Prescott Moore Lassman’s End of Pew, from a series about congregants at the All Souls Church. Copyright the artist. Image courtesy of the City Hall Art Collection.

In 2006, local artist Sondra N. Arkin was given an enviable but extremely difficult job: acquire the defining volume of works that captured the breadth and scope of D.C. art to display in HeART of DC, the City Hall Art Collection at the John A. Wilson Building. She was given funds through the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities, access to their temporary art bank, six floors of empty hallways, and mere months to make it all happen. By that October, she’d purchased 155 pieces of art and borrowed 18 from the art bank to round out the collection of D.C.’s greatest artists.

Whether you’ve browsed the collection or not, make time to head over soon. After the first, somewhat harried round of purchases, Arkin took a breather and noted any gaps in the collection. She found 28 new works to fill them, now newly installed, for a total of 201 pieces of art to be celebrated during a reception open to the public next Tuesday, September 23, from 5 to 7 p.m.