Detail from James Walker’s artist’s journal/sketchbook from his upcoming Art Whino show, mixed media, 5 x 8 inches.>> Art Whino‘s new partnership with North Side Social debuts on Saturday with the opening of The Insatiable Reverie: The Solo Show of James Walker in the upstairs wine bar. Using imagery depicting the fragile perseverance of nature, Walker pays homage to his own unquenchable necessity for perpetual creation, the intense desire to participate in this unending nonlinear quest, and the overwhelming satisfaction of creating something real and true while finding gratitude when the work gets harder. Several of Walker’s own sketchbooks and journals will also be on view, providing further evidence of the daily need to create. 8 p.m. to midnight. Free.
>> Transformer Gallery celebrates the 8th year of their Exercises for Emerging Artists program with E8: Sculpture, featuring three individual, site-specific installations by emerging sculptors: Oreen Cohen, Sean Lundgren and Lindsay Rowinski. Each of the three E8: Sculpture solo exhibitions are open to the public for seven days each, starting with Cohen’s work Running Drill on Thursday. Through her personal connections with Israel and Bull Run, Virginia, lands both with histories of struggle and upheaval, Cohen uses the forms and shapes of construction equipment to exhume layers beneath the soil that have been long denied their history and essence, having been constantly reclaimed and rebuilt. 6 to 8 p.m. Free. Mark your calendars for Rowinski’s opening reception for Trying to be There on July 21 and Lundgren’s Nave on August 4.
>> Also on Thursday is the opening reception of FotoDC‘s newest exhibition, Possible Worlds|Mundos Possibilities: Mexican Photography and Fiction in Contemporary Art, at the Art Museum of the Americas, featuring the work of Mauricio Alejo, Ricardo Alzati, Katya Braylovsky and others. Ditch work early for the Gallery Talk at 5:30 p.m. and stay for the opening reception at 6:30 p.m. Free, but RSVP. (Psst! By the way, the FotoWeek International Photo Competition is now open!)
>> Update: This first event has been canceled. Events around town may be winding down for summer, but the Corcoran Gallery of Art isn’t taking a vacation! On Saturday, artist Chris Martin leads Take Your Painting on a Walk Day… Don’t forget to take advantage of the Gallery’s Free Summer Saturdays and check out all of the summer exhibitions, including Chris Martin: Painting Big, for free.
>> Have you ever dreamed of slamming down a straight flush of miniature pieces of artwork and taking your neighbor’s convertible? Or, a mean game of Go Fish with your grandma? Now you can! On Friday, Touchstone Gallery and Art In Hand unveil Art Deck-O: DC Playing Card Originals featuring the work of 54 local artists including Andrew Wodzianski, Dana Ellyn, Matt Sesow, Michael J. Auger and Exposed winner Erin Antognoli. View all of the original images and cards, and buy your own deck-o art, at the opening reception on Friday.
>> MOCA DC pops a cork for the 10th anniversary of the Figure Models Guild and a reception for A Celebration of the Figure IX on Friday. Stop by the gallery for a guitar and flute performance from 6 to 7 p.m., a jewelry show presented on live models from 7:30 to 8 p.m., and figure-centric artwork and $5 glasses of wine all night. Body painting gets underway at 8 p.m and lasts until close. Free.
>> Art Enables inaugurates their Off-Rhode Studio with Artists Off Rhode featuring the work of 13 uncommon artists who combine solid artistic integrity with a refreshing absence of uniformity. The opening reception is Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Free.
>> Escape into an air-conditioned darkness as the National Gallery of Art’s line-up of free movies continues this weekend, featuring French silent films with live musical accompaniment. On Saturday, pop in for Poetry in Motion – The Scientific Short, a ciné-concert featuring 15 tinted shorts of “science” footage alongside Andrew Simpson on piano at 2:30 p.m. On Sunday, see Son Premier Film, a comedy in the popular tradition of théâtre de boulevard made for the production company Établissements Jacques Haïk, with Stephen Horne on piano at 4:30 p.m. All films are screened in the Gallery’s East Building Auditorium and seating is on first-come, first-seated basis.
>> The Ballston Arts & Crafts Market returns this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 35 artists and crafters in Arlington’s only 100 percent handmade indie art market. Coordinate your visit with Saffron Yoga‘s free classes from 12 to 2 p.m.
>> On Monday, the Greater Reston Art Center hosts a Moderated Dialogue with Philippa Hughes, founder of The Pink Line Project, and the artists from BITE: identity and humor, the all-media show currently on exhibit. 7:30 p.m., Free.
