Anyone going to the Kennedy Center, the Watergate, George Washington University, or any other Foggy Bottom attraction should be sure to take a path down K Street, between 24th and 26th Streets NW.

In the inaugural Foggy Bottom Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, the Foggy Bottom Association has installed twelve sculptures within the gardens and front yards of some of the neighborhood’s colorful homes. They are all contemporary works by D.C. metro area artists, and they contrast nicely with the historic homes, some of which date back to Foggy Bottom’s 19th century working class days.

Last Saturday, at the opening day tour, we followed the map on one of the pamphlets available at most of the sculpture sites and listened to the artists speak about their work. Even though most of the works were not commissioned specifically for this exhibit (Aerial Delineation by Craig Kraft, for example, had been at AU’s Katzen Arts Center), the artists categorically praised curator Shirley Koller’s ability to match each sculpture with an appropriate space.

So these are not mere ornaments—they stimulate intriguing notions of how sculptures interact with a non-museum environment.

At the first sculpture on the tour, for example, sculptor Pamela Burris said that she named her contorted red sculpture, Accumulative Effect (pictured right), because it showed “how things blend.” It was a fitting kickoff to the walk, because the entire exhibition is an exercise in blending styles, times, colors, and ideas.