the Textile Museum’s garden. Be sure to check out the event-wide activities and meet some of your neighbors during the Embassy Row tour or the children’s scavenger hunt.
>> Warm-up for the weekend long event with First Friday, the monthly open gallery night in the Dupont area. See a map of participating venues here. You might want to make sure to stop by Studio Gallery, which just opened Re-creation – A green artist’s view by Washington Glass School co-founder Erwin Timmers, who manipulates found glass items to create works that stimulate environmental discussion. Timmers uses his art to encourage sustainable design, like the “green” furniture and art he recently made for the Environmental Protection Agency’s courtyard.
>> On Saturday, continue your free culture ride with the 1515 14th Street NW openings. Check out The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar in Hemphill’s Galleries 1 and 2, and New Paintings by Tina Newberry in Gallery 3. If the abstraction and one-note hits of the ongoing Color Field movement bore you, stop by Adamson Gallery’s new show Pulp Fiction, a group exhibit featuring pieces that work in narrative, telling stories of poets and cowboys, poker playing and fortune telling. Finally, swing by G Fine Art to see José Ruiz explore immigration issues, Vesna Pavolovic question image and desire with her photographs of staged houses, while Lisa Marie Thalhammer digs her artists hands into the trucker community. All three receptions are 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Photo by techne.
